Comic Book Insurance, Better
Safe than Sorry!

Comic book insurance is a subject that I have been asked about on occasion. Should you insure your comics? Where do I go to get insurance for my comics? Well Chris Spann is kind of an expert when it comes to insuring various types of collections. He sent me the article below to post on my site. Hope it helps you out.

Protecting Your Comics

Whatever you’re interested in, if you have a collection of it, keeping it protected and looked after is hugely important – Especially if your interest is in comic books. If you’re on this site you’ll probably know all about light damage and dust covers by now, but have you ever thought about insuring your stash? After all, as well as sentimental worth, your collection likely has a huge financial value, and the last thing you want is to lose your collection and have nothing at all to show for it…

Now, I’m well aware that most people will have their collections well looked after anyway, and I’m not going to write a complete list here as that’s not really what this article is about. However, if you’re a serious comic book collector, it would be hugely shortsighted not to consider the implications of fire or other damage to your home and what that could do to your life. That said, worryingly 38% of Brits do not have adequate home insurance, so the chances of collectors having adequate comic book insurance isn’t great.

Even if you do have home insurance however, your collection might still not be completely covered: Surveys done a couple of years ago showed that 90% of Brits undervalued the value of their homes by a third, while the other people quizzed actually overvalued their home and the contents within it. It’s interesting to note that if you do underinsure your property by (For example) 25%, your insurance company may only pay out 75% of any claim, regardless of value (interestingly, this doesn’t work the other way round if you over value your property), meaning even if you think you’re protected, you might not be. Most importantly, some insurers consider a collection as one item, whereas others count each piece in that collection individually. Of course, if your collection is considered one item, you run the risk of falling foul of single item limits which could mean that your entire stash isn’t protected in the event of a disaster – And for this reason it’s always best to check the small print or contact your insurer if worst comes to worst.

There are a number of things you can do to better insure your comics of course: For example, keeping photographic records of what you own is a very good idea, especially if they’re rare versions or prints of certain issues. This will also make any debates raised by your insurer a lot easier to deal with if you datestamp your photos. Obviously, this can be a pain to do, but it’s well worth it should something happen to your comics.

Another thing you should do at least once a year is have your whole collection properly valued. That bargain bin comic you picked up ten years ago might be a cult rarity nowadays, so it’s always worth checking. Course, it may well be worth absolutely nothing, but it’s good to know, isn’t it?

If you’re a very serious collector (or collect quite expensive items) however, you might want to look into specialised collections insurance. There are many companies who do this, and this is the best way to insure items of great value at an extra cost.

Of course, if you have a huge collection or some really expensive pieces, you might want to consider standalone comic book insurance – there are a number of companies who specialise in insuring expensive pieces and will likely be happy to have a look at anything you want covered – although this option is probably more for real hardcore collectors, as most people can cover their collection through their buildings and contents insurance , so long as they declare it.

A lot of collectors don’t properly consider insurance – after all, if you’ve just recently bought something new and exciting, the last thing you want to have to do is consider what might happen if it was damaged or stolen from you. Unfortunately, these things happen, and often adding a new item to your house insurance will only cost you a few pounds a month, even if it quite an expensive piece. Burglaries rose last year, and with the country now suffering near annual flooding, it might be time to make sure you’re covered properly with comic book insurance.

I don’t blame you if you haven’t thought about insuring your haul before – after all, it’s something to be enjoyed, and the last thing you ever want to do is have to consider what might happen if it were damaged or stolen. It’s a fact of life that things like this do happen however, and the better protected you are, the less it hurts when it happens. Of course, you might not find that first issue or limited run print ever again, but at least having the value of it back means you haven’t lost out completely.

Has Chris sparked your curiosity?  In light of a few comic books that have now broken the 1 million dollar mark, earlier in 2010, you may have a comic or two that is well worth your time and effort to get them insured. So don’t let yourself get caught short. It will be worth your time to determine if comic book insurance is your cup of tea!

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