QUOTE (dwhite4dcc @ 25 Feb 2009, 20:34)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Absolutely fine but be aware that one of the insurance companies will need an exclusion waiver whilst the layout is at home. It is entirely possible that the specialist only covers away from home. So who covers it at home? Do they know that?
See what we pros mean about disclosure?
Dave,
The specialist policy covers my stuff wherever it is on an "All Risks" basis, whether at home or elsewhere. That's why I took it out. So your issue about whether it is covered at home comes back to what my law lecturer drummed into us, "It all depends" on the policy wording. As a pro you should know that.
My models are not declared on the "All Risks" section of our house contents policy, so it is questionable whether they would be covered under that anyway. Also I deliberately excluded them from our recent contents revaluation exercise knowing that they were insured under the specialist policy.
So to me an exclusion looks totally unnecessary as; i) my models are covered under the specialist policy, ii) I would not claim for them under the house contents policy if we had a total loss as if I did I might end up being under-insured on the rest of my contents and suffer "averaging", and iii) if I did suffer a loss and claimed on both that would be fraud on my part.
On the subject of whether a modeller's or collector's models would be covered if they moved back in with their parents, I would question if they were as they would not be owned by the policyholder. I understand that you can only insure something if you had an "insurable interest", i.e. the policyholder would suffer a loss if the items were stolen, damaged or destroyed. For example, I was once lent a car by my father as my car was off the road whilst I and the RAC had a fight with a garage about sub-standard workmanship whilst repairing to a gearbox. I tried to insure my father's car myself as the loan was going to be for an indeterminate period, and I could see his insurance company crying "Foul - Not the Risk We Quoted For" if I'd had an accident whilst driving his car. But my insurance company wouldn't allow it as I was not the owner of the car, and hence did not have an "insurable interest". My father had to notify his insurers that I would be driving it regularly. Fortunately, they didn't want an increased premium even though I ended up borrowing the car for 3 months.
So unless there is an agreement in place, or there is case law somewhere that puts the onus on the parent/householder to recompense adult children living at home, (are they tenants?), for loss or damage to their property whlst resident in the parent's home, I would be very wary of assuming that such items were covered by the parent's house contents policy, as "it all depends" on the parent's household contents policy wording. Sorry if this sounds complicated, but I suspect there may not be a simple universal answer.
Keith.
