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Pinball insurance

Ian w all the way for me I have my business and and home insurance with him Paul is an absolute delight to deal with and really knows his stuff
I found as soon as you mentioned Pinball to insurers they have no criteria for it and most can’t be bothered
 
ianw said:
I've just read the policy, I read it as only £10k for the contents in outbuildings, even if not High risk items
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Yeah it's because I'm an idiot and I'm conflating buildings and contents. You're absolutely right, contents £10k in outbuildings and building insurance unlimited.
 
John Lewis are good, but expensive. They are one of the only insurers that would cover my set up. I have two garages with pinball machines and arcade machines in. One is right next to my house and the other is 150 meters down the road. The one right next to my house is fine as it on the same land as my house. Had real problems finding cover for the other garage as it's on a separate plot of land and no one offers content insurance for a stand alone garage. John Lewis was the only one that would add it as Specified Content and give me cover, but that had to go through a special team and is almost twice the price of my previous content insurance. 🤯 Even Ian W wasn't able to find cover for this situation.
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Ok, Lloyds have just got back to me. They have given me a new policy with unlimited buildings and unlimited contents with garage included. They have classed the machines as non high value items so no cap on individual value otherwise it would be a £3k cap per item. Machines have been noted on policy.
The new policy with better cover from the same people is £250 less, so now £715.

Thanks to Paul for the quote and sorry I couldn’t give him my business, very nice to deal with.
 
M4carp said:
Ok, Lloyds have just got back to me. They have given me a new policy with unlimited buildings and unlimited contents with garage included. They have classed the machines as non high value items so no cap on individual value otherwise it would be a £3k cap per item. Machines have been noted on policy.
The new policy with better cover from the same people is £250 less, so now £715.

Thanks to Paul for the quote and sorry I couldn’t give him my business, very nice to deal with.
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Good stuff - Paul is great to deal with, but sadly the same issue for me. It was sadly too pricey (with he thought it would be as we were going through the quote).
 
In the event of a claim for a second hand pinball machine ie not one paid for NIB. How would you be able to prove the value of a 90s game that’s changed hands a dozen times. There’s no book like there is with cars. Especially if you had expensive mods. It’s not something I would reckon you would have an easy time claiming for.
 
Supersprint said:
In the event of a claim for a second hand pinball machine ie not one paid for NIB. How would you be able to prove the value of a 90s game that’s changed hands a dozen times. There’s no book like there is with cars. Especially if you had expensive mods. It’s not something I would reckon you would have an easy time claiming for.
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Your sum insured on a normal policy needs to cover new for old, so nib price and you need to be careful you have enough cover or average applies.

On our policy we agree a value for the pins.
 
Resurrecting this topic as I'm also going through a new home insurance proposal with Halifax.

They just told me that pins are considered high risk and any worth > £3000 need to be named on the policy, mainly due to the chance of fire/flood damage. This is at odds with what @MartinY mentioned, and it's strange they are not consistent.
 
thewool said:
Resurrecting this topic as I'm also going through a new home insurance proposal with Halifax.

They just told me that pins are considered high risk and any worth > £3000 need to be named on the policy, mainly due to the chance of fire/flood damage. This is at odds with what @MartinY mentioned, and it's strange they are not consistent.
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Policies will vary from Insurance Company to Insurance Company. One will tell you they are an additional cost on the policy and one will tell you it's included. Usually on a home policy you have a value listed that "covers the cost of the contents in your house". This includes all your clothing, your carpets, your stereo, your television and on some policies, if you have an attached garage, even your car. Insurance companies love LOVE to charge you on top of your normal monthly policy fee. I use to have my wife's wedding ring on our policy. It was costing us an additional $50/mth to cover it. We had it insured for nearly 4 years until we thought about it and said WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING? At $50/mth that was $600/annually so over 4 years we just blew $2400 insuring it. On our new policy (we switched companies) it is included under the "contents" amount.

