As my collection has been growing, I find myself worrying more... It's approaching a value, where if I were to have to replace it all (or most, some are just hard to find again) from eBay in mostly working condition, I did a quick estimate, and it would take over 1 months gross salary to replace. Which means in all honestly it would probably never get replaced. I currently rent a home, and will be renting until the market in the Southern USA cools down a bit. I have a renters policy, but I think I need something that specializes in collectables, because Walkmans are no longer sold new, the insurance company would probably try to give me a value that's a depreciation from when they were new (pennies on the dollar, if that). For my classic vehicles (just a '97 Miata and '82 Goldwing, nothing fancy!) I use Hagerty - they are great - no appraisal needed, I just assign a value I think they are worth, and pay according to that assigned value. Is there a Hagerty-type insurance, USA based, that people are using and are happy with. I'm assuming it would have to be collectors insurance with no requirement for appraisal, I really doubt anyone knows how to appraise a Walkman. Thanks, all!
Wow, this is a super interesting question. I happen to know about this cause I've been here... I had a CIB SNES video game in my collection worth about $7000 at one point, and I explored a lot of options for insurance. Here's what I know: You can theoretically insure anything... but you don't *need* "walkman insurance" or "collectables insurance"... you just need 2 things: Good homeowners or renter's insurance policy. (high $$ and good terms) A catalog shared with your agent on what you own and how valuable it all is + photos. If you own Jewelry or Watches, put it in the catalog. TVs and HiFi... put it in the catalog... guns and other stuff.... you get the idea. You can get insurance for art and antiques... but this is a totally different ball of wax, and Walkmans are not included in that type of insurance... only things of REAL value, such as irreplaceable vases, paintings, and historical artifacts displayed in the home qualify for this. You can also request a bump up on coverage for most homeowner's policies, so if your walkman collection is worth more than the total policy, just talk to an agent about raising it. I will say it again, you need a good homeowner's policy with a detailed catalog of what you own + pictures to properly insure most anything of value in your home. Now... getting paid a fair amount for your Walkman collection should anything bad happen to it? That's gonna be hard. Why? Well let's say you have 20 Walkmans, worth around $200 each. That means a total value of $4,000. Proving to the insurance company that the Walkmans have value attached to them would be quite tough, because of market demand. Jewels, guns? There's a red book for that... a WM-F203... that model can be found online for both $350 and $75... so are they worth $200 each? that's ultimately an ambiguous question. On another note, a thief that would steal a walkman collection but leave other valuables? Wicked cool honestly. Not sure how much your monthly salary is, but unless it's something well past $100k, I'd say any homeowners insurance policy would cover the monetary value of any collection equaling it. I'll have to check out Hagerty. I got a '15 Boxster approaching 20k miles, currently on Progressive...
I do not really know how many boombox I have to put into a catalog. Back when I lived in apartment HELL, a few laptops I had were stolen right off of my patio so that was when I first got renters insurance and thus I lost that data & pictures and videos so there are some lost information on some of my purchases that I made back when, that I cannot account for present day. I also gave away a few boombox, and when I moved from there to here I left some broken boombox behind one of which I wish I still had a Toshiba RT-200s but I keep saying to myself do not get it, as I do not like the way it was designed on the inside. I have homeowners insurance covering these purchases. Value may be about 500K or so I am not really sure the exact number, as it changes when I sell something and or buy another. I have the knowledge of the models I like for the purpose I bought them for, so there are not any I am really looking for anymore. I did not mean list all of my youtube accounts here but that is really the only way I know of remembering just what I have and where they are at. Yes sometimes I re-watch my own video to help me remember something about a model. Present day when I make a video I try to go live in facebook and & yes & also use a Canon cam-corder to upload to youtube so I have Two videos of the same subject and I post the links to each in both places. No I do not edit my videos. I just do not have time for that. I think I have made a video about each and every boombox and or walkman I have ever owned across these five youtube's. Listed in the order that I upload to them. 1. primary started in year 2012 http://www.youtube.com/user/Cassette2Go 2. oldest and first account since the year 2007 http://www.youtube.com/user/DecentMan4you 3. I was trying to find a name for myself that I liked http://www.youtube.com/user/BoomboxCassette2Go 4. then I thought of making one just for walkmans. http://www.youtube.com/user/CassetteTapeWalkman 5. There's a long story about this one, basically the owner of this place called a picture I took, his! that I posted freely and without 'digital rights management' as I came to learn about that terminology later an it's meaning. Simply put if this person had asked me for the picture I would have given it up freely, but the way he went about it rubbed me the wrong way, so I made that account. Present day I am so over that, that I do not care anymore about it. http://www.youtube.com/user/Boomboxery Ok, I gotta stop typing. yes I re-read all this. 03 February 2024 0701 hours
For this exact reason, you need a "Digital Vault". That could mean a simple USB drive stuck in an envelope in a file cabinet, or one of those fancy encrypted ones with a screen on it. In addition, I have an automated cloud client running on all of my computers so I can always access one set of data from anywhere on any machine... the entire HDD. (iCloud) Your boombox collection may not go anywhere, but your information protecting it and cataloging it may, so have backups and digital keys.
