How to File an Art Insurance Claim?
Insurance company provides people with a service which protects them against loss of goods and life. The service is provided in return of a payment called premium. Insurance details are covered in a contract which is called insurance policy. This contains all the terms and condition regarding the insurance. Insurance can be made against the loss caused due to damage or theft or even natural calamities.
Fine art is valuable objects and insurance should be made to cover the loss in case the art gets damaged or stolen. The art can be damaged due to water, fire, dust and so many other reasons. People need to make sure that they make proper payments at proper time. Any lapse in payment of the premium may cause the policy to lapse. This means that the insurance company cannot be help liable to pay the insured amount if the premium has not been made.
When filing insurance claim, insured have to go through a lot of paper work and a lot of other things are looked into. The claim being filed has to be submitted with a lot of documents. This helps to protect the customer better and make sure that they are fully covered and get properly compensated. They often carry out investigative operation to recover the stolen property in case the art work was stolen. The documents that are needed depends if the insured is a company or an individual or a gallery. The documents that may be needed are purchase invoice. This is needed so that the insurance company can be sure that the art actually belonged to you. Consignment Agreement is needed to see who the actual owner is and what the terms and condition are under which it was handed to a different entity. This shows who has the final financial interest in the work. Provenance is required to confirm that the art work was authentic. It wasn't a copy or a fake. Pre-loss and Post-loss photographs are also required by the company. This helps them by giving them an idea regarding the work. This also helps them in locating the work if it is lost and to estimate the amount needed to restore the work in case of damage. Sales documents are required when the piece was sold but had not been delivered. This also effects the settlement and it depends on the valuation clause in the policy. Selling price verification is needed by the company. This can be done by showing the store inventory, web page, brochure, or other similar documents. Previous sales documents are needed in case the person is an artist and no other way of determining the value of the work can be found. The other additional information that is required while filing for insurance claim is the size of the work. They need to know about the people who had access to the work and how was the art displayed. They need to know the details regarding the art work and if there was any other insurance that is available for the same loss.