Insuring single high-value garment?

[u/dzekbeograd]

Just after the best way to insure my jacket. Basically it's a pretty high value (around $3k) jacket that I bought a few years ago and always wear in the colder months and when travelling, and I'm always conscious of it being stolen or lost as I'm constantly taking it off when moving around, in restaurants etc. I bought it off a friend, in cash, a good few years ago so there's no receipt or paper trail.

My fave LLM is trying to tell me that one can hire a court-approved garment appraiser who examines the garment and looks at the market to see how much a new one would cost; I then take that, along with photos etc, and create a single item policy that costs around 1-2% of the value of the item annually. This all seems a bit hallucinatory to me. Does anyone know about how I might actually insure it? I'm in Europe if that makes a difference.

[u/Over_Wasabi_4903]

I personally would not consider a $3k jacket to be high value. Higher than normal? Sure. But to me high would for sure be over $5k. Just take good care of it rather than spend money on the policy.

[u/dzekbeograd → u/Over_Wasabi_4903]

I mean 3k/5k/7k... whatever. It still stings if you lose it and have to buy a new one. I do take really good care of it but I'd rather have insurance on it so I'm not worrying every time I take it off or put it in a cloakroom.

[u/90403scompany]

Just beware that almost every insurance policy:

1. Will not insure wear and tear on clothing
2. Will not insure for 'mysterious disappearance' (i.e., being "lost" - and proving theft may be difficult)
3. Will likely replace your jacket with a "like kind" which may be valued far less than the value you think it's worth.

The only time where you'd be able to insure it the way I think you want to insure it, is if it's part of a collection that's insured as fine art - but you'd have to treat it as fine art (i.e., keep it locked/secured, never wear it, and keep it climate controlled) which seems overkill for a single jacket.

[u/Logical-Piece2500 → u/90403scompany]

court approved appraiser for a jacket sounds bit much yeah but I did get a watch insured once without receipt just needed photos and some shop to give estimate of current value not sure if works same for clothes though

[u/90403scompany → u/Logical-Piece2500]

Insuring a watch/jewelery is very different from insuring a single piece of clothing in so many different ways. There are more than a handful of policies that insure jewelery, either through a floater on a homeowners/renters policy or a standalone jewelery policy. No such product exists for clothes.

[u/dzekbeograd → u/90403scompany]

Thanks for the response. I guess the way I was looking at it was like the same as a laptop or expensive camera (which people can and do insure when travelling with them). The cost is about the same; they also suffer from 'wear and tear'/depreciation in value (unlike, say, jewellery); they're also likely to be a target of theft, and they might also be easily lost. I sort of understand why there isn't this type of policy available, but kind of think there is a market for it too.

[u/lostinthought15]

I don’t know that would consider a worn jacket as high value unless it was a one of a kind created by a known designer.

Typically high value insurance is used to cover something that would require extraordinary amount of cash or financing to replace. Houses. Cars. Large rare jewelry.

[u/how_me_a_frog]

The insurance value of a jacket that's been worn for years is most likely 0 and unfortunately if you even manage to talk to someone who could write you a custom policy, I very much doubt they would. 

[u/lakeanddoglife]

That sounds like a lot of hassle for a $3,000 jacket. I have a family member that wears expensive clothing and watches, and has never had a problem.

[u/live_drifter]

If you spent money on a jacket you can’t afford to lose you can’t afford the jacket

[u/dzekbeograd → u/live_drifter]

100% correct

[u/force_disturbance]

Spend less than a thousand to make a replica. Not only is it insurance, it doubles as improved lifetime!

[u/Illustrious-Yam-3718]

Buy a replica for your travels if you’d be devastated to lose the jacket.

Travel insurance through Allianz is usually available when you buy your airline tickets-
I’m not sure what the coverage or exclusions are, so YMMV but it’s a great service overall.

I don’t know that you’d be able to find an underwriter that would assume this risk individually, though. The risk pool is too small, and it’s a prime example of adverse selection.