Personal Property is the classification on our insurance policy that covers most of our stuff. We learned the hard way in July, 2009, when we were burglarized and had to make a detail listing of items stolen. We thought we were covered well, but no. I have a 1899 dresser in which they STOLE one of the drawers which had jewelry in it along with memorabilia. Trying to remember each item in that drawer was hard.....still come up with items that were there. However, of the $40,000 plus they stole, we were covered for only about $8,000 since there was a maximum for jewelry and cash without an attachment to the policy for a greater amount. Thank God they could not get into the safe. We now have surveillance cameras, videos and a nice large locking gate to our property. Contact your insurance agent and get additional coverage for your hobbies!!!! Two model engines they stole from my husbands RC flying hobby totaled over $1400. and we had replacement value coverage. He got them replaced.

Thank you for the heads up. I just asked hubby if my sewing supplies were covered under our homeowners and he said he didn't know. I'm thinking I should take some pictures and send them to our insurance agent.

All electronics, collections, antiques, etc, should be listed out separately and shown to your agent. It is surprising how much is NOT covered under a standard policy :(
Just some of the fabric stashes alone, may not be covered, not to mention multiple machines/supplies/misc.

Having been thru a situation where I needed to make an insurance claim...it was quite a hassle that I really wasn't prepared for...you need to keep detailed records of everything important to you, photo's or video is great and keep a copy or copies somewhere other than your house

i need to look into this

It is a very good reminder to all of us. Fire, burglary or any disaster could take a toll on us if we don't have pics, receipts, videos, etc. to back up our claims. I will make sure to check with our insurance carrier now to see what coverage I have for my machines, fabric, etc. Thank you for the reminder.

Thanks for the reminder. It's easy to forget how much money we have invested in this hobby.

Marknfran, I know what you mean about Insurance, it's a must for everyone but especially for anybody with an expensive hobby that quilting is :!: In this topic http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-87346-1.htm I bought it up, the topic was very funny but there was a serious point.

In reading it I added up my spending on quilting since I started nigh on 6 years ago and it added up to over a staggering £7000/$10000 and I don't suppose it's much less now. If anything happened I could never ever replace these items quickly which would cause me a lot of distress as my quilting keeps me sane.

I spoke at great length to my Home Contents insurer and decided, at no great extra cost, to add "Accidental Insurance" which covers me, my dog and visitors accidents, I have also have my machine covered for when it take it to classes.

Even without us taking in our fabric stash, which runs into £/$100s if not £/$1000st the cost of the notions tools and machines would make sensible Insurance cover a necessity IMO.

Oh YES if I had the money INVESTED in machines like some have invested...I'd definitely be talking to my insurance agent when I purchased them.

Call your agents quilters!

It is of particular concern if you have a basement studio, many many homeowners policies limit the value of the basement contents. In my area there was a flood about 10 years ago , and the insurance companies lobbied to change the laws , to exclude or limit basements. Much of the damage was from sump pump failure since there was a power outage at the same time which is differnent from flood damage. Just a word of caution be very specifc when you discuss with your agent. Mine first told me "of course you are covered" till I started detailing the contents, the value , and the location of my "investment". When in doubt if you think there still is a some question ... ask them to put it in writing IE letter , policy amendment etc.

Yes, be very, very careful about what is in your insurance policies. My late DH was business like enough so that he photo copied (that's an old word) every paragraph seperately and enlarged them so he could read each and every word there. Then you could start screaming about it!!
My daughter found this out the day before Christmas last month. Her daughter, my DGD was home from college and her car was low on gas so borrowed my DD's car and had an accident. While DD and husband were there waiting for the cop to finish his reports, another larger pickup also hydroplaned and hit the car again. Her insurance company refused to pay, said that she had deliberately excluded her daughter from it, which was absolutely not what she wanted to do at any time, since DGD is a very sober young woman. DGD's own insurance will pay for it, but after reading the policy carefully, she is leaving that Killeen, Texas insurance company entirely and taking her car insurance, her husband's and the house insurance to another company, the one that paid for DGD's accident.

How many of us have actually READ our insurance forms carefully??? Are we going to now???

