Speaking of insurance...

[Land Owner]

I'm wondering about "scheduled firearms, components, and equipment" (FC&E.) versus unscheduled FC&E with regard to filing any insurance claim.

Is it necessary to schedule ordinary and everyday use FC&E on an insurance policy (regardless of additional premiums)? At what threshold of FC&E value does it become recommended and perhaps even necessary to "schedule"? What establishes the FC&E "value" in this ever-changing economy? I know firearms may be scheduled, but are reloading components and our machines even coverable under a "scheduled" policy?

Perhaps these are questions best asked of an Agent (which sounds like The Matrix). Asking "their side" though seems suspect. Insurance companies, imo, want premiums to flow in one direction. The fine print and insurance attorney "interpretations" dictate the details in filing a claim. Can you eliminate ambiguity and inconsistency through a "scheduled" policy?

If you have had to file a claim; with whom - if you don't mind telling; how difficult was it; what were your expectations; what were their exclusions, objections or limitations; did they make it easy or hard; was your claim scheduled; do unscheduled policies, as part of standard "household goods", work out?

I have an inventory (as should everyone) of replacement value (no depreciation), based upon 2021-12-31 retail prices from online sellers across the Intranet. I KNOW our inventories are growing in value (especially components, the house, EVERYTHING) as supplies diminish, demands increase, the economy inflates, and people flee high tax and insane politics.

Revaluing a homeowner's policy, (say) every 3-months to account for market fluxuation does not seem practical. Nor does it seem practical to set the "household goods" bar so high, up front, and pay premiums based on those values, which may not be realized in the fine print.

For this skeptic (and perhaps others), what makes sense?

[rancher1913]

insurance is a scam. its a crapshoot if they will pay a claim.

[Land Owner]

Yes, without which one dies a "financial death" in the event of a catastrophic loss - or so they would have us believe. It has become a guarantee, for the benefit of Corporate America, to institute insurance into practically everything.

[pworley1]

My experience with insurance claims has been that your agent is more important than your policy getting a claim settled to your satisfaction.

[Handloader109]

insurance is a scam. its a crapshoot if they will pay a claim.

I've never had a company NOT pay a claim. I HAVE had one cancel my policy after paying 2 small claims in about 18 months, Allstate btw. But I had hail damage recently. Liberty Mutual paid me $1300 on my 2005 truck after my deductible , I didn't have to move it from its spot in the drive and money went directly into my bank. They are in the process of finishing up my roof replacement. Both my house and my shop. Along with copper gutters and chimney cover. They upgraded my shop from cheap 3 tab to the best class architectural shingles and will match the house now. That cost me $238 and my deductible is $1000. I've got to also pay $86 for one sheet of ply they replaced. (Damage not related to hail). The total cost is $38,000. First claim, and prior rate was $2100 a year. I've been here 6 years. Call my total cost to this point $15k (about 2k less as rate has gone up year by year) I'm $23,000 ahead..... now I had another home up here for 5 years with no claim. Roughly $1200 per year insurance, so $6k. I'm still $17,000 to the good. I expect rates to go up, and I've got to increase value insured. So $3k per year. I've got roughly 6 years of insurance prepaid...
Yeah, it's a scam. NOT

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[farmbif]

it is very difficult to know what insurance can be trusted. as far as car insurance I had been with allstate since 1989 and over the years had several claims and they always took great care of me. I once had a conversion van stolen and it had a bunch of snap on tools in it I used for the shop and had a rider for them. they paid in full many thousands for exact replacement. I had a policy for the shop and shop got broken into, this was not insured with allstate and they fought the claim and won, by contacting the state insurance commision as soon as claim was filed, real lowlife company it turned out I lost about $50,000 in tools. homeowners insurance and hurricane insurance is a big hot mess now a days. right now I';m wondering what the best way to insure a watch to be sent in for repair. its between usps, Fedex and ups. I bought the watch 30 something years ago when I was in Switzerland and it turns out that its now worth much much more than any gun I ever bought.

[Handloader109]

Shipping by any of the three companies and depending upon them paying for ANYTHING lost or especially damaged is a crap shoot. They all three will try and deny if it is just damaged. If lost? Good luck. Just hope it isn't delivered to a neighbor....

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[Idaho45guy]

Most homeowner's policies cover firearms and jewelry up to $2500. Totally inadequate for most people here.

Adding additional coverage varies from company to company and it is best left to your agent to inform you of their policy. There are also independent companies that will offer individual policies just for your firearms. I looked into one and it was around $300 a year for $40k worth of coverage.

I currently have my homeowner's and auto insurance with USAA, I also use to work for them as an Adjuster for a few years.

When I first worked for them, I had a rental policy and a VPP (Valuable Personal Property), which covers firearms and jewelry.

I had my home burglarized and lost two firearms that were not locked up. One was a S&W M&P40c pistol and the other was a custom 870 shotgun built by Vang Comp.

I was reimbursed for the pistol based on MSRP and for the shotgun, I had to send pictures of all the mods and list them so they could be valued.

I was happy with the payout and was made whole.

[kerplode]

I've used State Farm for a long time and I've found them to be easy to work with and they paid promptly when I had a hail damage claim a couple years back.

