Would Your Insurance Agent Believe You? Video Your Gear.

[Clayton Will]

Video your fishing tackle for insurance purposes.

[dave potts]

Don't just do it for your fishing stuff. Do it for your entire house contents.

My son and his family lost their house in the Washington, Il tornado in November and now must remember everything in the house for reimbursement.

He had a very extensive woodworking shop in the garage and has had to spend hours and hours remembering all the tools. The big stuff is easy but all the little stuff is hard to remember. How many clamps, screwdrivers, wrenches and on and on.

You don't get fully reimbursed till you actually replace an item and show a receipt, so keep that in mind. If you have 25 fishing rods you won't collect coverage until you replace them.

So, keep pictures or DVD's or videos or something and keep them updated and in a safe place. Don't rely on a fire safe box in the house. Keep them at work or better yet in a bank safe deposit box. Also, make sure you have replacement value on the contents.

Dave

[J-Doc]

Good tip!

[flyman]

This is a good tip. That stuff adds up quick.

[Feathers and Fins]

I don't care about the agent but my adjuster would he fishes with me lol.

Guys it is not the agent who will be coming out to your house it is the insurance adjuster, There are many types of policies and typical home owners may not cover them all you may have to have additional policies to cover items like fishing hunting jewelry etc.

I deal with insurance everyday on the claims end of things ( construction end ) but do have a very good working knowledge of policy. To that end I suggest everyone see their agent once a year, Make certain you understand what type of policy you have such as RCV or ACV or even Percentage Policy. Make sure it covers "Code upgrades" then ask about content coverage IE does it cover replacement of your guns, poles, tackle, jewelry etc.

I hear people tell me all the time they THOUGHT their policy covered everything when it didn't and it was really the persons fault for not talking to his/her agent and finding out exactly what is covered and what is not and what additional policies they should have. The people saying they don't want to be over insured are fools IMO as in a fire, tornado or burglary there is no such thing as over insured.

Yes you may pay more but with a typical hail damage claim starting at 6,000.00 and most going over 12,000.00 its not something you want to pay for yourself! burglary claims can quickly be over 10,000.00 in theft but then there is the damage they do breaking in, a decent storm door replacement and is around 800 bucks and then there is the items damaged they didn't steel.

Do yourselves all a favor and see your agent and go over everything with him/her the adjuster will need proof of purchase of items, For this a Video is great but get pictures and specifically pictures of the serial numbers and the box it came in. Put all this information on flash-drive actually 3 is better or DVD etc. Store one in a fire safe in your house, one in a safe deposit box at a bank and the third with a family member so you have back-ups where you can get them and update them every 4 months.

[Fishin Hodge]

All good info. I would be crushed if something happened and never thought about how simple videoing the stuff would be.

[fishinwrench]

You don't get fully reimbursed till you actually replace an item and show a receipt, so keep that in mind. If you have 25 fishing rods you won't collect coverage until you replace them.

When did THAT rule go into effect? I didn't have to play that way. I provided a list of items that included the year that each item.was aquired...and they calculated the depreciation and sent me a check. There were alot of things I had that were insured under PP that I either decided not to replace, or replaced with something else.

There were several items that I submitted receipts for in attempt to get full replacement cost on, but they always came up with reasons to depreciate it so after that I didn't bother. In the end I still collected the full amount of PP coverage. Its amazing how much "assorted useless household crap" adds up to, even when depreciated. I mean who needs 77 corkscrews? LOL

[Feathers and Fins]

Sounds like a weird policy Wrench, typically they do it the way you mentioned. On construction you certainly do not get the Recoverable until the work is done but that is to insure the work is done. Plus with mortgage involved typically the check is made to the Bank and the Home Owner for construction but content its to the client. And to get the recoverable on construction you have to have and RCV policy as an ACV is Actual Cash Value minus depreciated value. Sucks when you have a 25yr roof and its depreciated 18 years it leaves the client with a big chunk of change to come up with.

Now on guns for instance I have seen them try to depreciate the value and that is when the client must prove its not depreciated and where yearly appraisals come in handy.

[fishinwrench]

After a tornado, insurance companies pretty much bend over backwards to avoid bad press I think.

My agent started off being a genuine nit-picker, but once the word started getting out that I was having to "fight with them" they suddenly became extremely lenient and helpful.

I paid off my mortgage and took charge of the clean-up and reconstruction myself, and was issued checks in 30k increments until completed. Only after the first check was issued did an inspector stop by to check on the progress. After that they just took my word for it or they may have had someone just drive by to take a quick peek occasionally.

[dave potts]

When did THAT rule go into effect? I didn't have to play that way. I provided a list of items that included the year that each item.was aquired...and they calculated the depreciation and sent me a check. There were alot of things I had that were insured under PP that I either decided not to replace, or replaced with something else.

There were several items that I submitted receipts for in attempt to get full replacement cost on, but they always came up with reasons to depreciate it so after that I didn't bother. In the end I still collected the full amount of PP coverage. Its amazing how much "assorted useless household crap" adds up to, even when depreciated. I mean who needs 77 corkscrews? LOL

My son (his family actually) was given a check up front which they were told covered the depreciated value of the contents. That check was for one third of the total PP coverage amount. They were told that when each item was replaced they should bring in the receipts and they would receive the rest of the money up to the total limit of the policy. I'm sure his understanding was that an item had to be replaced to get the money because he said that if it was something they didn't care to replace they might as well get it and donate it to charity.

I was surprised too as I didn't think you had to actually had to replace an item to get paid for it. Heck, I've got over 600 old vinyl LP's that I'd hate to lose. I certainly wouldn't replace them however, I would expect to be compensated for them.

Fins& Feathers makes a good point-you should go over all your policies with your agent on a regular basis and make sure your coverage is what you think it is.

Dave