Basement flooded

[limpy]

What is the name of your state? MD

Hello to all..

On friday my basement flooded and I had about 5-6 inches of standing water for 5-6 hours. The power went out and the sump pump backed up and flooded. I have the endorsment on my insurance that covers this event. Everything is ruined and I hope to get most of the stuff back. The one thing that I am most worried about is my personal collection of trading cards. I have about 10,000 to 20,000 cards with a total book value of 50-75K. You may ask why they were in the basement? My wife and I are selling the house and we took much of our stuff that was packed and put it down there so the house would show better. Once this happened I did not think about it for a few days. Once I remembered the cards were down there I took them out and set them up to dry. I do not have insurance on the cards because I never had a problem with them nor would I have thought about it. Most of the cards are vauled around $5-$10 a piece. I have a few that are vauled around $1000 and about 50 to 75 around $50-$100. My question is 1. now that the cards are garbage am I going to get the market vaule back for them? 2 if not what could happen? I was told to make a list of all the cards but I have 10-20 thousand cards it would take me months to type everything out. Could I just show them the cards and call it a day? 3, how do they find the vaule of the cards? 4, Should I hire a public adjuster or a lawyer to fight for me?

 

[Betty]

What is the name of your state? MD

Hello to all..

On friday my basement flooded and I had about 5-6 inches of standing water for 5-6 hours. The power went out and the sump pump backed up and flooded. I have the endorsment on my insurance that covers this event. Everything is ruined and I hope to get most of the stuff back. The one thing that I am most worried about is my personal collection of trading cards. I have about 10,000 to 20,000 cards with a total book value of 50-75K. You may ask why they were in the basement? My wife and I are selling the house and we took much of our stuff that was packed and put it down there so the house would show better. Once this happened I did not think about it for a few days. Once I remembered the cards were down there I took them out and set them up to dry. I do not have insurance on the cards because I never had a problem with them nor would I have thought about it. Most of the cards are vauled around $5-$10 a piece. I have a few that are vauled around $1000 and about 50 to 75 around $50-$100. My question is 1. now that the cards are garbage am I going to get the market vaule back for them? 2 if not what could happen? I was told to make a list of all the cards but I have 10-20 thousand cards it would take me months to type everything out. Could I just show them the cards and call it a day? 3, how do they find the vaule of the cards? 4, Should I hire a public adjuster or a lawyer to fight for me?

You said you don't have ins. on the cards - did the ins. co. still say they would pay for them under one of your homeowner's ins. coverages that you do have? This is a problem when documentation & valuation of the cards wasn't done previously. The burden of proof is on you to prove value. How do you prove to the adjustor how much each of your cards was worth? If they pay, you will probably get paid for "average" cards when many of yours might have been in mint condition. Some cos. pay mkt. value & some have a dollar limit on card collections. You said they are currently "garbage" - it's according to how bad they look whether it would be worth you getting a value from an appraiser. P.S. I'm sorry about your collection.

 

[limpy]

You said you don't have ins. on the cards - did the ins. co. still say they would pay for them under one of your homeowner's ins. coverages that you do have? This is a problem when documentation & valuation of the cards wasn't done previously. The burden of proof is on you to prove value. How do you prove to the adjustor how much each of your cards was worth? If they pay, you will probably get paid for "average" cards when many of yours might have been in mint condition. Some cos. pay mkt. value & some have a dollar limit on card collections. You said they are currently "garbage" - it's according to how bad they look whether it would be worth you getting a value from an appraiser. P.S. I'm sorry about your collection.

First thank you for the response.. And thank you for your thoughts on my collection. It is a shame but If I can get fair market vaule for the cards it will be easier to get them back.

For the coverage I was told that it should be covered because of the Water Backup or Sump Pump Overflow coverage I have. But I can not be 100% sure. Well there are several books that give prices based on national averages at stores. No one has came out to adjust the damage. It has been over a week since it has happened. The cards were in mint condition but they are garbage because of the water damage. Is this something that I can go off of? Also what is the odds that I would be able to get everything replaced? I

This is what my insurance has...

Dwelling $413,000
Personal Property $309,750
Loss of Use $82,600
Personal Liability - Each Occurrence $300,000
Medical Payments to Others - Each Person $1,000

Water Backup or Sump Pump Overflow $25.00
Home Protector Provides an additional 25% of Dwelling coverage. $105.94
Replacement Cost (Personal Property) $95.34


Any clue on what I should do to be able to recoup my losses on the cards?

 

[tammy8]

Remember every state is different but I think in NC collectibles are not covered for the "value" since the values go up and down due to demand. They may even be excluded. I remember a claim from yrs ago when beany babies were the rage. An insured's home was broken in to and she has over 200 beany babies stolen. Some were valued over $200 but she only got purchase price and for some reason $6 stands out in my mind. Last time I looked at ball cards, I believe the price was about 28 cents each.

Sorry about the cards.

 

[limpy]

I was told that a home that is broken into and if things such as collectables are stolen it is very hard to collect. in my case I have the cards here at my house and you can touch and see them. Does that matter?

 

[Betty]

I was told that a home that is broken into and if things such as collectables are stolen it is very hard to collect. in my case I have the cards here at my house and you can touch and see them. Does that matter?

Yes (if your ins. pol. pays for that type of loss - loss of cards) since you have them you don't have to prove they exist. If they were stolen & you had no documentation, pictures, appraisal or something to show you had them, it would be rather hard to prove that you did including #, what they were cards of, etc.

 

[weenor]

OP the problem that you will in obtaining anything close to what they are worth is as Betty says, there was no appraisal prior to the flood. In addition most insurance companies would require you to obtain a special endorsement to the policy for high value collectible items.

 

[limpy]

OP the problem that you will in obtaining anything close to what they are worth is as Betty says, there was no appraisal prior to the flood. In addition most insurance companies would require you to obtain a special endorsement to the policy for high value collectible items.

So does that mean that they will cap off on what they would pay off for each card? There are books that come out every month that give the pricing for each card could I use that? What are the odds that I can get the worth for the cards?

 

[moburkes]

So does that mean that they will cap off on what they would pay off for each card? There are books that come out every month that give the pricing for each card could I use that? What are the odds that I can get the worth for the cards?

The odds are "slim to none". YOU didn't insure the cards. But, now you want the insurance company to reimburse YOU for the value. You will probably get about $200 total. I don't have my policy in front of me, and I haven't sold HO policies in years, but that's my recollection.

 

[limpy]

If my insurance does not cover it would it say some where in my policy that it does not cover collection or there is a limit on the payout? Also if my insurance does not cover it can I go after the company that sold me a back up sump pump system that failed to work for the remainder of my lost?

 

[moburkes]

Yes, your policy has a specific list of exclusions and will address "collections". I do not know the answer to the other question.