American Collectors Updates Collectible Coverage

American Collectors Insurance, national provider of specialty insurance for collectibles and collector vehicles, has updated its insurance program for valued collections to reflect changes in collectors’ needs.

Key changes to the collectibles insurance program include:

More categories covered: American Collectors now considers a range of collectibles for coverage (except furniture, fine art and jewelry). Previously, excluded were coins, paper collectibles and china/flatware.

Deductible options: Policyholders can choose from zero, $500, $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000 deductibles. The prior program required a deductible of $100.

Discounts offered: Collectors can get premium discounts if they use central station alarms and/or have high value collections, club memberships and vault storage.

Higher policy limits made available: The new program offers a range of policy limits based on policyholder needs, subject to underwriting review. It eliminates previous coverage requirements of $10,000 (minimum) and $150,000 (maximum).

American Collectors also unveiled a brand-new “Collector’s Choice” option as part of the refreshed collectibles program. Collector’s Choice covers damage that occurs during shipment of newly purchased collectibles, during special occasion usage, while restoring, repairing or retouching the collection and while storing the collection outside the home for more than 30 days, as well as theft from an unattended automobile.

Unlike homeowners insurance, stand-alone collectibles policies offer agreed-value coverage, which insures collections for their full collector value without depreciation. Collectibles policies insure against multiple perils, including fire, theft, flood, hurricane, earthquake and accidental breakage.

Applicants are not required to provide appraisals or extensive inventories to obtain collectibles coverage.

The collectibles program insures numerous types of collectibles including:

• Advertising and movie memorabilia and animation art
• Auto memorabilia
• Books, comics, comic art and trading cards
• Coins and stamps
• China, crystal, glass and collector plates
• Die-cast cars, toys and action figures
• Dolls, figurines, miniatures and doll houses
• Guns (pre- and post-World War II)
• Juke boxes, radios and arcade games
• Model trains and layouts
• Musical instruments
• Quilts
• Sports memorabilia
• Teddy bears
• Wine and accessories

The expanded collectibles program is available in all states except Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts and Montana, where product filings are pending.