Is Your Record/ Music Collection Insured? #vinylcommunity

I'm thinking it's time to insure my music collection. What if something happens to your records? Your stereo equipment? Your musical instruments? Are you thinking about it? Let's share some information.

[Pluralofvinylisvinyls]

I can barely remember to pay my car insurance.

[DavidRoberts-pd]

This is an important topic. Here in the UK I discovered that my insurers were covering me for just TWO GRAND (£2, 000) when I asked - as my entire 3, 000 item collection was counted as one thing. Get yourself checked, all!!! Much respect, D.

[djacobmadrigal]

I have renters insurance. When Hurricane Ida hit they covered my two bass guitars and amp that were destroyed. I’ll have to look into getting my 3000 plus cd’s insured.

[jessicaf]

so my state farm agent stated to me that I can insure the collection for a set amount of $30k, $50k ect. they said they dont require appraisal unless the item is 5, 000 or more. They told me discogs and a picture of my collection (take a picture of each kallax to show proof i own x amount of records) would suffice. they said for $30k of coverage under collectibles it would be under $300 a year

[Joe-nyup]

I had a coworker that had a kitchen fire, which didn't actually spread that fast, but they freaked then the fire department came and obviously dumped a bunch of water over everything. The water mainly ruined most everything in the basement on the floor.

[danielphillips]

These days I usually buy records and cds online. Since there are purchase records from the larger online dealers i.e. amazon, ebay et. al. that should help. But I should log my records and cds on discogs. I'm glad you brought that up. Sometimes I run on to records I forgot I had.

[therecordchanger]

We had a fire in our building last year, and it was in the apartment next door. If the fire had started on our side, we'd have had lots of damage, and my record collection would've been the first casualty. So I started putting everything in Discogs after I called my insurance company about coverage. They had no idea how to go about covering my collection, so they began calling various companies to see how to proceed. Long story short, I couldn't get sufficient coverage for the collection, so I estimated the worth of my collection, and we bumped up our contents coverage so if we lost it all, we'd get something, at least. I'm 67, and I know if it all goes up in smoke now, it's not ever getting replaced. But the additional coverage at least gives us something back for my years of investing in it. Our place is small enough that if my music room goes, it's all going to go. My advice - especially due to the unstable nature of the vinyl market - is to increase your contents coverage so you get something back. Then you don't need receipts and appraisals, and all that.

[jcm]

I just had to pack my entire collection and bring it with me on thanksgiving break. My heat broke Wednesday and parts have to be ordered for the repair. The temp where I live is diving down to 20 for the next 4 nights. I couldn’t leave my records to freeze and my entire family now thinks I’m obsessive and have a “record problem” because I packed numerous boxes to bring with me for a holiday. Luckily I’m just under 200 lp’s at this point. Even with insurance I wouldn’t have left them behind in sub freezing temps. Maybe I am obsessed but at least I’ll be able to listen to my records when I get home this weekend.

[pseudolus]

I've been in the process of filling out my Discogs and taking photos of every record I own. It's slow going, but I know I need to do it.

[rameybutler-hmnx]

I completely agree with this. Great video

[ericwincentsen]

I have personal item protection along with my homeowner's. Prior to that I had renters insurance to cover everything. As for appraisal, that's a hard one, since other than some record store owners (many of whom I at least know in passing if they've been around for a while) are really the only ones, other than a few collectors and myself, qualified. I hate appraising because no one ever likes to know that their collection is worth about what the most expensive stuff is and, it doesn't matter if you have hundreds of Lionel Richie records, no one wants to pay you for them. I have a rough estimate of full retail value of my collection by using a number of different sources, including what I have paid from the local stores that don't sell $2.00 records for $10.00, with the knowledge that my insurance company will probably pay a fraction of it but still hopefully more than most trade counters would. I don't have it insured for the full value because it's ridiculous and I know that unless that guy from Brazil ever shows up at my door with a check I'm never getting it.

[thebeatles]

Although I have never bought vinyl and have a very small CD collection I do have a constantly growing blu ray collection particularly horror movies so eventually I should do something about insuring it.

[donniemunden]

Good information and something to think about.

[seanmccarthy]

The insurance company that covers me wanted a physical documentation of the collection as well as a general assessment. Thankfully, I was able to export my Discogs collection into an Excel spreadsheet. Not surprising, the insurance company recommended getting a separate "collectable" insurance - think if you had a high-end, vintage vehicle.

[alexcaprio]

Liberty Mutual renter’s includes my records

[citroencvnz]

Discogs backed up with photos of the collection!

[mrhoffame]

I have a policy through State Farm. 100% replacement coverage. Only covers vinyl though. Cds, and cassettes must go through homeowners/renters. I think mine is an older policy they had from a few years ago so no appraisal or anything had to be done. I just have to send them up a updated list each year. Another catch is it can only be used 1 time. So say I cracked two $10 records. I could file a claim an get the $20 replacement, but the policy is official done and not renewable. So of course you're think flood or fire claims only lol.

[crazyprayingmantis]

If i lose it all tragically, oh well 🤷 shit happens

[Mfidelity]

This is an important reminder. I'll be checking with my insurance company asap.

[redcomusic]

The typical record collecting nutjob is too busy spending money at record stores and Amazon to even think about spending additional money on insurance. But I will say this, the risk exposure of a typical record collection is very minimal. It's inside your house 24/7, so it's in your custody and not as prone to theft as other possessions and as you mentioned, your only enemies are mother nature and very rare at-home accidents.