learning about insurance the hard way

[msheak]

I want to start by saying that you are never too old to learn lessons, sometimes the hard way. I am experiencing this now. My wife and I had a theft at our house. Luckly none of our guns were taken, but we lost a lot of horse leather, a bunch of DVD's and some of her jewelry. Now comes the lesson. Much of this stuff we have had for many years, and I don't have reciepts for it. A lot of the horse tack was bought at auction ten years ago, and the auction barn has shut down. Because a bunch of the items were "spares" we don't have pictures. Insurance agents are not able to help, because the write policy, not ajustments. Ajustment people are NOT your friends. I am in the process of taking pictures of our whole house, down to the pots and pans ! I know most of us now have our guns in safes and such, but what about the leather you have. I have seen leather in this forum that I would say is "priceless" I would hate to hear of this happening to anyone, and what we are going through now I would not wish on anybody.

[honeybadger]

Sorry to hear about your loss, and wish the rest of your holiday season is happy (hey, you may have lost the leather, but you still have the wife ).

[gvf]

I want to start by saying that you are never too old to learn lessons, sometimes the hard way. I am experiencing this now. My wife and I had a theft at our house. Luckly none of our guns were taken, but we lost a lot of horse leather, a bunch of DVD's and some of her jewelry. Now comes the lesson. Much of this stuff we have had for many years, and I don't have reciepts for it. A lot of the horse tack was bought at auction ten years ago, and the auction barn has shut down. Because a bunch of the items were "spares" we don't have pictures. Insurance agents are not able to help, because the write policy, not ajustments. Ajustment people are NOT your friends. I am in the process of taking pictures of our whole house, down to the pots and pans ! I know most of us now have our guns in safes and such, but what about the leather you have. I have seen leather in this forum that I would say is "priceless" I would hate to hear of this happening to anyone, and what we are going through now I would not wish on anybody.

That's the kind of thing you need to mention to your ins. company when you get it, ask how the value can be fixed then. Otherwise, with no paper or photos, it's not going to happen. Sorry ... glad though you're OK.

[MtnSpur]

Very sorry to hear about this intrusion on your privacy and loss of goods. Insurance companies aren't worth spit unless you can detail every item stolen through documentation, unfortunately. Everyday stuff I'm not concerned about but the priceless, sentimental and collectible stuff should all have pics, descriptions and values assigned and added to the insurance policy via riders and are based or calcualted per thousand as far as extra premium cost.

Itemize the list for the LE agency folks, make a copy and send to pawn shops etc. God willing the idiot that took the stuff isn't too bright and will screw up trying to fence it somewhere.

[doc540]

Serial numbers and pictues of all firearms stored offsite.

Fingers crossed, prayers offered

[Collects]

Consider videotaping all of your possessions, then storing the tape off-location. Give a running narrative on the video as you shoot, describing your possessions, and let the camera linger on each item long enough that a thorough review of the tape later, after a loss, will show good, detailed pictures of your possessions. After a loss, an inventory can be prepared from the tape, then values can be assigned by independent experts (appraisers, shop owners who sell that type of merchandise, etc.) as to the value of the obects. Typically, your firearms are excluded from coverage on the homeowners policies which I have read, or coverage is severely limited (i.e. $500 or $1,000 limit) for firearms, unless the firearms are listed and scheduled (make, model, serial number, value) with the insurance company before the loss, and an additional premium paid for the firearm coverage.

The insurance adjusters are both the best friend of the insurance claimants (they ultimately write the check) and the claimants' worst enemy (they seek to deny coverage or pay the lowest possible amount of money).

While I am a lawyer, I am not YOUR lawyer.

[blackhawknj]

Unfortunately too many people see insurance as a get rich quick scheme that is better than winning the lottery.

[Collects]

Unfortunately too many people see insurance as a get rich quick scheme that is better than winning the lottery.

To the detriment of honest insurance claimants, the victims, that is the attitude taken by many insurance adjusters. The result is that many legitimate claims are denied, unfairly delayed, unfairly forced into litigation, and ultimately paid less than the policy apparently promised.

The fraud by a few claimants taints the claims of honest claimants, making it more difficult for legitimate claimants to get paid by their insurer following a loss.

If insurers routinely treated their insured victims fairly, a large percentage of the bar, both plaintiff and defense lawyers alike, would be out of work. It would be a beautiful thing.

Just my opinion.

[perrazi]

when you buy insurance, buy replacement cost ins. as stated,document everything.

[ewson]

In our life sometimes come many unpredictable problems but that situation we don’t know how to face them insurance adjuster make that easy with new policies.

fire insurance claims adjuster