This is how firearms coverage works for them, to the best of my current understanding. Your carrier may be different.

So, like Idaho45guy said above, there is some basic coverage on a standard homeowners policy that covers firearms. If you're a regular dude that buys a 38 for home protection then throws it into the sock drawer and forgets about it for 20 years, this basic level of coverage will be adequate and does not require scheduling or serial numbers or anything like that (but proof of ownership will help if you have a loss...)

But for pretty much anyone here, that basic $2500 or whatever isn't gonna cut it. So they have a separate policy called a "Personal Articles Policy". This lets you individually schedule stuff like firearms, jewelry, furs, etc...Stuff of value that, on the whole, exceeds the basic coverage of the homeowners policy.

It's a separate policy and when you set it up, you have to schedule each item with a description, SN, and declared value. Premium depends on the total value of the covered property. I.e. some number of dollars per year per thousand dollars of coverage. They've always just accepted whatever value I've provided with no questions, so no appraisals are needed (that might not always be true if your item is of extraordinary value...). It only covers listed items and it supersedes your basic homeowners coverage such that if you have a PAP, that basic coverage on the homeowners just disappears. So you effectively can't claim coverage for an unscheduled item using that $2500 or whatever incase of a loss.

The nice thing is that the PAP covers "loss through use" and IIRC there is not a deductible. So if you take your SxS quail hunting and drive over it with your truck, or if your hunting rifle falls down the canyon, you can claim the loss to the PAP if it was covered. Not sure about "boating accidents" though...

I've not had the misfortune of having to file a claim against the PAP (knock wood), but I wouldn't anticipate any issues with it given my past experience. It is a bit spendy, but it helps me sleep a little better at night. One way I manage the cost is not scheduling inexpensive things. If it's valued over about $250, I'll add it, otherwise I'll just accept the loss exposure.

Probably the best bet would be to call your agent and discuss it with them to see what products your insurer provides and to learn the costs and restrictions.

[Idaho45guy]

The differences in adding different firearms can be enormous between companies.

I used to have State Farm homeowners and tried to add extra coverage for my firearms. They wanted a professional assessment of any firearm valued at over $1500. Well, duh, about half of my long guns exceed that value. So I asked them who to use. They had no suggestions. I searched at the only place that could assess them was Cabela's up in a very high crime area 70 miles away.

So, I asked USAA what they required and they needed a detailed list of the firearms, serial numbers, and list of accessories such as scopes and custom stocks.

Much easier, but it took hours to catalog and list each firearm and accessories.

For smaller collections consisting of factory original firearms, it is easy to do. But when it comes to rare and custom firearms, it gets to be tricky.

[kerplode]

I used to have State Farm homeowners and tried to add extra coverage for my firearms. They wanted a professional assessment of any firearm valued at over $1500. Well, duh, about half of my long guns exceed that value. So I asked them who to use. They had no suggestions. I searched at the only place that could assess them was Cabela's up in a very high crime area 70 miles away.

Hmmm...That's not been my experience. Perhaps it differs between underwriters in different states/regions. I have quite a few firearms over $1500 and they just accepted my valuation with no formal appraisal required. This was in NM and CO. They did request an appraisal for some of my wife's jewelry, so maybe the valuation bar is a little higher in the NM/CO region. Dunno. Getting appraisals would be a pain in the butt, though.

And yeah, I agree, it's kind of a bear to set up and maintain. If you buy and sell stuff all the time, it's almost not worth the hassle. In that case, I'd probably use something like what the NRA offers where you just buy a block of coverage for a certain dollar amount but don't need to provide SNs. My collection is pretty stable at this point, though, so it's kind of on auto-pilot. And it's nice having all the policies in one place.

[elmacgyver0]

The differences in adding different firearms can be enormous between companies.

I used to have State Farm homeowners and tried to add extra coverage for my firearms. They wanted a professional assessment of any firearm valued at over $1500. Well, duh, about half of my long guns exceed that value. So I asked them who to use. They had no suggestions. I searched at the only place that could assess them was Cabela's up in a very high crime area 70 miles away.

So, I asked USAA what they required and they needed a detailed list of the firearms, serial numbers, and list of accessories such as scopes and custom stocks.

Much easier, but it took hours to catalog and list each firearm and accessories.

For smaller collections consisting of factory original firearms, it is easy to do. But when it comes to rare and custom firearms, it gets to be tricky.

Cut up machine guns rebuilt and converted to semi-auto should be a piece of cake? right?

[higgins]

I have been with State Farm for about 30 years. I've only had two claims - hail damage on two cars for the same occurrence and hail damage roof replacement a few years ago. No problems at all with the claim process or the settlement either time. I have been with SF primarily because I can walk in and talk with a knowledgeable representative about any questions that arise, how to minimize premiums while maintaining adequate coverage, etc. SF will raise your firearms and related equipment total coverage for an additional premium without scheduling firearms (don't know about limits on indivual firearms requiring individual scheduling.)

Given the state of phone "support" today, I can't imaging trying to get good information on the phone, while not talking to the same person twice. If I can't walk into an office and talk with someone I'd rather do business elsewhere; that's why I even switched my propane supplier recently.