Insurance - Are your cigars covered

[NicintheUK]

A recent burglary got me thinking about whether my cigars were insured. I did a quick poll of my friends and asked a major UK collector. The results may get you thinking, or ringing your insurance broker: http://joom.ag/ihTp/p30#.ViVifBzUoHM.mailto

[Bartolomeo]

Unfortunately not abled to be covered in the US

Hope all is well in your situation Nic

[luv2fly]

unfortunately in the US we can't insure something that we "destroy" on a regular basis. Hope all is well with you Nic.

[stogieluver]

unfortunately in the US we can't insure something that we "destroy" on a regular basis. Hope all is well with you Nic.

Not to mention illegal. But then on second thought, who would know?

Best just to hope for the best, I guess.

[Smallclub]

I met a an aficionado here in France who insured his collection after he was burgled for the 3rd time. He had to provide all the invoices and was "forced" to buy exactly the same cigars as those that had been stolen from him. Complicated but …refunded.

[Ken Gargett]

had a massive fight with a scumbag insurance company (here's looking at you, CGU) when a dodgy humidor damaged $5k of top cigars (water issue - long story but it was a totally legit claim).

had some special moments, such as their investigator saying, 'you have a fish tank in your room. could it have caused it?'

"so, could water have escaped from the tank, run across the desk, leapt onto the filing cabinet, run UP the filing cabinet and got into the humidor? is that what you are asking?"

his response - i have to check everything.

needless to say, claim rejected.

then went through their "independent" review.

when that was rejected, i questioned why, when it was supposedly "independent", were they writing to me on CGU letterhead.

the gent said i was to think of it like a judge deciding on a case involving the government.

i asked him to hold on while i wrote that down.

why would i want to do that?

because every judge i know (grew up around them, family friends, uncles etc etc) is going to be so happy to be compared with a shonky insurance stooge.

in australia, we have the best thing in the world - the insurance ombudsman. the insurance companies are terrified of that office. any claim refused can be taken to him. when i did it, the company had to pay $5k just to defend the claim (and even if they win, they never see it again). i believe that is now $20 or $25k.

the ombudsman found 100% in my favour. rarely had so much fun.

another occasion (forgive the diversion from cigars), i discovered my mother had chased an insurance company for 6 months to get paid (involved about $20k) and they had come up with every excuse and delay possible (there is nothing that can be done to these scum that is too extreme).

the day i found out, a quick call to thank them for the trouble they had gone to and not to worry further. it would obviously be something that the ombudsman could easily fix. cheque arrived within 2 days.

in australia, i don't care how weak you think your claim might be, take it to the ombudsman. at the very least, you'll piss off the insurance company monumentally. they deserve nothing less.

[treberty]

Great story.

When I called my insurance company once to enquire if my cigars were covered the guy simply said no, after checking with his supervisor. Then I told him there was no difference between a wine collection and cigars and that wine could be insured he simply said that it was the company's policy. Great answer.

[subiemech]

All smokes stored in my OLH are insured. Another great service provided by our host

[NCPANTHERZFAN]

Mine are only insured by Heckler & Koch. ?

[rmill3r]

Hahahahahahahaha.....oh boy.

If only my humidor had enough to warrant insurance.

[skalls]

Sig Sauer here lol

[Stogieninja]

Nope. Turns out you can't insure stuff you're not legally allowed to own. Ah well. I'm a small fish with a relatively small collection anyway. Maybe $2k in total value, and my deductible is at least $1k.

[Fosgate]

I'm a dirty rotten field claims rep/adjuster. Now you guys got me wondering and digging through my companies policy. The general rule my company uses this.

1. Is the cause of loss SUDDEN and ACCIDENTAL to determine if it is a covered cause of loss? Under Household Personal Policy we have "Special" Cause of loss and "Named" cause of loss. Named is usually something like 15 cause of losses. Special is everything else with only a few exceptions like ground water, earth movement, war, riot and a couple others.

2. Is it a "Blanket" or "Scheduled" personal property. Scheduled is exactly what it means, everything that is covered is on the schedule with limits named. Blanket on the other hand will have a few major things listed but it also covers everything (Like a blanket) that is not named on the schedule.) So basically if it is not specifically excluded in the policy..it is covered.

3. Actual Cash Value vs Replacement Cost. Actual cash value would be tougher to prove, this is going to pay you for exactly what it says, Actual Cash Value which can be determined by an average of what the market says it is or they can hire a third party to determine the value and this is where you often face not what you may be able to buy it for but what dealers can buy it for..you know..before taxes, shipping etc. Replacement Cost is exactly what it means. How much to have them sitting back in my possession with a reasonable effort to find similar property. This can mean, not from who or where you want them to come from but a seller of their choice. There is a reason for this and that reason is universal with autos, We are going to pay you for replacement by establishing a reasonable local cost vs paying for someone who wants to buy their replacement vehicle 1400 miles away.

Now I just searched my companies policy. How our policy basically flows is three levels, First it has a broad coverage named, next subsection it takes away much coverage. Finally the next sub section gives coverage back with the declared percentages, amounts circumstances etc. When I searched the policy in Adobe there was not one reference to "Tobacco" or "Cigar" So I would argue with my company if it is not excluded it is covered if the loss is sudden, accidental. There may be some discrepancy in coverage if HPP is not Blanket and RPL Cost.

