Author Topic: How to assess damage for insurance claim  (Read 10277 times)

Offline rumble

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How to assess damage for insurance claim
« on: February 27, 2017, 06:58:16 AM »
Does anyone have experience on claiming insurance on damaged posters?

I recently had my collection moved, and unfortunately there was some damage. It ranges from bent corners on individual posters, to crushed paper across piles of posters. I am now having to prepare an insurance claim.

My question is, is there any method for assessing "partial" damage? I am thinking that the grading of the posters has decreased, from e.g. VG to G or Near Mint to VG for instance. Could I use a "multiplier" on the original value to calculate the loss? Say that a $1000 poster was Very Good and got bent corners, I would now class it VG - should I claim half the value, or 75%, or what?

Any guidance appreciated!

Offline Harry Caul

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2017, 09:39:52 AM »
Yikes.  I don't envy your task ahead.  Unfortunately I don't have any guidance for you, but you might do some research on a more popular collecting category like books or stamps or sports cards.  They might have more experience with that sort of thing. Good luck and please post your outcome here. 

Offline Crazy Vick

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2017, 10:55:33 AM »
Wow that is horrible.  How did this happen?  Who did you ask to move your collection?  Weren't the posters secured in tubes or boxes?

Your best best might be, based on historical sales, to do a Very good to Fine appraisal, and then a Good to VG appraisal, and claim the difference.

Offline erik1925

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2017, 12:17:19 PM »
Do you have any documentation and/or pics about the condition of the damaged posters showing them before they were moved and tweaked? Just in case the movers should try and say they did nothing, you can show "befores" and "afters" to your insurance, showing them how the material looked pre-move.

Otherwise the movers might try & suggest all was delivered in the same condition they got it in, initially.


-Jeff

Offline MoviePosterBid.com

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2017, 12:52:53 PM »
Does anyone have experience on claiming insurance on damaged posters?

I recently had my collection moved, and unfortunately there was some damage. It ranges from bent corners on individual posters, to crushed paper across piles of posters. I am now having to prepare an insurance claim.

My question is, is there any method for assessing "partial" damage? I am thinking that the grading of the posters has decreased, from e.g. VG to G or Near Mint to VG for instance. Could I use a "multiplier" on the original value to calculate the loss? Say that a $1000 poster was Very Good and got bent corners, I would now class it VG - should I claim half the value, or 75%, or what?

Any guidance appreciated!

you count the posters as a total loss where there is heavy damage for sure.
less damaged, you make other judgements.

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Offline rumble

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2017, 05:30:09 PM »
Thanks - I'll give the details when this ordeal is over! But there is absolutely no doubt the damage happened in transit. And fortunately I have photos and a full inventory.

Anyone want to suggest a ballpark on how much to reduce the value? Eg is a VG that becomes a G worth half, or 25 percent, or what? I know in posters are not as condition-fixated as with eg comics or coins, where I understand going from 9.9 to 9.8 (or whatever) can mean a huge drop in value. But any speculation on how to handle this would be welcome.



Offline erik1925

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2017, 01:17:02 AM »
Thanks - I'll give the details when this ordeal is over! But there is absolutely no doubt the damage happened in transit. And fortunately I have photos and a full inventory.

Anyone want to suggest a ballpark on how much to reduce the value?
Eg is a VG that becomes a G worth half, or 25 percent, or what? I know in posters are not as condition-fixated as with eg comics or coins, where I understand going from 9.9 to 9.8 (or whatever) can mean a huge drop in value. But any speculation on how to handle this would be welcome.

Im thinking (just guessing, tho) that a particular poster AND the title title might come into play when trying to determine that figure.

A Casablanca vs. an Antz poster, for example. 


-Jeff

Offline MoviePosterBid.com

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2017, 04:51:46 AM »
Anyone want to suggest a ballpark on how much to reduce the value?

you count the posters as a total loss where there is heavy damage for sure.
less damaged, you make other judgements.

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Offline rumble

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2017, 07:25:35 AM »
I had the insurance inspector over today and it was quite interesting. He had never seen a movie poster collection so I had to explain to him the madness that is involved! We went over the collection and used eMovieposter etc. to confirm that a small piece of crumbled up paper can literally be worth hundreds of dollars!

One very useful piece of information came out of it. I had decided to not claim the full value even of the most damaged posters, since even they have some sentimental value and would be very hard to replace. Good thing I didn't. He said that if you claim full value, the insurance inspector can literally take the items, put them in the back of the car and take them away to dispose of them! This makes sense since they are now "worthless", but apparently some people get surprised when they claim full value some personal belonging and the company takes the item right then and there. I think that is worth knowing if someone is ever in the same situation.
« Last Edit: March 03, 2017, 07:30:03 AM by rumble »

Offline MoviePosterBid.com

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2017, 01:31:55 PM »
I had the insurance inspector over today and it was quite interesting. He had never seen a movie poster collection so I had to explain to him the madness that is involved! We went over the collection and used eMovieposter etc. to confirm that a small piece of crumbled up paper can literally be worth hundreds of dollars!

One very useful piece of information came out of it. I had decided to not claim the full value even of the most damaged posters, since even they have some sentimental value and would be very hard to replace. Good thing I didn't. He said that if you claim full value, the insurance inspector can literally take the items, put them in the back of the car and take them away to dispose of them! This makes sense since they are now "worthless", but apparently some people get surprised when they claim full value some personal belonging and the company takes the item right then and there. I think that is worth knowing if someone is ever in the same situation.


yes that is correct. They paid for them, they own them & can do whatever they want with them
I had a claim once that they acytually offered to sell the art that got damaged back to me for 10% of the claim, to save a little money

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Offline Crazy Vick

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2017, 02:41:50 PM »

I had a claim once that they acytually offered to sell the art that got damaged back to me for 10% of the claim, to save a little money

bet you were all over that! 

actually my local antique store gets probably 85% of his stuff from insurance companies after flood/fire damage claims...he re-purposes, re-stains etc the best stuff and makes a killing.

« Last Edit: March 03, 2017, 02:43:50 PM by Crazy Vick »

Offline MoviePosterBid.com

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2017, 05:42:53 PM »
bet you were all over that! 

I just treated it the same way I would have treated any buy


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Offline rumble

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Re: How to assess damage for insurance claim
« Reply #12 on: June 02, 2017, 11:19:04 AM »
The compensation for the damage has safely arrived in my bank account, so I started a separate post about my experience:

http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,12118.0.html