Insurance How Does It Work when Something is Recovered?

[J.A.F.E.]

Watching the news and there's a piece about the Ruby Red Slippers Judy Garland wore in the Wizard of Oz were recovered having been stolen from some collector 12 or 13 years ago. Got me thinking once in a while there's a story about someone who had a car stolen years ago, usually some really collectable or valuable one, and now it's recovered and returned.

I would think the shoes and cars would most likely be insured and claims paid off years ago. Does the owner buy them back from the insurance company? Do they just get it back? If the insurance has to be paid back what if the company went out of business? I can't image someone would just get it back after a claim was paid and that's it.

[Snaparxon]

They should let it slide if a claim was paid. I here enough stories about little technicalities that insurances uses to screw customers out of big and small claims.

[skfarmer]

from what i understand, the ins. co. owns them but is required to offer them back the original owner. what the price would be or how to value them i have no idea.

we have been gettin piles of coverage on the local news. supposedly, the shoes were stolen in grand rapids mn. and recovered in chicago with assistance from the fbi and the north dakota attorney general's office. they aren't talking but that tells me someone from north dakota was involved in the original theft.

honestly, i think the shoes are but ugly and would not give ya 5 bucks for them. i am embarrassed that some nut job from my state would be involved in stealing ugly shoes, even if the were bruce's ugly shoes.

[fatfillup]

I would think the insurance company now owns them.  Don't know if they have to offer them back to the former owner or not.  I know when they recovered a truck that was stolen from me after the claim was settled, they didn't offer it back to me, thankfully

[strik9]

One off collector stuff uses last auction sale price and a sway from general current interest in such things.  For example Elvis is waning and beanie babies are dead.

[J.A.F.E.]

I get insurance companies can be less than ethical sometimes but still if they paid off a claim you'd think they'd want (and be entitled) to some or all of it back. When someone discovers a shipwreck the legal wranglings can drag on for decades and I had always thought whoever recovered it was entitled to the recovered goods. There was not too long ago a wreck of the San Jose, a Spanish ship off the coast of Columbia and the fight's been just started even though the wreck was actually discovered three years ago.

From The Smithsonian https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/holy-grail-spanish-treasure-galleons-found-colombia-180969171/

Now, of course, the whole world knows, but the researchers aren’t giving out many details. One reason is that the ownership of the treasure is already being disputed by Spain, which owned the ship; Colombia, in whose waters it sits; and marine archaeologists, who found the ship. However it pans out, Colombia is preparing for the contents of the ship to be salvaged and has already committed to building a state-of-the-art conservation lab and museum to process the wreck, pointing out that there’s much more than treasure at stake.

I don't get the slippers either they are kinda ugly but they clearly have value to someone (interestingly in the original book the slippers were silver not red but the red played better in the then new color processes).

I had a motorcycle stolen once but against all odds was it found and recovered a couple days before the insurance paid off.

[fatfillup]

I believe once the insurance company pays a claim, the recovered item is theirs

[J.A.F.E.]

That makes sense. The slippers story talks about the guy getting the slippers back so for me at least it's a bit confusing.

[jabberwoki]

Funny you should mention Bruce as I thought the shoes were discovered in Canada.