So if it is covered now what? First, have photos with date embedded with the photo (apps for smartphones will allow you) If you have receipts great, inventory is a plus, if not, find them for me and provide me the numbers you come up with just as you would providing a repair estimate on your house. As an adjuster I would ask questions like. How often do you smoke? Do others smoke with you? If so how many? Do you provide them with a smoke? If so how often and how many? When did you buy these? Where did you buy them. and the list goes on. Reason being is we want to know how many you may have since your last inventory. My company is pretty liberal when it comes to making payments on claims. We look for a reason to pay rather than a reason not to pay. We trust but always verify.(We have to in this country when 1/3 of your premium is paid to pay fraudulent claims and frivolous lawsuits.).

In all honestly if a guy has $4k in cigars and can back up all the proof that allows me to value them properly without having to hire an expert etc the better. Pay it and move on to the farmer who just burned down a half million dollar combine that he needs over the next few weeks to go harvest his annual income for the year and I have a mile of paperwork and phone calls to get the ball rolling. Cigars? Or the Vet my insureds negligence just turned into a paraplegic on a respirator the rest of his life. Stroke a check for the cigars and move on.

[Ken Gargett]

my policy was an accidental damage policy. i spoke to various loss assessors and other insurance experts - legal/commercial etc - prior to the rejection. every single one was 100% convinced that i would have not the slightest problem with the claim. there was no room for any doubt. i also had an 'expert's valuation' as to the amount of loss. and yet it was rejected and then they had staff fight it for more than a year, as well as pay the amount of the claim into the ombudsman. crazy.

when i finally got the judgement, i was promised an immediate cheque. needless to say, it never fronted. they have three weeks to pay or suffer further sanctions. i spoke to the bloke again and he said he could not pay the cheque as yet. i asked why.

he said that they had to be sure i was happy with the amount - despite the two of us having already discussed it. i pointed out the decision was 100% in my favour. would they be prepared to pay more? obviously not.

so i told him that if i did not have the cheque by close of business wed, the cut off for the 3 weeks (and this was tuesday) then first thing thursday i would return to the ombudsman. even if i got the cheque thursday morning, i would still report them.

he put me through to "crystal" or "amber" or "tiffany" or someone from their accounts. she said she would send a cheque to my brokers. i said she would not do that as i had sacked them.

oh, why did you do that?

because they recommended you lot.

she told me she would not be able to get the cheque to me by wed. i asked her full name. she told me and asked me why i wanted her name. i told her it was as hers would be the second name i gave to the ombudsman in the complaint. she burst into tears (any flicker of sympathy was extinguished by recalling that she chose to work for them).

i spent most of wed preparing the letter to the ombudsman. checked my mail at close of business and there was the cheque. never been so disappointed to get $5k.

i was later told, by someone who claimed to have worked with this company, that the internal policy was to deny every possible policy and fight them. the odds are most people give up. then there are stubborn bastards like me.

[Fosgate]

I've heard many stories like that. I could not imagine working for such a company who's policy it is to deny when it is owed. There are a lot of them out there. I worked for one once where people had their car dropped in the front of their house and a claims rep came and saw it and never contacted them back.....for over two months. I had a workers comp claim once where the adjuster was dragging their feet, not calling me back, giving me updates after I was on top of my game providing all the documents needed in a timely manner. I know claims people are very busy and often understaffed but If I send something and request confirmation of receipt and update and no one responds for two weeks or another two weeks after I call again, then I have a problem. I called the state Division of Insurance and within 24hours of filing my complaint the DOI called me and a few hours later the adjusters boss called me and had a check in my hand a few days later.

[Ken Gargett]

fos, i know there are good people in the game. one of my great mates was an assessor for years but out of it now. grew to hate the companies and the way they work so much. another of my best mates actually set up his own company years ago when he was across in england.

not sure if australia is worse than other places but so many stories like these. i doubt anyone here fully trusts an insurance company. which is a shame.

[OZCUBAN]

I hate Insurance companies

[Squarehead]

I hate Insurance companies

Who doesn't

[PapaDisco]

Amazing that you can insure for a humidifier failure! I never would have thought that possible.

[drunkbuckeye]

Then again some celebrities insure body parts. Just sayin

[Homebrew]

I once, was participating in a boxpass, in the US. The boxpass contained, both Cuban cigars, and noncuban cigars. Needless to say, the parcel was lost. I had insured the package, and since I had the insurance receipt, I had to file a claim with the postal service. They required me to show an inventory, of all the cigars contained in the pass, as well as have the value certified by an expert, in the field. Luckily, most Cuban cigars, have a Non-Cuban knockoff, so I put them down as the noncuban variety. Then I went to my local tobacconist, with the list. Since I was a regular customer, at the time, he went through the list, and calculated the value, including the exorbitant tobacco taxes, levied in Arkansas USA, and gave me a slightly exaggerated quote, due to aforementioned taxes, and I was able to collect for the OP of the boxpass. It was a pain in the ass, but all turned out well.

Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)

[Havanaaddict]

Top Alarm when away and Mr. 9 MM if at home

[mk05]

That's why I keep telling people to sleep with their cigars and take them on walks, so they remember how to get home.

[Colt45]

a dodgy humidor damaged $5k of top cigars

Is that the one you got from Ayala?

[Ken Gargett]

Is that the one you got from Ayala?

in australia, we don't have the "5th", but if we did...