Insurance recommendations?

[mjtwomail]

I can't figure out which place to post this so putting it here:

Looking for recommendations on insurance (renters) companies / policies that are gun friendly. The one quote I have so far for $25K in general merch rental/homeowner insurance is $250 a year, and for an additional $25K in gun / itemized coverage is an additional $1000 a year (!!), also requiring documentation every time something is added or removed from the collection (which is several times a month here!). That was from TRAVELERS outsourced via Geico.

I think the NRA has some sort of policy? But heard it's for collector items only? Do they cover general use guns?

Anyone know a company with better gun-specific coverage? Under $500 a year would be great! It'd be in addition to the safe and the alarm and the dogs , just some extra peace of mind if the house is ever empty.

[Erik88]

The NRA provides $2,500 worth of coverage but you have to sign up for it once your a member. I actually just renewed my membership and filled out the separate form for the insurance.

[Parrothead]

State farm handles all if my insurance needs. I THINK your home owners policy covers $5k in guns. Anything beyond that must be a "add-on." It was around a extra $200 a year for extra coverage (up to 25k i believe.) Not sure about renters insurance.

[willis68]

I recommend Farm Bureau, I cannot tell you exactly how much they charge, the wife handles all of that but they are very gun friendly and the best insurance company I have ever dealt with

[hkusp40cal]

If you go with state farm you can get a personal property add-on to homeowners or renters. Mine covers my fishing/backpacking and firearms. I have had it for a few years and claims are easy. I had a rod and reel ripped off the pier by a pelican and instead of repairing it, they paid for a replacement and I kept the one that went for a swim. Also they do not require serial numbers for firearms, just make model and current new price. I paid $144 a year for around 30K in coverage when I had my renters insurance. The one good thing about State Farm is they adjust the insured value to keep up with inflation every year.

[Erik88]

I recommend Farm Bureau, I cannot tell you exactly how much they charge, the wife handles all of that but they are very gun friendly and the best insurance company I have ever dealt with

Farm Bureau is great! Nobody can touch their rates on car insurance.

[jcj]

Have a look at collectinsure.com for firearm specific coverage. Good people to work with and the rates are very very reasonable.

[StPatrick]

I use State Farm for my musical instruments and guns; adding riders on top of my homeowner's insurance was surprisingly inexpensive. I also insured the iPhone for $12 no deductible / year. Beats the heck out of what the phone companies charge.

[VolunteerGuns]

I recommend Farm Bureau, I cannot tell you exactly how much they charge, the wife handles all of that but they are very gun friendly and the best insurance company I have ever dealt with

This, and...

Farm Bureau is great! Nobody can touch their rates on car insurance.

That...

I was previously with State Farm, moved to Progressive some years back, and Farm Bureau b@$#ch slapped the crap outta both the others in all aspects for me. They beat prices and customer service isn't even in the same league. They're great.

[Guest TNTgill]

Thats funny about farm bureau. I think they are great too but when I went to add my guns to my renters insurance my agent (one of my best friends) told me they couldn't do much for me without it being very expensive. He said get an NRA membership and their insurance for my guns would cover it better.

[Ebow1]

Yeah, definitely stay as far away from Traveler's as you can.

[peejman]

I'll also recommend State Farm or USAA if you're eligible. I had the same $25k renters policy which was really cheap. Increasing the amount for any particular item (guns, artwork, jewelry, etc.) is easy.

[gregintenn]

Bolt your safe to the floor and don't worry about it. Extra insurance for guns is a rip off in my opinion.

[Guest yardmaster]

NRA policy is not just for gun collections...I have an extended policy through them... ..I got interested when a guy in our gun club told about losing a duck gun in the lake and the policy covered it .

[Guest nicemac]

I just changed homeowners policies a couple of days ago after 15 years with Travelers. I shopped Travelers, Nationwide, MetLife and Auto-Owners. Travelers and Nationwide were within pennies of each other price wise. Auto-Owners was 10% higher and Met-Life was way out in left field - over 50% more.

I was able to get $5,000 of coverage against theft added to my standard homeowners policy with Nationwide for around $30 per year. $5,000 was the limit without "scheduling" the items I wanted covered. Their (and the others) standard homeowners policy excludes guns, jewelry, furs, art, tools, electronics, etc… I wrote an additional $5,000 coverage against all perils (tornado, fire, etc…) for $100 per year (that price was about the same with all four companies). That gave me $10k in coverage total, which I deemed adequate. On the scheduled policy, I had to provide serial numbers and replacement values on specific guns. My agent told me if I sell or trade one of these scheduled guns, I have to contact them and move coverage to the new gun with serial number or there is no coverage.

I wound up getting riders for my tools and electronics as well. I had no idea they weren't really covered by my existing homeowners policy. I have a woodworking shop full of tools that if stolen, would just have been gone. Now, for around $30 per year, I have coverage on my tools as well. After seeing all of the items that are excluded, I asked the agent; "what IS covered by most homeowners policies? I mean, it says, 'contents'."

His reply: "Furniture, appliances and clothing. Most other items are subject to limits."

It doesn't take much in the way of electronics or tools to hit a $1,000 limit. I bet most women have more than $1,000 in jewelry (just in an engagement ring alone).

[texfrazer]

I use Cincinnati Insurance. They have a blanket limit of $2500 included with the policy for firearms (no scheduling, serial numbers, etc.).

Then on anything that exceeds that number, or anything that is more pricey to replace and might boost you over the blanket limit, you can schedule it. For hunters, often times the scopes can be worth as much as the gun, so you can schedule a hunting rifle with a scope.

If you're married, you'll want to look at your wife's jewelry collection, as there is typically a blanket limit of $2500 for jewelry. Then, if your wife has one or two pieces (family heirlooms, big honkin' rings from previous suitors, big honkin' rings from you, etc.) that are of increased value, you schedule them as well.

This is pretty typical of most homeowners/renters policies (at least from the better companies).

On a related note, make sure you insure with replacement cost coverage so that all of your items will be replaced. Otherwise, you'll only be paid for what the insurance company thinks your item is worth (read depreciation). Otherwise, you might only get $200 for your $2,000 tv.

Finally, if you own firearms, you might want to look into an umbrella policy, which gives you a higher limit of liability if someone sues you.

For what it's worth, I learned all of this from my father, who was in the insurance business.

[DMark]

Have a look at collectinsure.com for firearm specific coverage. Good people to work with and the rates are very very reasonable.

+1

Best place to go for those who have "More Guns than they Need..., But Not as many as they Want." In other words, more guns than any safe could ever hold.