Should You Insure Your Record Collection?

Wherever you are in your vinyl record journey, you may reach a point when your collection has grown to where it’s not only a treasure trove of memories but also valuable. My collection now teeters over 1500 albums,. There are a few rare gems and collector’s items sprinkled throughout. I may not have an original sealed copy of The Beatles’ Yesterday and Today with the butcher shop cover (which sold for $125k in 2013), but I have some worth a few hundred. What if something catastrophic were to happen to my collection? I can never replace the memories, but how would I ever replace the records? It would cost a small fortune. 

I’m Not an Expert

I’m not an insurance expert and can only offer some advice and thoughts. The bottom line is to check with your insurance agent. Slightly above that “bottom line” is this”…

How large is your collection, and how serious is your interest?

If your collection is under a couple hundred records, and you only add to it occasionally, you probably don’t need to read any further. If one of those occasional additions somehow included Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin (worth $2 mil. – and that’s not a typo!), you definitely want to call your agent. Right now. Stop reading this post and call.

What I Found Out

I checked with my insurance agent recently. The first question she asked was the reason for the collection. This surprised me at first, but it made sense. The insurance company would want to know if it was for business purposes. It’s all about risk evaluation. Am I a DJ who would transport it occasionally? “No,” I replied. “I’m just an obsessive collector and enthusiast.”

The long and short of it is my insurance company does not explicitly cover a vinyl record collection, but, and this “but” is important, it would fall under Personal Contents in my homeowner’s policy. The collection would be covered in the event of “Fire & Theft”. I would then need to decide how much I would allocate to replace my records should I lose everything I own (furniture, household items, etc.).

Make a List

Whether you find specific collector’s insurance outside your homeowner’s policy or are satisfied with Personal Property coverage, you will want to list what records you own and an estimated value. That can be a painstaking process. If you already track it in a spreadsheet or database program, great! You’re ahead of the game if you catalog your collection on Discogs. Discogs allows you to export your inventory into a CSV file (which can be opened in a spreadsheet program like Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets). 

The Bottom Line Revisited

If you are concerned with replacing your collection if something dire happens, contact your agent or insurance company. They will be happy to hear from you.