Cuban Cigars and Homeowner’s Insurance

M

mosesbotbol

Elder Jungle Leader
What is the story with have Cuban cigars and insurance claims. Should I submit a claim to insurance in the case of theft, fire, etc; would insurance be able to deny my claim as they are “Cuban cigars”? How would an adjuster, come to a settlement figure? What else should I be made aware of about insurance and cigars? Do additional riders need to be added to a standard current policy? I have riders for my watches, not sure how cigars fit into my policy. I feel hesitant asking my insurance broker until I know what the answer may be.

There was a break-in at my parent’s house this winter and they stole a lot of port and wine from the basement. I had to provide my adjuster estimates on what each bottle of port cost. To think some teenage bastards were out at the cranberry bog keg party drinking my 2000 Lafite’s and 77 Dow’s really gets me pissed off.

Any insurance brokers want to chime in? As an FYI in general; keep your cigars, wines, etc… on a spreadsheet!
 
Why wouldn't you just call them 'cigars' and not divulge the country of origin? If you were insuring NCs you wouldn't get into each cigar's origin would you? You could just provide proof of payment if you need to verify the cost. It seems there would be some form of proof of payment or price, if necessary, that doesn't have 'cuban cigars' on it. I don't know - just a thought.
 
Ivory Tower said:
Why wouldn't you just call them 'cigars' and not divulge the country of origin? If you were insuring NCs you wouldn't get into each cigar's origin would you? You could just provide proof of payment if you need to verify the cost. It seems there would be some form of proof of payment or price, if necessary, that doesn't have 'cuban cigars' on it. I don't know - just a thought.
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:tpd: KISS (Keep it simple stupid). Just call them what they are cigars. Opusx/Graycliffs/Padron Anniv. are just as expensive if not more than cubans.
 
I suppose to just keep them as cigars, but the value may be different in terms of a settlement, and if they want to see a detailed sheet with purchases, etc,,, it will show several vacations, etc... and that they were cubans. I want to avoid a blanket value of lets say $150 a box, when the Sublimes, Lanceros, A's, etc... cost hell lot more than that. Obivoulsy, if I am saying that a box was $400, or the cigars are just damaged but on premises, they'll see what they are...

Has anyone submitted claims on cigars on their insurance before?
 
You could treat them as household inventory.

I tell all my clients to take a video tape of the inside of their home, including inside drawers,cabinets and anywhere else your personal belongings are. Then they need to take a video of the outside of their home as well.

This is the best way to document what you own and were it was in the home. Be sure to keep the tape of the premises. Either a bank box or relatives house in case of catastrophic loss.

As for cigars, they would be household property. Cubans are ilegal in the U.S.A and they will not pay for those and trying to claim them could void your whole policy. Wrongfull or ilegal acts are grouds for declination of a claim.

The N.C cigars would be covered. I suggest photos and records of sales. Also a nice humi is considered a piece of furniture and is considered personal property as well.

Cuban Cigars can not be covered !
 
The best way to cover your cigars would be to have them scheduled on your policy. If you have a claim you are going to have a hard time getting the adjuster to accept that you want your $10,000 cigar collection covered under the Contents portion of your policy. You also need to look at the Exclusions on your actual policy and see if this is addressed. The Exclusions may reference "collectibles" or other items of values and either exclude coverage or put a sub-limit on them.

That being said, your homeowners insurance company is not going to cover illegal items. I would suggest having them scheduled under a blanket form, listing "cigars" and a total value.

You may be able to purchase a seperate policy through someone like Lloyd's who would specifically list each cigar, regardless of origin, but that is going to get expensive.

Good luck.
 
RPB67 said:
You could treat them as household inventory.

As for cigars, they would be household property. Cubans are ilegal in the U.S.A and they will not pay for those and trying to claim them could void your whole policy. Wrongfull or ilegal acts are grouds for declination of a claim.

The N.C cigars would be covered.

Cuban Cigars can not be covered !
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Not to start a new thread, but not all cuban cigars are "illegal" are they? How would insurance be able to differ from cigars brought in the US from trips to Cuba with a US visa, vs. cigars brought in by other means?

