# Is There Such A Thing As A Sloy Car Appraiser??



## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

I was thinking the other day, I have a ton of stuff in my attic and would like to get it covered on my home owners insurance polisy.

Has anyone done this? Can I get pointed in the right direction?

Been thinking about this for a long time now. Don't want to put it off any longer.

Thanks Joe


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

I did that a few years ago. I had to apply a separate rider on the policy. They took my estimated appraisal, but I have to re-appraise it every 5 years. Otherwise they apply depreciation rates on the items.

-Paul


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Depreciation? Don't they know this stuff is collectable?


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

pshoe64 said:


> I did that a few years ago. I had to apply a separate rider on the policy. They took my estimated appraisal, but I have to re-appraise it every 5 years. Otherwise they apply depreciation rates on the items.
> 
> -Paul



Seperate rider? I am not understanding. And who did your appraisel? Did he deal with your ins company too??


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## CTSV OWNER (Dec 27, 2009)

Show them how that Sugar Daddy Datsun just did on the bay.

Then ask them about depreciation



Dave


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## clydeomite (May 5, 2004)

Howdy:
I have collector car ins on My Mustang and that company offers to insure a persons toys like die cast etc. I haven't insured my slot collection but giving it some seriuos thought. American Collector ins. Co.
Clyde-0-Mite


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## videojimmy (Jan 12, 2006)

why wouldn't it be covered under a standard policy?


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

Slot Cars are like any other collectable (this is my insurance guy talking), prices go up, prices go down. Mine were insured based on what I claimed as the price I paid for them. I record that when I buy a car or write down the trade value of what I traded as the price. The separate rider keeps my home owners coverage separate along with the payments. I covered my tracks, cars, old collector parts and documents. It costs about $475 a year, but I have a lot of stuff under the policy and covers what I have accumulated over the last 40 years. The depreciation thing is their insurance rule. I can remove that, but it gets really pricey, fast. So I inventory every couple of years when the policy is set to expire. That way the amount stays static and I can add what I have bought over that period of time.

-Paul


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## 1970AMX (Feb 3, 2011)

Most homeowners policies coverage have limits on collections. If you go over that limit,which I am pretty sure you have, you have to get a rider. This will up your coverage to the value of your collection. Call your agent
Different subject
Their is a good story on 71 and 72 GS in Hemmings Muscle Machine magazine this month. In my opinion this is the best car magazine on the market for muscle cars, if you do not subscribe you should.


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

1970AMX said:


> Most homeowners policies coverage have limits on collections. If you go over that limit,which I am pretty sure you have, you have to get a rider. This will up your coverage to the value of your collection. Call your agent
> Different subject
> Their is a good story on 71 and 72 GS in Hemmings Muscle Machine magazine this month. In my opinion this is the best car magazine on the market for muscle cars, if you do not subscribe you should.



Yea man I get it. But haven't gotten the new one yet. I bet I know the guy who owns the GS lol.

So I will place a few calls and see how this goes.

Clyde, I do have classis ins on 2 cars so you saying they would also cover my stuff?

Paul, did you get this additional coverage from your actual home owners ins comp? Or did you seek a seperate entity alltogether?


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

Got it with my home owners. I did switch companies a couple of years ago and went through several hoops with the new carrier, but they matched what I had before. They will pretty much write a rider for anything, depending on what you are willing to pay for it. Sharpen up your negotiating skills, they will come in high to start. 

-Paul


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

pshoe64 said:


> Got it with my home owners. I did switch companies a couple of years ago and went through several hoops with the new carrier, but they matched what I had before. They will pretty much write a rider for anything, depending on what you are willing to pay for it. Sharpen up your negotiating skills, they will come in high to start.
> 
> -Paul



Good tip Paul thanks. I will report back.:wave:


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## SCJ (Jul 15, 1999)

I have done professional (paid) appraising several times for slot car collections....both in person and via the list/pics method.

We’ve had an umbrella policy for the slot goodies for years now........to include those that are for sale, tracks, displays, signage etc.we update with a list of items every six months. 

