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who insures their records?

street_muzikstreet_muzik 3,919 Posts
edited July 2005 in Strut Central
I've been meaning to insure mine for a while now and I'm finally beginning the arduous task of creating an inventory. Question. How do you estimate the replacement value if it is out of print. Do you check what it's selling on ebay for? What if it's so obscure that it can't be replaced? This is going to take forever but I need to know what I have so I can protect it. Thanks.

  Comments

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    You have to get it appraised; you can't just say "this is worth ___" and have it hold up in claims. Ebay is not an effective tool for appraisal, prices fluctuate on there all the time; simultaneously you can't use a price guide because most of them are so far behind the curve they won't accurately value most of your records either. You could use purchase price, if you can remember it. That might be the best bet. But then, do you save receipts?

    Appraisal is the best option. As to who does appraisals for non-classical/jazz collections in your area, I can't help.

    You can put a total value on it but that only applies if you suffer a total loss. If you lost, say, 200 records out of 800 there'd be no way to prove which ones where valued to what.
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    hm... well I asked several questions at my insurance office one time and one of the methods I was offered involved me giving my own value for the collection... I had to have photo or video evidence of the stuff though...
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    hm... well I asked several questions at my insurance office one time and one of the methods I was offered involved me giving my own value for the collection... I had to have photo or video evidence of the stuff though...

    Of course, that is what every insurance company will tell you.

    You have to have photo documentation of your records... and what is a picture of an expedit gonna do? So you have to take 1000s of pics to accurately document.

    Scenario: Your apartment floods. Just say the flood is covered by your policy (some aren't). The bottom row of your expedit is hit pretty bad.

    You have an agreed-upon value of the collection for $25,000. However, you only lost 400 records, out of 2000. This is where it gets tricky. Insurance companies use basic valuations for these things, and they will try to tell you that a used record is valued at $2 (or less). They will try to reimburse you for $800. I know, this sounds stupid. But this is how it works. Your agreed-upon value is for the total collection - without an individual value for each record, you have no proof of what you lost. You are at the insurance company's mercy.

    The best option I have found is collectinsure.com. But for your own sake you should inventory your entire collection/stock and value everything. What you paid, what you deem it to be worth. If possible, find a big-time certifiable dealer and have them endorse your inventory list. This is your best protection, from what I can see.
  • guy_alcindorguy_alcindor 621 Posts
    Insuring collectables, from what i have gathered, is a tricky business. Prices fluctuate, obscure pieces often have no definitive price tag, etc. Best thing to do would be to make sure your collection is out of flood reach, ie.: put it above the 1st floor, if that's an option. I've also had someone come over from the fire dept. in my place to check for anything that could pose a potential fire hazard. Basically, if you're smart about this stuff, you can hopefully avoid any damage... however, there are always variables that are out of one's hands...
  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts

    You have an agreed-upon value of the collection for $25,000. However, you only lost 400 records, out of 2000. This is where it gets tricky. Insurance companies use basic valuations for these things, and they will try to tell you that a used record is valued at $2 (or less).

    This is pretty much it. You'd have to insure big pieces individually, or as sets, genres, etc = not worth it. I had a few hundred records stolen from my house about 10 years ago and I got $5 per piece, which isn't bad, but replacing them is gonna be a bitch no matter how available they are. Luckily in my case a friend spotted a bunch of them a few weeks later while delivering weed and a lot of them were reclaimed with a minimum of fuss
  • Young_PhonicsYoung_Phonics 8,039 Posts
    But for your own sake you should inventory your entire collection/stock and value everything.


    So this is what Guzzo has been doing when he does the "1-2,000 Discuss" topics? Dam the boy is S-M-A-R-T!
  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts
    But for your own sake you should inventory your entire collection/stock and value everything.
    So this is what Guzzo has been doing when he does the "1-2,000 Discuss" topics? Dam the boy is S-M-A-R-T!

    Ha! I was gonna say make the weekly finds into a superthread and just grab the jpegs in the event of a tragedy.

    I once bought one of those Iris pen scanners thinking it would do all that for me... nope. logos, gfx, and those pesky little ridges got in the way.
  • GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
    But for your own sake you should inventory your entire collection/stock and value everything.


    So this is what Guzzo has been doing when he does the "1-2,000 Discuss" topics? Dam the boy is S-M-A-R-T!

    Yeah JP has spoekn to me before about getting them insured and it's somnething that it seems I am more than halfway to doing. If I can make it happen over the next few months I'll keep the board posted on how it goes.
  • street_muzikstreet_muzik 3,919 Posts
    Thanks J_P. What I have started doing is taking pictures of each record, importing it into Quicken Home Inventory with all the info: purchase price, resale price, and replacement cost. The replacement thing is what really gets me. I'll just use my better judgement. I'm also using a spreadsheet simultaneously, so I have two lists. I guess I'll have an appraiser look over it and endorse it. At least if each record is inventoried, I'll be better off than saying "The whole thing is worth x amount of dollars."

    This is gonna take a while.
  • BeatChemistBeatChemist 1,465 Posts
    This is gonna take a while.


    Good luck, and Godspeed.
  • coffinjoecoffinjoe 1,743 Posts
    a friend in atlanta had several hundred lps damaged in an early spring flood
    he searched on gemm & printed out the listings of several dozen of the titles
    offered by or fave dealers like recism
    needless to say, his insurance company was happy to settle with him
    for a slightly lower value than fronted by cheapo outfits like recism
    dude made out like haliburton
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