Mine was lost in shipping so I sent them the UPS tracking that showed it was lost and the receipt from purchase.
Of course thatâs what they would do. If you canât produce the bottles you say were damaged, then youâre done. If you say they were damaged and they find reason to believe they werenât (which obviously doesnât require âopening every bottleâ), youâre also done.
I donât think you understand what I tried to say.
Letâs say you make an insurance claim, I lost power, my wine is cooked. Here are 800 bottles.
You are saying they will come out and test every single bottle before paying out the claim.
And yes, assessing damage does require opening every single bottle. Most bottles are fine if they hit 90F for a bit.
Vintage Wines.
We will not pay for loss caused by or resulting from:
(1) Extremes of temperature;
(2) Souring, change in flavor or color; or
(3) Leakage, spillage, evaporation, ullage or use.
Sounds like weâre now agreed that wine can fall under a collectibles policy.
No, I specifically said they would not open every bottle. They will investigate if there is damage. That may or may not require taking possession of all the wine. They will ask you for all your evidence that there is damage. If you canât prove damage (i.e., showing them a bunch of stained labels, popped corks, and leaked wine), they will do whatever they have to do to make their own investigation whether there was any damage. In practice, that will either involve finding no evidence of damage and denying your claim, or doing whatever they have to do to make the call, including opening bottles. Even if they pay your claim, theyâre taking all the wine, and you probably donât want to think too hard about what they do with it afterwards, but itâs not likely to be sent off to a farm to live the rest of its days playing with ponies. Either way, your original question was about relying on Cellartracker inventories, and exactly what do you think will happen if you told them you had a case of '45 DRC and they donât find it there when they come to investigate or ask you to send pics?
Not sure why youâre finding this so crazy. This is not some wild hypothetical, this is what insurance companies do all the time. You think you can tell your car insurance company you have a Lamborghini and get a $500k payout from a fender bender?
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So the concerns raised earlier are moot, as insurance wouldnt pay for failed cooling unit.
Im just thinking when insurance would actually pay out.
Based on Andrews comment, your scenario is fictious as they wont pay out for cooked wine.
It wasnât my scenario, it was your scenario!
Whether theyâll pay for cooked wine depends on what the policy says, but if itâs covered, youâre going to need concrete evidence that the insurable event actually happened and damaged what you say was damaged.
I guess what im trying to ask is, how can you insure a subjective event?
There is no way to determine (without damage) heat damage.
Someone earlier claimed they had pushed corks for failed AC but thats just nonsense, corks dont push at room temp.
Not sure what youâre asking for here. As I wrote previously, my coverage is not with SF. I went with another carrier (Pure) because they offer uncapped replacement costs for my collectibles. I listed the items to be included in the coverage and gave them replacement costs. I update every so often when thereâs a substantial change in value. You might want to check your insurance to see whether SF caps replacement costs.
So out of curiosity, what damages will it cover?
Okay, but thatâs different from your Cellartracker question. The answer is that nobodyâs insuring a subjective event. They will insure against damage from specified causes (fire, power failure, whatever). There is nothing subjective about whether those happened. The damage isnât subjective either. Theyâll look for evidence of damage and if they donât find it your claim will get denied no matter how damaged you think your wine is.
Where was the failed air conditioner? If it was in Florida Iâm sure that would have been enough to push corks.
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Nothing subjective about power failure?
Wut?
Thatâs just about the essence of objective. Thereâs either an electrical current or there isnât. I canât imagine anything more objective than that.
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But where is the damage?
My MIL stores wine on her porch in SC. 120F every summer for 20 years.
No pushed corks.
One policy I was quoted for has codified how they will pay out for cooling unit failure based on the wine being above a certain temperature for a certain time. I asked what happens if the temperature is much higher than that for a much shorter period of time, and they responded it wouldnât be covered, even if the corks were sticking out like a dogâs tongue. (I suppose thereâs also an implicit assumption you can prove the temp and time, which really is only possible with a constantly logging wireless thermometer. Which Iâm sure every serious collector has, but in the context of a long-term power+Internet outageâŚ?)
Things are tough in California. Half the companies I tried just didnât respond or outright say they donât do business in the state anymore (including Chubb, unfortunately). The others have disparate, oddball exclusions, but the price is reasonably affordable. Not sure if itâs worth it.
Exclusions B. section 2. g. (1) does not apply in the event of a sudden and accidental mechanical breakdown of climate control equipment utilized for the climate controlled area in which insured wines are stored. We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by extreme of temperature until the temperature in the climate controlled area in which insured wines are stored exceeds 80 degrees fahrenheit for 72 consecutive hours.
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My point is;
I have read several homeowners policies.
Replacement cost is a fairly standard clause.
I have never heard of limits on replacement cost (which is only triggered upon replacement) absent a specific sublimit (common on cash, Jewelry, silverware, etc) which are limits in aggregate, not per item.
So until I see evidence, I donât believe that there are those types of limits in a Homeowners policy for wine.
Perhaps you are thinking of the Actual Cash Value which is what they owe unless your actually replace it. If you arenât going to replace it, scheduling it on a Collectibles policy will pay out more.
Or maybe you are thinking about a the stated value on a Collectibles endorsement (where they wonât necessarily pay the scheduled amount if they think itâs higher than the value).
Original comment deleted by me since - Andrew K posted the key exception to the exclusion
But it seems like loss of power might not be covered, since there isnât a breakdown of the policyholders cooling unit.