When is a collection a collection?

Following my post on Friday warning on the sub-limits that apply to collections under Australian home contents insurance policies, I had a number of people write asking what constitutes a collection. One suggested that a collection is when the group of items has a combined value as a group than they would if valued separately.

While this sounds logical, the definition that would be used by an insurer (and the courts should a dispute arise) would, unless, like the New Zealand policy which had a definition of what collections meant, (in the case in question it was stamps, coins and medals). be the meaning in every day use.

A typical dictionary definition taken from the internet reads:

collection

noun

noun: collection; plural noun: collections

1.

the action or process of collecting someone or something.

“the collection of data”

• a regular removal of mail for dispatch or of refuse for disposal.

  “withdrawal of the Sunday collections”
• an instance of collecting money in a church service or for a charity.

  “a collection is to be taken up for the Ecclesiastical Students Fund”

  synonyms:

  donations, contributions, gifts, subscription(s), alms; informalwhip-round “a collection for the poor”

• a sum of money raised during a church or charity collection.

  synonyms:

  offering, offertory, tithe “a church collection”

2. a group of things or people.

When I explained this the reader wrote back saying you can have a collection of rubbish and that would be caught by any sub-limit. This is quite true but in reality most collections of household rubbish would have a value that would reach even the lowest sub-limit for collections.

What the discussions with my readers did reinforce is that definition of a collection is quite wide and that care needs to be taken in selecting the coverage that best protects your or your clients’ contents and collections in particularly.

If in doubt, a reminder again to either read the policy or use www.policycomparison.com to review all the policy’s features, benefits and limitations.