We had a break in one time and a fire another time. I DO believe your agent has a big part in what is paid, etc. I've had people tell me that XX ins. company doesn't pay, yet that would be my company and we had excellent coverage. Some agents don't want the big $$$ items on the record because it reflects back on them. I worked for an insurance commissioner. Trust me...if you don't believe you're getting the coverage you've paid for, WRITE the insurance commissioner for your state. It seems to me that a $40,000 claim SHOULD be covered for more than $8000.00. Write the commissioner and let him question it. You'd be surprised how many times the agents/company "re-evaluate" and decide you ARE due more $$$.

I had a house fire about 6 years ago and lost almost everything. We had to make an itemized list of everything in the house....which, how can you really remember everything???? I could have walked through the house before the fire and told them where I bought everything and how much it cost and if it was on sale or not(crazy I can remember that but can't remember what day it is :roll: ). They said a good thing to do is to take pictures of everything or walk through the house with a video camera and look in drawers and just give a little detail about major items in the house. You can keep a copy with a friend, family member, or even a lock box at the bank. I'm not a receipt keeper and what good is it keeping all them if you do have a fire?

Everbody should update there insurance information at least once a year. This goes for autos, home and other items insuranced. Also, check to see what items are covered under household. Some items can be covered undered a Rider policy.

The important thing is to know what you have, and pictures.

We were robbed in May 2010 & found out that our policy covered $500 of fine jewelry. Well needless to say that might have covered 10% of what was taken. After this happened had a meeting with insurance agent & got things changed on the homeowners policy. Agent apologized for not reviewing our policy sooner & contacting us to go over things that we had. We now have an alarm system and a safe. Have also taken pictures of all our artwork, etc. And have additional coverage for them on our policy. Such a hard learning experience.

For insurance purposes, make a video or camera card full of pictures of your possessions..fabric, machines, jewelry, appliances, furniture,TVs,kitchen cupboards, husband's? tools in the workshop, bicycles, excercise equipment :) and anything else of value. Keep it in your safety deposit box, or any other secure location away from your home.From time to time update as you buy more, or give away, or sell. This is particularly important for fire insurance, as how many agents would believe you have 4 machines?

I try and keep up with a list of things when we purchase new things that we add to our home and remove those things that we don't have anymore. We had a fire and also flooding.

Good point here -- meet with your agent at least once a year. My good friend had an agent she hadn't seen in over 15 yrs. She had a pipe break when they were gone and had water damage. Turns out she didn't have insurance for replacement value. The one cupboard in her kitchen that was damaged was costed out at $39.00. The agent had her house and household items list to be replace AFTER depreciation! Her house is 35 yrs old.....needless to say....they had thousands of dollars worth of damage but only got something like $500.00!!!!!

This is exactly what I was talking about. Our fine jewelry was only covered to $1500; however, when we figured it all out, it was worth over $28000. Our loss. Some people asked me why we did not keep it in the safe. My answer: this was jewelry my husband had bought me over the years (35 years) and when I open the drawer I could remember those times (back before the recession)...you cannot do that if it is stuck away in a safe. Securing your home like a safe is what we had to do.

Thanks for the reminder. My agent was telling me something over the phone about special protection packages that can be added to the home owner’s insurance policy for covering valuables. I plan to look into that when he comes over next week for renewal.

I talked to my agent last week about my coverage. I have replacement insurance for contents of house that is acceptable to me. However, when I told him about the fabric and yarn and the fact that I would be unable to provide reciepts for any of it, he had a suggestion. I can measure the fabric (or give approximate yardage) and take a few pictures of the fabric and the yarn and send him a copy of the photos with a description. He will put it in my file so if there ever is a problem and I submit a claim it will be easier to collect because I have some documentation.

DH insists we insure our contents for much more then we need and the house itself for what it would cost to rebuild. Also riders for DH's gun collection and a few antiques and some pieces of jewelry I have. But our content insurance is such a high amount it would be more then enough to replace everything in the house with much better stuff. LOL. I saved every negative(remember those?) of every roll of film we developed over the years and have those at the bank safe deposit box. My kids may or may not want them but they will be there. Now the digital photos are stored at online albums.

I think about insurance for my stuff all the time. Interestingly, we've been looking for another place to live and a couple of the rentals required proof of renter's insurance before moving in.