Any tips on appraising a PC for insurance?

[sedinfan]

Wondering if anyone in the SCF community has tips on appraising a collection for insurance purposes? Beckett is essentially useless since in any major collection the most valuable cards are typically the rarest ones and thus NPDTS. Are there any generally accepted formulae out there for determining values of low-print run cards?

I'm pretty sure any serious player collector has a pretty good idea what a x/5 card of their guy typically goes for (and what premium is reasonable for such cards with auto and/or memorabila and/or popular amonst set collectors)... but is there any well-respected source that would be appropriate for determining values of npdts cards? Or is the only option to hire an appraisor?

Sometimes I think that the SCF community could create a much more acurate price guide than Beckett. Seems like most cards could be valued by starting with a base value for a given player, with appropriate adjustments based print run / auto (hard signed or sticker) / memorabila / popularity of set (or subset) with set collectors.

[iidaemmi]

It is important to list all the cards and you have already photographed your collection, so next stop is your insurance company.
Tell fair value for them and that's it.

Harri

[ravens_creed]

If you have pictures of everything, and a complete list of all the cards, with value/price points listed for each card... I don't see why you wouldn't just slap some slightly higher than market values in there and make sure you are protected to the max! :)

I would imagine that this is much like cards crossing the border and customs charges, in that most of the people you are dealing with have no idea what the true value is, so you work it to your advantage (in that sense, declaring cards with $100 values at $10, and so on).

[notoriousrob101]

Yuppp

[doniceage]

As other have said you can take pictures of all your cards or possilbly vidoetape just for proof for the insurance company. Then take a spreadsheet or beckett list of what is priced as it a published and respected guide. You could then take all the N?A and go to a dealer to get the rest appriased with a signed statement for a final value. Best of luck in this endeavor.

DON

[HOCKEY68]

Alot of insurance companies are gonna want proof as to what the card is worth graded by a reputable grader via a picture of it in a slab and not just a picture of a card and go by the beckett book.All depends upon the company.

[CoolHandLuke]

First when I read my inssurance, I already have 3000$ value included for sports cards by default. I also ask the cost to insure it for more and when I got the ammount ask per total collection value, I just decided to not raise it higher then the default value given to me by default.

So first check you home inssurance for a default clause.

Second call them and ask them prices, maybe this will do like with me and turn around from insuring it. Also taking with my agent, it really hard to prove you still have them once let's say you got the whole collection stolen. Like she told me, insurance company tend to say that maybe you sold them and you have no proof you still had them and tend to fight you on claims. So she was basically telling me that it's hard to make a claim because it's easy to resell them prior to a claim.

In the end I decided it was not worth to spend the ammount ask for the value I was getting it insured. The money I save each year is my own inssurance in a way. Also if I did and something happened. what if they decide to fight me about the claim... So very expensive because they see this as way too easy to resell. They have no way to find out if you did sell them and this is why they do charge alot to insure them and tend to fight claim to not get robbed.

But if you still want to go down this road. make a very simple evaluation, get the cost for the evaluation and then ask how much. Then if you still want to insure it, ask what is the best procedure to your inssurance company to evaluate it and what proof you should maintain.

Also if you do, I would maybe make regular video with a news paper dated to get a date on the video and then film all major cards and make sure the news paper is always on the video. This way they can't say you edited the video since the newspaper is always visable. That should help you in case they fight a claim.

[doniceage]

Alot of insurance companies are gonna want proof as to what the card is worth graded by a reputable grader via a picture of it in a slab and not just a picture of a card and go by the beckett book.All depends upon the company.

I have literally 10,000 of thousands of dollar beckett wise and called my insrance agent. After talking they gave me a rider for a low amount of 1500 no proof of anything but my word and longtime insruance with the company.

1500 will never replace my collection but it would definitely get me started back on replacing my pc. For a few dollars a month to me it just a piece of mind. Hopefully, I never need to put a claim in.

D
o
n

[lumm0x]

Mine required me to list everything on spreadsheets, take individual photos (front and back) of everything and then send all documents to a company in the US (seemed to be some sporting goods shop they affiliated themselves with) and they would value everything on this list. All for a fee of $500. I spoke to the guys on the phone and shortly after figuring out they knew less about sports cards than anyone else living on my street I decided against it.

[CoolHandLuke]

I have literally 10,000 of thousands of dollar beckett wise and called my insrance agent. After talking they gave me a rider for a low amount of 1500 no proof of anything but my word and longtime insruance with the company.

1500 will never replace my collection but it would definitely get me started back on replacing my pc. For a few dollars a month to me it just a piece of mind. Hopefully, I never need to put a claim in.

D
o
n

I beleive my 3000$ by default is no proof too.