How do I insure my Man Utd shirt?

A reader from Newbury has a signed Manchester United shirt and wants to know how best to get insurance for the memorabilia.

Our team of experts at insurance company LV= offers a helping hand.

Mrs Rodgers asks:

My son owns a mounted/presented Manchester Utd football shirt, which is signed by George Best & Ryan Giggs.

He would like to take out insurance against theft or damage, but is unsure how to arrange such insurance.

Can you please advise?

The team at LV= responds:

An item like this would be covered under a standard home contents policy.

If the shirt was stolen your insurer could do one of two things. If it can be replaced your insurers is likely to replace it with a like-for-like mounted shirt, however, with an unusual item like this it might be irreplaceable in which case a cash settlement will be offered. Although the item can be valued after the event, for peace of mind you could get it valued in advance. A sports memorabilia agent should be able to do this for you.

If the item was damaged, in a flood or fire for example, your insurance policy will cover you for fixing the item – although with something like this it would be hard to restore, so it’s likely the item would be replaced or a cash settlement would be offered.

It’s also a good idea to take a picture of the shirt and keep this on file so you can prove ownership. Again this is not compulsory but might be useful in ensuring your claim goes smoothly if the worst should happen.

If you do not have contents insurance, you could get a specialist policy from a Lloyds broker but the cost is likely to be similar to the cost for insuring your entire contents.

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For more information on the issues discussed here, go to LV=.

Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is a member of the Association of British Insurers (ABI).