If you have a 8 pins valued at $10K each, my advice would be to bump up your "contents" to cover the pins and make sure everything is well documented (photos, receipts, serial numbers) and make sure to email them into your Insurance Co. Extra insurance on top of your insurance is just a suckers game.
 
Fifty said:
If you have a 8 pins valued at $10K each, my advice would be to bump up your "contents" to cover the pins and make sure everything is well documented (photos, receipts, serial numbers) and make sure to email them into your Insurance Co. Extra insurance on top of your insurance is just a suckers game.
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In my experience (YMMV), it depends on where they are. If in the house then some want them as named items, some dont.
If they are outside the MAIN house (in a garage/Shed etc) is where cover gets severely limited... (lost seem to be £500 max limit per item).

Cant beat @ianw and the team there that offer dedicated Pin insurance.
 
Another who uses @ianw because pins are in the cabin and we also have some art works that are named on the policy. The cost to get all this covered with @ianw wasn’t higher than a regular policy once I started to ask for proper coverage.
Having had to make a claim, I can say the process was extremely reasonable.
 
thewool said:
Resurrecting this topic as I'm also going through a new home insurance proposal with Halifax.

They just told me that pins are considered high risk and any worth > £3000 need to be named on the policy, mainly due to the chance of fire/flood damage. This is at odds with what @MartinY mentioned, and it's strange they are not consistent.
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They said this to me too originally. I restated their definition of high risk (which certainly doesn't include pinballs) and the manager came on and confirmed that they weren't high risk and were covered under the basic policy. Had that sent to me in writing also.

I think sometimes you simply get a basic response as soon as anything gets technical.

Sadly insurance through @ianw didn't work for me with high rebuild and contents value.
 
MartinY said:
They said this to me too originally. I restated their definition of high risk (which certainly doesn't include pinballs) and the manager came on and confirmed that they weren't high risk and were covered under the basic policy. Had that sent to me in writing also.

I think sometimes you simply get a basic response as soon as anything gets technical.

Sadly insurance through @ianw didn't work for me with high rebuild and contents value.
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I should add, Halifax have been excellent through the claims process. Had to use them twice now and absolutely no drama either time.
 
thewool said:
Resurrecting this topic as I'm also going through a new home insurance proposal with Halifax.

They just told me that pins are considered high risk and any worth > £3000 need to be named on the policy, mainly due to the chance of fire/flood damage. This is at odds with what @MartinY mentioned, and it's strange they are not consistent.
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Call your insurance company and get in writing to cover your backside.
If you are unsure and not happy go with Ian as he will look after you I’m pretty sure.
Best to be safe than sorry.

I needed unlimited buildings cover which Ian couldn’t do at the time.

Lloyds bank are pretty good and no issues with any claims I have had yet.
 
Ref insurance.
You only know how good it is when you claim.....
Theft isn’t really going to happen. Fire/flood maybe.
Just list them separately on your insurance. But you’d have to inform them when you sell one and buy another with serial numbers etc on a home policy.
Also after COVID all insurance will be going up. The same happened after 9/11.
 
I also went with Ianw when I noticed a new clause of no single item over 2k on my direct line policy. Read your policy very carefully.
 
When I took out my contents insurance we'd already decided we would be moving within 12 months so I decided to pay monthly by direct debit. For some bizarre reason home insurance paid in this way shows up as an unsecured loan on your credit history. Something to be aware of.
 
Just to point out again one of the most important things here that Ian briefly mentioned above last year... Almost all insurance policies provide reinstatement (new for old) cover so your Contents sum insured needs to be adequate to replace all of your pins at comparable, alternative NIB prices (say a Pro model from Phil) PLUS all your other Contents. Imagine a total loss fire.... If your sum insured is too low to include them all (even if it's a partial loss) average applies and your claim payment will be reduced to reflect the under-insurance.

Ian's policy (which I also have) has indemnity cover for pins i.e. their second hand value at the time of loss which I review and update every year. Much more sensible for me and likely others with a large collection, otherwise the sum insured and premium will be high. The allowance for pins in outbuildings (which all of mine are), plus cover for taking up to two to shows is ideal.

