Anyone used this site advertised on CT lately? Visited the website and all you get is a landing page with a phone number. Called the number and goes direct to voicemail. Left a message a week ago and never got a return call…
There’s advertising on Cellartracker?
Yes. Haven’t had any claims so I can’t speak to that, but I found them very professional to deal with. I dealt with them via email initially.
+1
Looks like their website is being updated. Perhaps that has something to do with the slow response.
Got this from them recently, hope it helps.
"Dear InsureYourWine.com Clients,
I am writing today with very exciting news. After over 5 years of growing our program into the largest stand-alone wine insurance product, we have a new partner moving forward! The policies that were previously written by RSA Insurance (Royal Sun Alliance) will now be written by AIG Private Client Group. RSA was a surplus lines carrier, whereas AIG is an admitted carrier in all 50 states and can offer lower rates (as much as 30% in some cases) and even better coverage and features. The Private Client Group at AIG insures 40% of the the Forbes 400 families and nearly half of the ARTnews Top 200 collectors. This team really understands collectibles and collectors and offers the best service and financial stability in the industry.
While InsureYourWine.com will remain a stand-alone program, by partnering with AIG, clients will now be eligible for additional quotes and discounts on premiums for homeowners, umbrella, auto, boat and specialty coverages. In addition to the new carrier, we have a new broker partner as well. TDC Risk Management is very familiar with collectibles and has extensive experience with specialty collections and high net worth families. You will find their knowledge and customer service second to none. If you are a car collector, you may already know of TDC, as they also manage the Barrett Jackson Collectible Auto program.
If you have a current policy with InsureYourWine.com, you have two options:
You can cancel your existing policy and switch to the new AIG policy, or you can wait until your current policy is up for renewal and switch at that time. If you no longer have an InsureYourWine.com policy, it would be a great time to ask for a new quote. Jim Schwarzkopf is a Principal at TDC who now oversees the InsureYourWine.com program; please email him to obtain a new quote or to switch your policy.
I am very proud of the growth in this program and know that this move is a win for collectors on price, service and convenience. Thank you for your ongoing support, comments, suggestions, and ideas. Many of you have pushed us to keep expanding our offerings, and this new chapter for InsureYourWine.com is one such initiative. If we can help in any way with your wine collection or needs, please contact us any time!
Cheers,
Marc Lazar
President
Cellar Advisors and Domaine Wine Storage
marc@cellaradvisors.com
Main Line, 314.667.5328"
Check with your insurance agent first. My homeowner’s policy covers replacement except if a bottle is dropped. Having documentation like CT was well received by my agent.
If you have not done so already and without see your policy, you may want to get your agent to put it in writting that you are covered. My agent told me that my wine was covered on at least three different occasions and I doubted it so I sent them a letter asking for a letter confirming coverage of my wine and included my inventory list with value. This time they called the underwritter and then informed me that wine is not covered. Wine is considered food and food is not covered except for items in the freezer that go bad due to an extended power outage and that cost is capped at $500 on my policy.
They also explained that my wine would be covered under collectibles but there are restrictions on that as well, the most stringent being that apparently it can be either food or collectible but not both. Consumption of any wine, makes it all food and none of it collectable. I am sure that there is a way around this if I wanted one but its not the effort to figure it out.
Brian, the way around it is to get a specific policy or rider for wine.
Understood Eric. What I was referencing is that there is probably a way to seperate my wine so that some is food and other collectable but then it just gets too hard as there this will probably require physical seperation and records wrt all that enter/leave the collectible portion for sale only and not for consumption.
Just out of curiosity, what are costs like for these policies, either as riders or stand-alone?
For me, it was less expensive, better coverage, less deductible, to be insured via InsureYourWine than via a separate policy or rider with my homeowners.
When I looked into it six months ago, the minimum policy fee was $200 plus a $75 fee. I think this covered something like $50,000 in wine. I don’t know what changes might have occurred with the AIG partnership as posted by Rick
With a proper policy one doesn’t need to do any such thing.
I am still with Bliss & Glennon (the old insureyourwine.com).
Now they are called gotWineInsurance.com.
I had to do a small claim in the past and everything went smoothly and I got
replacement value of a damaged old bottle.
Cheers,
JF
Looks like they actually DID call me back a leave a VM the other day while I was on an airplane. I’ll be giving them a call when I return this week.
Always a concern at my Phoenix home that the power will go out in the summer for an extended period and I’ll come home to a red flood.
I suspect you can also keep your policy right where it is.
You can keep the old policy. I got quotes from B&G and the new AIG entity. Coverage is slightly different between the policies. For me, I’m most worried about hurricane and flood, so the AIG policy fit better.
As some of you have noted, we did move IYW.com to a new set of partners, but do not have the new website live just yet. The broker on this program is now TDC Risk Management, http://tdcriskmanagement.com/. The folks at TDC have been fantastic and can work with you on questions, coverage, claims service by phone and email.
The website should be live in the next week or two, and will be quite similar to the old website. New contact info, and details about the added features and coverages.
Please note, we did not have to switch. IYW ran very smoothly for 6 years, but there were too many people who could not get coverage or had to pay higher rates to do so. The new program tackles those issues, and I think most collectors will benefit. Note also that I did develop IYW, and received marketing payments from both the old and new brokers. No one is getting rich on wine insurance, but I am a compensated party.