IMHO, the first thing you need to ask your agent is if the collection is located below grade (aka: in the Basement) is it still covered. Insurance companies have been reluctant to pay claims (some totally writing it out of the policy) for anything below grade and/or in boxes. As my agent stated, they stopped covering below grade as “everyone suddenly had a Picasso and Waterford crystal packed away in their basements”. 

We are had to take additional measures though….. we are NOT in a flood plane and half the basement is on a hill and therefore NOT below grade, to keep coverage we had to add flood insurance. Not much more per month, but we’re covered.

-------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

Ahh. I am in the attic so I got that going for me! lol :dude:


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

As additional note, I photographed everything, date purchased, amount spent, etc. The better you document what you want covered, helps gauge how much the policy is to be worth and what the installments will be. Storage location is very important too as stated above. 
It was worth the work seeing the agent's jaw hit the floor when he saw how many slots, models, track, displays and historical documents I have accumulated over 40 years of hobby addiction:freak:

-Paul


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

I had insurance on my slot stuff for a few years as a rider. The problem was that the price for the rider was about the same as insuring the entire house (and non-collectable contents).

The yearly cost turned out to be about 1% of the estimated value of the collection (and my house insurance rates have gone up almost 100% in the last 5-6 years, so I assume the rider would have gone way up as well). The value I used was only 50% of what I considered to be the real cost of the slot cars. Had I insured it for 100% of the value, it would have cost far more than the house insurance. I have a spreadsheet with all my cars and their estimated value. Of course, you'd have to constantly update that spreadsheet and give it to your insurance agent to have up-to-date protection.

Now, depending on your collection, you could either calculate what the cars cost you or what it would cost to replace them. In all probability, it will cost a LOT more to replace the cars than what it cost you, so your estimated value really needs to be the replacement cost. And that increases the "value" of your collection by leaps and bounds. As an example, consider the Tomy Mega-G Red Bull F1. When first issued, it was about $25. Only 1-2 years later, the market went crazy and guys were spending $150+. If you have one, what value do you assign to it?

So if you have been collecting for years and the cars are pristine (and carded?), it is almost definite your collection is worth far more than you imagine. If you only spent $2,000 a year on this hobby for 10 years, you're already up to a $20,000 collection (without appreciation) and I'll bet a lot of guys spend far in excess of this amount yearly. Based on my experiance, this would translate into at least a $200 yearly premium.

It's great to have the peace of mind that comes from insurance, but you'll spend a lot of money if the collection is large and you insure it all.

I don't know if anyone has put together a spreadsheet with all the cars from each (or any) manufacturer in all their combinations (such as the same car available as an HP-2, HP-7 and 440-X2 for example). My spreadsheets are pretty extensive, but they only have the cars I own. Once a full spreadsheet has been created, it would be very easy to plug in current day prices and keep it updated. It would/could also serve as the "bible" for all released cars with part numbers, etc. 

Joe


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

all insurance is gambling. with us (we who pay the premiums ) betting that we will lose our valuables and the insurance companies( the house , if you will ) laying odds against such. if the price of the "lottery ticket" is what you consider worth the risk of not winning, then go for it. unless you have irrefutable documentation of all that you insure and that documentation doesn't get destroyed in the same disaster that takes out the insured item(s), you will not likely be reimbursed what the insured item(s) are worth. have a serious talk with an insurance broker about the actual payout in the event one is needed and ask the real premium one would expect to pay to recover completely from loss.


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## SplitPoster (May 16, 2006)

This topic seems to roll around about once a year! And there are always answers on both ends of the spectrum. At the very least take pictures and talk to your h/o insurance agent. There are limits on everything else where a lot of value can be tied up with one type of possession - guns, jewelry, art, electronics, musical instruments..... H/O policies may work with depreciation, but collector insurance like with cars works on agreed value - that is peace of mind. 

And at some point think about the cost of the insurance annually, and how likely it is for you to suffer a loss. If you keep stuff on the floor in a basement you are way more likely to suffer water/humidity damage, accidental damage or theft than if you kept things in a locked room upstairs. And if you have specialty insurance, they will want to know where you store your covered items. Hint: unlocked garage or storage unit doesn't cut it. 

The nice thing about "pictures" anymore is you can put them on a flash drive and have plenty of backup offsite.


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