*Yes I also have numerous Thumb-drives* from tiny 32mb to large 256Gb with backed up stuff but I have absolutly Nothing in the cloud. All my data is stored on media I can touch with my hands. I have over 23 TB I think now.
As @Recaptcha has said I am fairly confident that my home insurance would cover any monetary loss although it would be a bit awkward if they started asking how much I paid for things. Regular posters here will know that I only buy "bargains". Today's purchase was a rather nice mint in box Fuji Bridge camera for £20 in a charity shop. Two linked things which concern me are time and "New for Old". Given the money it would take years to replace all the items I have collected. I have told the story of how I spent three years looking for the same model of Amerex cassette record I had as a teenager. How do you value that ? That brings me on to "New for Old". Here in the U.K. the insurance companies seem to advertise that as being the gold standard in policies. That might be the case if the laptop you bought last year gets stolen. However, how does it work with even something fairly recent but now discontinued like an iPod ? Going back about twenty years a girlfriend complained several times about her VCR. The one she bought and chose got stolen. The insurance company replaced it "New for Old" with a Samsung which she didn't think was as good. "That is what you get" was their answer when she queried it. It don't know how they would replace a VCR these days. I could point them to an eBay seller in the Netherlands who normal has some good ones, typically for three times the price of what I paid for mine new. Finally, a good idea of having a photo archive. I haven't done that specifically but all my family photos are duplicated on a couple of hard drives kept in a different building about a mile from here.
That is a great point... and yes I can confirm that this is the same idea here in the US. Even with simple manufacturer warranties on consumer electronics, you will most likely get a newer model if your device breaks and the product had a short production/life span. (e.g. TVs... there is a new model every 8 months or so and manufacturers' aren't usually sitting on tons of old stock) Insurance companies for homeowners do the same thing, they will either give you the monetary value of something, or what they call a 'suitable replacement'... which for @walkmandude would be some new walkman style cassette player or maybe an MP3 player or the like.
New for old insurance, Hmmm. I have a Canon Camera and a JVC vcr dvd/vhs both new in the box just waiting for the time, when both of these fail working then I can still relive the past using that equipment as I have been using the same older models of them all along from long ago to the present.
@Recaptcha so you are getting at the root of my question and concern - that most insurance doesn't really understand collections of vintage items, especially electronics. Yes, I could set my total insurance policy to $10K, $100K, etc. but still get paid $30 per Walkman because my near mint WM-DD33 or '-D6 is no longer in production and the $30 Amazon special is the most suitable replacement they can find. What I am really trying to find is an insurance for collectibles that's like my Hagerty insurance for my "collectible" cars - where they don't make any attempt to value it - they let me assign the value, and I pay insurance relative to the value I assigned. Or maybe someone who has had experience making a claim for vintage electronics, to shed some light on how they value them.
My insurance is new for old, like a few people here have. I have only ever made one claim, I accidentally broke my cartridge. When I spoke to them about it, once they had agreed it was broken, they said they are not experts on finding replacement they asked me where I would get a new one from. I pointed them a site with it on, the looked at it and they paid me £2800 as the cartridge was £3000 at the time and my excess was £200. So, I guess if I was to break or lose a Walkman, I would just point them at what I can find and say that is the price of replacement.
