Does Your Homeowners Insurance Cover Your Firearms?

Insurance Blog

Firearms are a popular investment. Not only can they be used to protect your family, hunt for food and just to enjoy shooting at the range, in many cases, the value of the firearms increases over time. If you have an extensive collection of firearms, or very valuable firearms in your home, do you know if your homeowners insurance will cover the cost of replacing them if they were to be lost in a fire or stolen?

Understand the Sub-limit

In most cases, your homeowners insurance has a sub-limit pertaining to your firearms. This means that your firearms will only be covered up to a set dollar amount. For example, if the sub-limit on firearms on your policy is set at $2,500, you will only be paid up to $2,500 towards the replacement of those firearms. This means that if your firearms are worth more than that, you will not be able to recover the money that you need to replace them.

Appraise the Firearms

Take your firearms to your local firearms expert and appraiser to learn the true value of the firearms. Having a written appraisal and knowing the true value of the firearms can help to ensure that you have enough protection through your homeowners insurance to cover the cost of replacement.

Contact Your Agent

Once you learn the true value of the firearms, it is time to contact your agent to learn what the sub-limit is on your policy and discuss adding a rider to your policy. If the value of the firearms exceeds the sub-limit, you can add a rider to your policy that will increase the coverage of the firearms to cover the cost of replacement.

If your firearm collection is extremely valuable, your agent may suggest that you take out a stand-alone policy to cover the firearms. Stand-alone policies are specifically tailored to meet the needs of those with rare or very valuable firearms in the collection.

Know the Requirements

Some insurance policies require that the firearms be kept in a safe or secure room. The insurance company wants to ensure that you are doing everything in your power to ensure that the firearms are not easily stolen and are protected to the best of your ability to decrease the likelihood of the company having to pay out for a huge loss.

Talk with your homeowners insurance agent to learn more about protecting your firearms from complete loss following a disaster or theft.

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