I'll call my insurance agent about having them scheduled under a blanket of "cigars" and see what she says... Good info here.
 
mosesbotbol said:
Not to start a new thread, but not all cuban cigars are "illegal" are they? How would insurance be able to differ from cigars brought in the US from trips to Cuba with a US visa, vs. cigars brought in by other means?

I'll call my insurance agent about having them scheduled under a blanket of "cigars" and see what she says... Good info here.
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All Cuban cigars are illegal in the U.S.A, regardless how you got them.

As the insurance company says - No Coverage !

Now Pre Embargos, maybe.
 
RPB67 said:
All Cuban cigars are illegal in the U.S.A, regardless how you got them.

As the insurance company says - No Coverage !

Now Pre Embargos, maybe.
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The problem you would run into with the insurance company is that you would have to prove that the cigars are here legally, ie pre-embargo. That is going to be an uphill battle with an adjuster that doesn't know anything about cigars.
 
An old girlfriend of mine had a US granted visa to Cuba about 4 years ago as part of an educational mission. She brought back a couple of boxes no problem and they were legal, has something changed?
 
Get an alarm system...I got mine and I have a motion detector by the lower level stairs and all the upper doors bugged.also a fire alarm.I pay 59.00 every three months which I think is a good deal. Peace of mind when you are away or have pets...

Jerry in Minnesota.
 
mosesbotbol said:
An old girlfriend of mine had a US granted visa to Cuba about 4 years ago as part of an educational mission. She brought back a couple of boxes no problem and they were legal, has something changed?
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yes
 
RPB67 said:
All Cuban cigars are illegal in the U.S.A, regardless how you got them.

As the insurance company says - No Coverage !

Now Pre Embargos, maybe.
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Seems to me that if US citizens were able to legally bring Cuban cigars into the country prior to the law changes in '04 that they cannot, per se, be illegal.

But in this case you would have to prove that you made the trips yourself as buying/selling them once in the US IS illegal. So if you can't show evidence of your own trips to Cuba prior to '04 then you're probably out of luck insofar as legality of the cigars is concerned. Additionally, I would not want the feds to take too much interest in foreign credit card transactions.

I think that there are gray areas here that have not been fully explored in the court system but I'm thinking that you're better off storing them in several different places and having a good fire alarm/sprinkler system that would not soak your smokes if set off. I would think trying to get insurance payment for cubans would open a big can of worms.
 
Another suggestion, perhaps less desirable; if you are concefned about theft or catastrophe (fire) put your cubans in a safe deposit box (or two) in a bank.
 
donp said:
Another suggestion, perhaps less desirable; if you are concefned about theft or catastrophe (fire) put your cubans in a safe deposit box (or two) in a bank.
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...with humidification, of course. Will they let you line a safety deposit box with Spanish cedar?

I just wouldn't mention at all that you have Cubans. I might start by indicating that you have a cigar collection and provide them with the appropriate information to perform an appraisal. You may have to buy some smokes with the same approximate value of the Cubans (of course not including them in the appraisal) so you have a record of a tranaction supporting your Cuban inventory. You'll smoke the stash down some so it should all wash out in time, but you'll have documentation of lost inventory in case of an unfortunate event without even mentioning "Cuban" anything. See what I'm getting at ?
 
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Virtually all the Cubans have a non-Cuban counterpart and I could just say they were all the non-Cuban versions? My insurance company wants some kind of appraisal or inventory. They are looking into options and I may have to get a seperate policy for them rather than a schedule.
 
not to be deceitful. but how many adjusters are cigar connoisseurs probably not too many. also if the cigars were bought from another country i.e. canada what does it matter they could be canadian cigars for all they know. unless you have a receipt with an address in havana then i don't think they will be any wiser. especially since they were stolen.
 
mosesbotbol said:
Virtually all the Cubans have a non-Cuban counterpart and I could just say they were all the non-Cuban versions? My insurance company wants some kind of appraisal or inventory. They are looking into options and I may have to get a seperate policy for them rather than a schedule.
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Let us know how it goes...I had just been thinking about this the other day.
 
I am going use the non-cuban version of each cigar across the board, a general estimate of $200.00 a box, and see how it goes. I am estimating between 45-60 boxes and will provide a photo of the humidor. If they want more, I'll go from there.
 
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