Maybe I am missing something, but I don't see how 'collectable insurance' under those terms could work... and I'm not following what you are saying about Hagerty. According to Hagerty, they work with you to value your collectable vehicle THEN give you a policy based on those terms... not seeing anything about them making no attempt to value your car as you have said. They write the policy, they value the vehicle. It would be insanely short sided for any insurance company to write a 'blank check' policy, where they agree to pay whatever value you assign. Now where their flexibility comes from according to them is adjusting your rates based on how much you drive those cars. Mileage based auto insurance is not new, but Hagerty has good reviews in this area, so it's very much worth it for garaged classics and collectable vehicles that see little to no use. Where I think you are getting hung up here is on cash value vs stated value. Stated value is what you tell the insurance company your stuff is worth, guaranteed value is what they are willing to pay out given the need. Typically, insurance companies pay whatever ends up being less, the cash value or the stated value. Now Hagerty, uses agreed value... and this works differently. You work with them to agree on a compromised value between your initial stated value, and their researched cash value. This is when the policy can be written and instated. Makes great sense, and accounts for the fact the car is valuable, and is also YOUR pride and joy.... unique and one of a kind. There is no way you are going to find anyone willing to offer the kind of policy you want for vintage electronics. There are just too many risks involved. For example, there is a Sony WM-W800 for sale right now on eBay for $10,000. Does that mean I can get someone to insure mine for that amount even though I paid $120? Well, if it's the only example, wouldn't they have too? Nope. Like many others have said here, Homeowners is all you need, and it will cover the value of anything you can A. declare the value of and document and B. prove is actually worth the amount by showing another example for the stated value. TooCool4 has a great story about their phono cart, but that's a pipe dream for us in the USA (unless your policy is damn good).
Was that for a new cartridge? No matter how esoteric the item, things will be far easier if there is a manufacturers website with prices etc. Back to new for old, this morning I was reading that Korg is about to re-issue one of their classic 1970s synthesizers. Because only about 50 were made they have been fetching over £80000. The re-issue will incorporate a number of improvements and be made to order for £13000. You would rightly be a bit miffed if you got new for old, although I expect the reissue will cause the price of originals to drop. That has made me think it would be worth @walkmandude looking at how musical instruments are insured. I know little about guitars but know that a genuine 1959 Les Paul is worth ten timex a modern one (which is still around £5000.
Yes that was for a new replacement. If I were to lose say my Sony WM-DD9, we all know they are no longer made. I would just look for a working replacement, point them at it and say this is what it will cost me to replace it. Yes my contents insurance is premium cover new for old, it's not cheap nor is it the most expensive cover out there. My brother and my girl friend think I pay too much, but you only really know how good your policy is when you need to claim.
Thanks, all. Some food for thought. I really need to look into my Hagerty collector car insurance as well. From their website and descriptions during sign-up and changes, it appears to just let you "set your value" and of course as I have raised this a few times over the years. I skimmed through the pages and pages of fine print on my declaration, but have not read every word slowly. Of course, the insurance rates have raised proportionally as I have increased the value. Now I'm wondering if they are just being purposefully misleading.
I think you can have a collection insured and if individual pieces are worth more than usual, they will have to be documented. One of my favorite shows is Antiques Roadshow and they always say "I'd insure it for $xx,xxx." There's companies that do collectables, I've never used one but maybe should start thinking about it. I've got a little of everything and even my vintage metal working equipment is seeing growing value. Here's one but I have no experience with them. https://collectinsure.com/ At the bare minimum, home-owners or renter's insurance in the USA will cover some theft. Home-owners will also cover stuff stolen out of your car but many have a deductible starting at $500, maybe more. Even if you don't have specific insurance, I'd walk around and snap photos or take a long video of your stuff.
I love antiques roadshow; there is such a potpourri of items on there and it's so relaxing to watch. I've seen this CIS insurance advertised a lot on that program (that one ad with the Ming era vase), and people generally have really good things to say about it from my research. In fact, some of my friends who collect comic books and baseball cards choose them. They have a list here of all they insure... and there's a lot. Art, furniture, history, music collections (cds and records), and ofc the common collectables like baseball cards, stamps, and coins. They even insure vintage tools, so @Mister X , you are covered. They seem to really be geared toward antiques, art, and collectables... ya know, all the stuff you see on antiques roadshow. The only type of electronics they mention is 'antique radios'. Not sure how they would approach the OPs Walkman Collection, but apparently they see value in beer cans, so our unique hobby of Walkman collecting is not so obscure so that it would be overlooked by them I'd say. Keep in mind, even the roadshow puts items worth less than a grand or so in the 'feedback booth'... a kinda "o'well at least we got to be on television" segment near the end of the show, so if a vintage walkman is the type of item to land you at the feedback booth, you may want to think twice about a CIS policy. I find these terms really interesting on their site: " What is NOT covered: ... ... voluntary parting with covered property; loss or damage while being worked on by you or others working on your behalf; and mysterious disappearance." That second statement is what could hang you up as a walkman collector. If you work on your device, or someone else does, and even if it breaks sometime later in an unrelated incident to that repair, it may be easy for CIS to determine that the walkman has been apart and that work has been done to it.
