I did a show this weekend at a convention center in my city. I set up 2 nights before the show. The night before the show, one of the exhibit hall contractors ran into my booth with an electric cart, causing a wall to fall, and damaging over $1000 in product. I filed a claim over the weekend, and contacted the contractor today.
Contractor's office asked me for my cost, wholesale cost, retail cost, etc. I told him I don't wholesale, and that my items are hand crafted. He was insinuating that they will only reimburse me for my wholesale value, and not the retail value. Since I didn't have a wholesale value. he stated he would discuss with a senior adjuster with his company.
I have never had an insurance claim such as this, and was wondering if this is normal. I told him I expected retail value, and not wholesale, as this is the value I lost.
Any thoughts?
Replies
Glad you were reimbursed at full retail value.
I just went through the gauntlet to obtain insurance...seems that if someone else damages your work it's covered under their liability insurance at full retail value.
If however, you suffer a loss due to any other cause losses are covered at minimum of cost of materials with some of the better policies covering cost + a wholesale margin that's worked out through an adjuster.
Seems the reasoning is the amount of fraudulent claims by the artists themselves.
Quite an adventure getting covered...I finally found an acceptable solution in terms of cost and coverage via a AARP link to a business owners policy!
Good thread and glad it worked out in the end that you got paid for the retail value. Something we all need to consider, whether we are the ones causing the incident or on the receiving end of it. Stuff does happen and this is a great place to discuss it.
Thanks for posting/sharing your experience.
I cant write my exact thoughts because I dont believe they allow swear words on here.
Listen that is BS. Just because they can't drive doesn't mean they get a break. The value is what someone would pay for it. PERIOD. The next time that SOB calls you tell him THIS IS THE NUMBER and if it doesnt get paid in a certain deadline you will have to file an action.
Good news is that you live in the same state of the stakes would rise for filing legal action. If he doesnt pay they march down to the small claims office and file. It will cost you at most $30 and you will win with little effort.
With ACT insurance, they stated that if I damaged another exhibitors stock at a show, they would reimburse the affected exhibitor at 100% retail value.
HOWEVER... if it was my own stock that was damaged, they would only reimburse me the cost of the components that went into the pieces which were lost... SO, a painting would be worth the paint, frame canvas costs, not the artists time or the asking price
In further discussion, it was mentioned that specialty policies were available through various companies which would insure my 2-d flat art for the APPRAISED value... But you have to pay an appraiser to put a value on the work.... and that might be a shock to some artists...even before you got the bill from the appraiser for his time...which isn't cheap
Thanks Mark,
As an ACT Insurance Agent I was going to make that same point. I was surprised that the person causing the damage wouldn't pay full retail value of the pieces.
Your second point is also correct, the ACT policy being extremely affordable will endeavor to cover the cost of making the art. However, time put into it is a sticky situation and is generally not covered, you'll want to discuss that with the assigned claims adjuster.
For most commercial property policies they will not pay for lost profit on the item, unless (as you mentioned) they have a specific policy with costs agreed to and appraised.
Hope this helps!
Just curious. Can an artist hire an appraiser to come and make a general valuation on a body of work that best represents the current methods and or style of the artist? This could be used to make a baseline established valuation on the artist's time and efforts. It is outrageous to support an insurance culture of devaluation for their sake and their bottom line in the insurance payouts.
Rose,
I understand your concern. You can purchase commercial insurance policies that will cover lost profit and time of your work if it is destroyed/damaged/stolen etc. at an appraised value. However these policies minimum premiums are much more expensive then the the starting cost of $265 a year that ACT offers.
To keep the cost at an affordable rate we have to make certain limitations on how property is valued. Sadly, time and effort do not show up on the valuation worksheets of claims adjusters.
I know this doesn't answer your concerns in regards to valuation of loss to your property. However, I can say with certainty that www.ACTinsurance.com is the best value for the amount of coverage you receive from the policy package.
Ross
Wow. This topic certainly caught my eye. I would be very upset if said insurance company only paid for materials. Plumbers or contractors have no problem charging for labor. This is the very reason I actually try very hard to keep a time card on every painting I create, or for every project I create, I use a timer system. Then when an issue just like this comes up, you have some serious credibility on the hours and effort spent on your "product". Thus, your time and labor plus materials is substantially recorded and is a legitimate cost overall. Your time has value, and so does your level of talent or expertise counts as well. Do not let anyone devalue your work and your time. There are so many apps that are good for this purpose. I see that the person got retail. Good.
Do you base your prices on the amount of time you spend on each item at X dollars per hour?
Every state is different but since it was an accident/neglect by others you are entitled to the retail price of your work.
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next