Do any of you have your pipes insured?

[tg lorenz]

Brothers,
I do not want to come off being ostentatious but I was wondering if any of you have your pipe collection insured?

I’ve been collecting for about five years and just recently decided to do a count of what I have spent over the years and I was completely shocked!  :affraid: A Roush pipe here and Parks pipe there and some estate Dunhill’s and others do add up fast! Definitely taking this information to the grave and not telling the wife  :lol: , but seriously I’ve been thinking the greatest risk would be fire. I don’t think a common burglar would have a clue as to the value of a rack of pipes. I’m thinking my homeowners insurance as they cover replacement cost of contents would look at 50+ pipes as a “collection” and not replace even one without a separate “collectable” rider in addition to my normal policy.

Do any of you have any advice on this issue or do you actually have a written policy that covers your precious bits of briar and vulcanite?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[RDPipes]

I don't have anything covered under insurance, most of what I have is not replaceable and money won't bring it back. I'm home all the time so the likeliness of burglar is slim, as far as fire and any other such happenings of the like, well I'm here so they'll be going out the door or widow with me at the same time. Besides I'm sure an insurance company would want proof of value and I surely don't have receipts for them.

 

[Hermit]

Just homeowners insurance; no special rider.

 

[flyguy]

Folks, if you have homeowner's or renter's insurance, your pipes are covered. In a former life, I was a claim rep.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Folks, if you have homeowner's or renter's insurance, your pipes are covered.  In a former life, I was a claim rep.

yes, but.. lot's of things are covered up to a certain amount. fly rods, camera equip, jewelry, etc.. check with your insurance guy (or read a long boring policy) and be sure the amount is what you can live with.

 

[flyguy]

Folks, if you have homeowner's or renter's insurance, your pipes are covered.  In a former life, I was a claim rep.

yes, but..  lot's of things are covered up to a certain amount.  fly rods, camera equip, jewelry, etc..  check with your insurance guy (or read a long boring policy) and be sure the amount is what you can live with.

I was a claim rep for State Farm.  The only personal property with "special limits" coverage were money, firearms, jewelry, computers, business property and artwork.  There were no special limits on pipes.  Also, personal property is insured for "named perils" only.  This includes water damage (from a plumbing source), fire, theft, and a few others.  If you drop your pipe and break it or lose it... no coverage. You will need to purchase a Personal Articles Policy for that type of coverage.
But Bullwinkle is correct.  Policies vary in quality and everyone needs to check the policy or with the agent to be sure of coverages.

 

[KevinM]

Yah, read your HO or renters policy to see what might /might not be covered under contents. As alluded to by preceding posters, there is at least partial coverage in most policies, but some caveats may apply -- perhaps a limit, perhaps an assessment of worth ... Many collectors of various and sundry manly items should go through this exercise. And the ladies might want to see about their jewelry, so it's not just the guy side. You can buy a special rider for valuable items, if you believe your pipe hoard has a high value. You should definitely do an inventory, photos, maybe a video, just to demonstrate the collection existed. Such documentation should be in a safe deposit box, not the insured premises, but you already guessed that

 

[Bullwinkle]

Folks, if you have homeowner's or renter's insurance, your pipes are covered.  In a former life, I was a claim rep.

yes, but..  lot's of things are covered up to a certain amount.  fly rods, camera equip, jewelry, etc..  check with your insurance guy (or read a long boring policy) and be sure the amount is what you can live with.

I was a claim rep for State Farm.  The only personal property with "special limits" coverage were money, firearms, jewelry, computers, business property and artwork.  There were no special limits on pipes.  Also, personal property is insured for "named perils" only.  This includes water damage (from a plumbing source), fire, theft, and a few others.  If you drop your pipe and break it or lose it... no coverage. You will need to purchase a Personal Articles Policy for that type of coverage.
But Bullwinkle is correct.  Policies vary in quality and everyone needs to check the policy or with the agent to be sure of coverages.

so you show up after a house fire and the guy says.. don't forget the $10k of pipes and tobacco that burned, do you ask more questions or simply add $10k to his check?

 

[flyguy]

@Bullwinkle:
The scenario you describe is quite common but there is usually some evidence remaining to show the pipes existed. We also accepted the testimony of friends and family that observed the collection. It was quite common that quality and quantity were often inflated which took a lot of investigation. Our company would give the insured the benefit of the doubt in most cases. Other companies would demand receipts and firm evidence of the existence of the items. I felt this was unreasonable since receipts usually burned in the fire also. I was fortunate that my company believed in treating policyholders in a way they would want to be treated if they had a similar claim. With our company, policyholders ended up with a nicer home with nicer stuff following a total loss fire.

 

[PeterD]

...I just insured my pipe collection on a special rider with Farmers. I did this because my collection is well above the norm. I provided a list of every pipe and took pictures of groups of pipes which satisfies Farmers. I figured better safe than sorry...

Yes, many can't be replaced and I did provide values of each pipe...but should something happen, at least I could replace many of my pipes.

 

[riff raff]

My Allstate agent confirmed what Flyguy states - all of my pipes are insured under my home owners insurance. (jewelry is the excpetion)

I have a spreadsheet detailing all of my pipes, costs, details, dates, etc. I keep that in my Drop-Box account and this is a good reminder to update it! I also keep a photo journal of every pipe on a Photobucket album. Hopefully, that covers any loss