Layout insurance


Hawkesburytrain

Hawkesburytrain

Well-Known Member
To all those that have lots invested in your train layouts.

Someone I know got his basement flooded and it affected is layout and his entire fleet. I know that if you're an NMRA member, you could get insurance from them, so I have a few questions.

- Do any of you have insured your layout and stock?, (especially those who have big layouts or lots of rolling stock)
- I have about 10K worth of rolling stock and another 20K of layout (wood, scenery, tracks, etc), as per the NMRA site that offers insurance, it would cost me about $250 blanket coverage premium. Do any of you know if it's monthly or yearly?

I'm not in a flooding zone, but my basement could flood about 4 feet if ever bad luck happens and we never know about fire or any other disaster.

What is your overall thoughts on that subject?

Thanks everyone
 
Bump

Really, no thoughts at all, no comments, no information, nobody as insured their or thought of insuring their layout?
Out of 9,700+ members not one?

If you are part of a club, I'm pretty sure the layout is insured, so you might have some answers or info.
If you have more than $5k invested in this hobby, are you insured? should you be?

Where are the helping members?
 
Hawkesburytrain said:
To all those that have lots invested in your train layouts.

Someone I know got his basement flooded and it affected is layout and his entire fleet. I know that if you're an NMRA member, you could get insurance from them, so I have a few questions.

- Do any of you have insured your layout and stock?, (especially those who have big layouts or lots of rolling stock)
- I have about 10K worth of rolling stock and another 20K of layout (wood, scenery, tracks, etc), as per the NMRA site that offers insurance, it would cost me about $250 blanket coverage premium. Do any of you know if it's monthly or yearly?

I'm not in a flooding zone, but my basement could flood about 4 feet if ever bad luck happens and we never know about fire or any other disaster.

What is your overall thoughts on that subject?
Click to expand...
Yes, I have the insurance for my trains through the company that NMRA works with. It is yearly. I have the blanket coverage for 75% of my gross estimate train value. I figured I would never loose 100%, especially with two residences and keeping some of it in the safe. I get a discount because the house where the main collection of stuff is has an alarm system, but it is still $610. The coverage is for any type of loss including theft and accidents at train shows. I mostly got it because in 2012 I was moving and I could just envision the entire trailer of trains being splatted all over the interstate somewhere.

The cheaper way to go is not with the blanket, but rather the itemized list. My problem was I spent 2 months itemizing and never even got close to having a good complete inventory. They want price paid and replacement value, so the other issue with that is one has to continually update the values as they change. For example Stewart F units (with Kato drive) were about $64 new, when discontinued they rose to $250, now with all the newer things out they've fallen back into the $40-50 range.

I think about it both ways. Right now every time I pay the premium I think, "well there is another brass locomotive I could have purchased". Odds are I will never need/use it. The main reason I kept it originally (after the move) is because i was doing a lot of shows. Now I've not done that in a long time. Now I've been keeping it because I am right in the middle of the land of OZ and consequently tornado alley. Had one miss us by 1 mile a couple years ago. Don't know what would have happened had it been a direct hit other than the trains would have been covered.
 
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I have an umbrella policy on my home owners insurance that covers not only my model railroad, but also my collection of Danbury Mint/Franklin mint diecast vehicles, I was able to give them an amount that I wanted the layout and all of the locomotives and rolling stock.
 
Check with the agent that insures your home. You may have on-premises coverage for your layout and related items, on a replacement cost basis, under your unscheduled personal property. You may have some lesser coverage for items that you take to shows and operating sessions (off-premises personal property). Be sure to ask what deductible amount would apply. This applies to the perils other than flood.

Damage caused by rising water usually is covered on an actual cash value basis, and the policy will typically be specifically for the peril of rising water. (Keyword search: NFIP.) Again, pay attention to your deductible.

Do you like the vague language I used? Policies differ from state-to-state, and certainly by country. Have your agent earn his or her commission by having them explain what you have or may need to cover your modelling investment.
 
Well thank you everyone, now I have a pretty good idea where to start.
Jazz, you hot a good point "Have your agent earn his or her commission"
Thanks again
 
Hawke,

Don't know about the $250 NMRA price tag but would think (hope that is per year). What you might consider ding is looking at your home owners insurance and increasing that to include your layout. I don't know about here but back in Oz, if you have something that is valued at or over a certain amount ($5,000 AUD I think) you can list that as a specific item on your home owners and adjust is as needed so long as it is a permanent feature in the home OR is where the item lives so to speak. When I was in Oz, I had my camera and equipment listed as a separate item for example. Just something to consider.
 
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