I don't work for Ian and correct me @ianw if needed.
 
@JMP - I worked on an insurance claim many years ago when basically an awful lot of Evesham and other areas got majorly flooded.

The guy had 8 pinballs and the water got into the cabinet.

The insurance company offered him either brand new machines (was early 200s and most of his machines classic bally/williams) - but they paid a fortune for me to replace bases in cabinets, refurbing cabinets and servicing games as he did not want new games. In fact, you would of struggled to buy 8 new in box games back then. This was the customers choice.

The chap who had them done had the whole of his home flooded and the pinballs are a tiny part. He had a porsche that was totally under water all but 5 inches.

My current personal policy for home insurance covers me for a jukebox up to £5K in value, and two pinballs up to £3K each (this needs increasing.....).

I also would say what Ian and Phil (Dixon) have said is absolutely correct, check the wording.....
 
Yeah, it's understandable people wanting the same titles again rather than NIB and good that the insurer worked with them on the case you mention rather than just saying order new ones. I suspect some companies won't understand the difference between one pinball and another ! Just wanted to highlight the basis of settlement in order to calculate an adequate sum insured.... I meet loads of people under-insured without knowing.
 
Pick Holder said:
@JMPMy current personal policy for home insurance covers me for a jukebox up to £5K in value, and two pinballs up to £3K each (this needs increasing.....).
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If that's reinstatement basis (subject to discussion/repair if feasible when something happens) then you're probably less than half what you need to be on your pins 😬
 
JMP said:
Yeah, it's understandable people wanting the same titles again rather than NIB and good that the insurer worked with them on the case you mention rather than just saying order new ones. I suspect some companies won't understand the difference between one pinball and another ! Just wanted to highlight the basis of settlement in order to calculate an adequate sum insured.... I meet loads of people under-insured without knowing.
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Absolutely bang on, I have just changed my business insurance for my new workshop. I only had £20K for goods that are left with me to do work on. It is very common one thing can be worth £8K
 
I went with Ian and couldn't be more pleased.

Paul called up, was very friendly and knew exactly what a pinball machine was and even the difference between all the variants. I now have my machines individually listed on the policy which gives me peace of mind.

Also worth noting that the policy is very competitive and far less hassle to arrange than usual home insurance.

Top job 👍
 
I had an extremely competitive deal for the last 3 years. Now I tried upping another 30k of contents cover.
Coy added to the premium which I'm happy to pay but they also asked for a monitored alarm. :(
I don't do alarms, sorry..... look crap and p!ss neighbors off.
I'm happy with my discreet CCTV.
So..... I'm trying to get a clause for fire/flood on contents or malicious damage to building resulting in contents damage. In short, remove theft. Not many insurers will offer this.
Yes, there's a risk but I can mitigate it.
 
AlanJ said:
I had to go monitored alarm, it's the only way to get insured once you hit a certain level. ffs.
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Hey Alan, was it monitored or maintained alarm (or both) I seem to get conflicting info off insurance companies.
Believe it or not, I had buildings with ***k cover contents with all my pins and HV items for 300 quid a year.
Soon as I wanted buildings with ***k (+ 30k)contents cover they want the Alarm and 400 quid per year. Without the Alarm it had to go to different underwriter and 1k for buildings + contents combined.
That’s why I’m looking at buildings cover with a fire/flood policy for contents only.
 
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AlanJ said:
It is monitored and then because it is monitored, you need it maintained every year as well. best part of £400 a year.
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Ffs 🤦‍♀️..... awesome there’s an emoji for this 😂
So the installation most likely 600-700 quid then the yearly cost as well.
Interesting.
I did a quote with John Lewis.
If you remove the monitored alarm, it adds 50 quid to the quote.
 
All depends where you live and value of the contents. I got away with a bells only alarm.

But still paid 1800ish... ffs and im in the business, not allowed to insure staff.
 
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