NRA Gun Insurance - Good or Bad???

[PRM]

Just got a partial settlement on my stolen Colt DS. Kind of a bizarre way of doing things in my opinion.

I sent the police report and all requested documentation to the NRA Insurance on my stolen DS. The process was very quick, I had a check within a week of submitting the documentation. Now for the rest:

1. The blue book value of my gun was set. More than fair by today's standards.

2. Then they depreciated the blue book value roughly 50% automatically.

3. Next, they took out their deductible and issued me a check.

I was then informed by letter that if/when I decided to replace it, they would reimburse my the additional depreciation cost with submission of a receipt up to the original blue book value.

I have since the theft replaced it - no problem there, and I expect to get my money back less the deductible. Here's my rant, suppose I didn't want to replace it? Doesn't seem right that I should be forced to accept half the value of my property.

I'm an NRA Life Member, and will continue to support their legislative efforts. However, I will be changing insurance carriers on my guns as soon as possible.

 

[leadcounsel]

Was it the free insurance, or the extra insurance?

 

[PRM]

I've got the additional, but, unless it goes over $2500, you go through the member (free) program first.

 

[leadcounsel]

I agree that it seems not right to only give you a small portion of the value.

With insurance, unless your claim is huge, it's generally better to not bother. Filing claims puts you on lists and increases premiums and makes you uninsurable with too many claims.

 

[Joke & Dagger]

A huge part of the story isn't presented. Did the reimbursement process follow the guidelines of the policy?

 

[PRM]

No, the policy does not state you are reimbursed in incremental payments based on your intent to replace items.

Apparently this has become somewhat of a common practice with homeowners policies. I had one agent tell me this morning that his company had started that because people today were basically thieves??? He went on to say that one lady who had insured her home with them had been paid $4K for damage to her roof and had gotten it repaired for half that amount. His position was that she had stolen from his company. Their adjuster did the estimate and sent her the check.

Back to the gun issue. They set the value based on their blue book. As I stated, it was more than I expected. What I don't see is the significant automatic depreciation and their position to adjust this only in the case I chose to replace the stolen gun. I have a few guns that if any thing ever happened to them, 1. I could not replace, and, 2. Probably would not want too. That does not decrease their value in the least.

 

[GI_Jared]

If you have home owners insurance you should check to see if that covers anything too. My policy covers up to $10,000 in firearms insurance, however, I am not sure if that covers stolen guns. Worth checking though....

 

[Bruno2]

My homeowners only covers $1000.00. I would check your policy . I couldn't imagine a standard Homeowners policy covering $10,000.00.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Thanks for the information on your experience. I've wondered if it's worth the effort to insure anything through NRA and haven't bothered as yet. I'll follow this with interest to see what other people post on their own experiences.


As for an agent thinking people are theives...I'm sure that's his point of view. But that's kinda stupid, in my opinion, if the customer is simply following the guidelines of the insurance policy.

If I have car insurance, for example, and my car gets totaled, I get a check for the value of the car essentially based on the depreciation value at the time it was totaled. So, if I wreck a three year old car, get a check for $20,000, then turn around and buy another car for $10,000...that's not theft. I got paid for the value of my car...what I decide to do with the money is my business.

However, if an insurance company pays out differently, that's another matter. If I wreck my car and the estimated repair to be covered is $5,000 and this payment goes directly to the repair shop, then I have no say in the matter. The car goes to the shop, gets repaired, and the insurance pays them for it.

On the subject of the lady and the roof...if the same thing happens to me and I decide to repair my roof myself, using the money to buy supplies, then it's STILL not "theft". I'm being PAID to do my OWN work.

Does theft occur? Sure. Plenty of examples, like claiming stolen items that weren't actually stolen and such. But I don't think the example of this payout is theft.

 

[Trent]

whoa. Hold the press.

I have "declared value" items. So you are basically telling me that if I had, say, a rare, IRREPLACABLE belt fed gun stolen, and there's no way in hell I can FIND a replacement, let alone BUY one, that I'm going to get stuck with a check for 50% of the value less deductible?

No.. that can't be right.

 

[Trent]

My homeowners only covers $1000.00. I would check your policy . I couldn't imagine a standard Homeowners policy covering $10,000.00.

State Farm in IL will do a 10k rider on firearms on a homeowners policy, and up to 50k or so on a separate policy. Rates are damn high compared to NRA insurance though.

My NRA insurance is "large" and is underwritten by Lloyd's of London. I'll need to go over my policy to see what language is in it about partial payoffs like the OP mentioned. That scares me; I have some rare stuff.

 

[OldTex]

It's been a while but I talked at length with my USAA agent about their replacement cost policy. It's not like he was calling his customers thieves, but the cheats have definitely affected how they do business.

Look at it this way - a replacement cost policy essentially lets you get new cost for any old gun that gets 'stolen'. That's better than a full money back guarantee. What if you had $10,000 worth of guns you didn't shoot anymore and then decided you wanted to buy a new sports car instead? A cheat could just 'lose' his guns and get a cash down payment on the car. Factor in inflation and you could get more $$ than you actually paid years ago. You could get a full money back deal on any gun you decided you didn't want anymore.

So they set up the rules that give you depreciated cost on any stolen gun unless you actually replace it, and then they give you the replacement cost. It takes away the ability of the cheats to steal them blind.

He also warned me about getting a special coverage on any 'irreplaceable' gun. If it can't be replaced, you need another kind of insurance on it.

 

[Bruno2]

Also be aware that scopes and magazines as well as everything else that isn't considered "the gun" is covered by the general possession part f the policy. I had a bunch of reloading components stolen whenever I had my house robbed. I only had about $1k of guns stole b/c the rest were in the safe. So if you make a claim be sure you know what you are talking about. A general NRA membership automatically comes with a minimum of theft insurance on firearms. I bet it isn't much but coupled with your homeowners might actually cover you r property. Even though a homeowners policy only covers $1-2k everything above and beyond typically helps to cancel out your deductible.

 

[kendak]

NRA ins. is great ...have used it twice & no problems...$75,000.00 policy with them & pleasure to deal with ...take care

 

[Bruno2]

An Insurance Company calling anybody a "thief" is probably the most ironic statement I have ever heard in my life. They are nothing but book makers. A lot of times they have the force of law behind them too. So add extortionists to the list also.

 

[rhinoh]

So they set up the rules that give you depreciated cost on any stolen gun unless you actually replace it, and then they give you the replacement cost. It takes away the ability of the cheats to steal them blind.

Not really. An unethical person could always get the cost of the replacement reimbursed and then sell it.


I agree though that cutting the payment since one isn't replacing the gun isn't right.
Back when I was in college I had a car that seemed to be an accident magnet. Several times I got hit, got the other guys insurance payment, then didn't fix it. Don't see anything wrong with that. After all the car was devalued and a lot of my time was wasted dealing with it...

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I feel that for what it costs me, the gun insurance is OK. The subscription to American Rifleman is worth the membership dues to me.

 

[PRM]

Factor in inflation and you could get more $$ than you actually paid years ago.

Yes... and should. If I bought a Colt SAA in 1969 as an investment, the MSRP was $160.00 at the time of purchase. It should appreciate in value. Homes do, land does, and so do other investments.

The point is, a person should not have to repurchase an item to keep from being paid a fraction of the items worth. As far as value - the insurance company sets the market value based on blue book numbers, not the customer. In my case, I felt 50% was a considerable amount for a firearm to depreciate that was 98+ condition. And yes, I had pictures and documentation to bear that out. I am just thankful I only lost one gun instead of my entire collection. I will be looking at other insurance/security options.