Stolen rifles and home insurance help

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone has claimed stolen guns or rifles on your home insurance before. We were recently broken into and I lost a few rifles. Looking for a little help. Is it worth it? I bought a rifle from a friend meaning no receipt, is that gonna be a problem? Thanks in advance

From what my agent told me, you have to have them listed on a seperate policy "rider" to have them covered.
Not sure if this is the same with every insurance company or not.
Sorry to hear about your loss.
Can't stand stinking thieves.

Really sorry to hear this. Check your policy or with your agent. If you have the extended coverage, it will be listed as a valuable items endorsement. HO-61BT.

Also, if your a NRA member, they provide some coverage for firearms.

Thanks guys. Lost a steyr model m professional that really bothers me, but looking at the glass half full I get to save up to buy another gun, lol

About ten years ago, two kids that were friends of my daughter got into our home, took two shotguns, sawed the barrels off, and were going to rob a store. They got caught before they entered the store, so were only charged with possession of an illegal weapon.

I filed a homeowner's claim and was reimbursed for the loss - an old Stevens double barrel and a Beretta semi-auto. I took the settlement and bought a new Browning Gold Signature!

Ended up getting the receivers back, bought a replacement barrel for the Beretta, and have never been able to find a replacement barrel for the Stevens.

Read your policy. There is usually a small limit for guns. Most of us on this board have considerably more value in guns that what is allowed by most policies.

Just need a list of make, model, serial number of the gun and optics. Increase the value on your policy. It won't cost a whole lot.

I just wrote everything down that was stolen. I had no receipts and just used at full MSRP. Insurance company said "no problem". I did have a cap on the pay out for firearms and went over it. They took that amount and used it against my deductable. All said and done I lost some clunkers and some nice stuff, but replaced it with only nice stuff.

And yes you need a rider to have firearms covered 100%.

Each company has own limits on guns and jewlery. Ask your agent before you NEED the coverage. Riders are good, but the best way to insure guns is to write a stand alone inland marine policy that covers the gun for full value. Down side to these policies is that each gun has to be listed and have an appraisal or recent sales reciept to establish the value. Upsides are small (or $0) deductibles, full value, and all perils (cause of loss) are covered.

Yes ^^^^^^^^^^ This is exactly correct and most of your inland marine, aka floater policys are cheap. But some companys will let you just add firearm coverage for a flat fee and no guns must be listed just a total number of fireams. But of course this is subject to your deductible. There are a number of options but most people just assume that all their guns are covered under their homeowners policy which is most of the time not correct.

I have a full-coverage policy on all my guns through the NRA....

I've have seen it over the years where stolen guns were payed for by insurance and later the guns recovered and now belong to the insurance agency.

When a claim is paid so the insured can replace lost or damaged property the claimant transfers all rights to property to insurance company. Most companies will allow you to buy it back if recovered.

I rather put my guns in a good safe and not worry about
the insurance.

That is a good place for them for sure. Be sure to bolt it to the slab. Given enough time, a thief could remove to whole safe and peel the back off of it to get to your guns.

I have a insurance rider and have my guns listed and appraised by a licensed gun dealer. Had this for some time now. It isn't difficult to establish most gun values. That being said, I also have a gun safe..
I don't have alot of guns now but do not want then gone nor falling into the wrong hands.

Guess I should have mentioned that I also have a good security system so the bad guys would have about three minutes to do what they want to do before the cops join them.

Say you do have coverage, How is replacement value determined on say a pre 64 model 70 or something even older? This is what bothers me. paying all the money for insurance and then finding out the claim is not worth much.

The inland marine policy I was refering to is a "stated value" policy. You would have the gun appraised and the appraisal is sent in with the insurance application. Say the gun appaises for $2,500 then the gun will be insured for $2,500. If a claim is filed the value will be $2,500. There is no deprecation.

I heard once from a buddy that the NRA insurance is easy to get but when you need to file a claim on it's near impossible to collect anything. Anyone else ever heard this?

If you are an NRA member, they used to have a deal w/the membership on one gun...but most put a rider on their policy to
cover their firearms and it's expensive...One of Skeet Shooting
Buddies had two custom tubed Kreighoffs w/tube sets and cases
stolen a few months ago..probably by some folks who lived with him and moved while he was gone...about $35K or more and he's
really hurt..DD

The NRA does have a free $2,500 policy for all it's members, but they also offer additional coverage insurance and it is not very expensive....

The premium for my policy is roughly 1.3% of the total value of my guns (per year).

You can research it more here: http://www.locktonrisk.com/nrains/ArmsCarePlus.htm

Most homeowner's policies have limits on items that are rare. In this case the inland marine policy would be the best coverage and compensation if a loss occurs.

Coverage depends on each company. Safeco (a Libert Mutual Company) is the only one I know that does not have a special limit on firearms. The policy coverage is up to your contents limit subject to deductible. I schedule the few guns I carry often so those have a $0 deductible.

A few years ago, someone (I know who...she's a third striker and out of the game now) stole 11 guns from my house. Like other have posted, you need a rider for firearms. My general policy covered the first $1000, but that is it. I could have spent that on any one of them.

Sorry for your loss and for the pain cause by some low-life that could leave your stuff alone.

I have a separate rider on my homeowners policy, very small additional charge for big piece of mind. It would be a big IF someone could get both of my safes unbolted from the floor and get them out of my house or IF a fire would burn for 1 1/2 hours without the FD showing up, but just in case.....

Oh, and one other thing people seem to overlook. Keep an updated record of your guns, including model numbers AND serial numbers. That is the only way you are going to get them back if the police ever find them.