Claiming on contents insurance

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

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Joined
9 Mar 2010
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Having just dropped my projector I'm considering possible courses of action.

1) Buy a OEM bulb replacement - After dropping the projector (PJ-TX200) it now turns itself off after about an hour with a solid red "lamp" light. This suggests it could be just the bulb that's faulty. This would be a £150 stab in the dark (in my opinion) as it works fine up until that point.

2) Buy a replacement projector - My projector is about 8 years old. It's 720p and has no 3D support. I could take this opportunity to just buy a replacement (probably second hand) and get a nice 1080p, 3D capable, LCD one for about £500. Only problem is I'm realistically about a year away from saving that much up for a projector.

3) Claim on house insurance and buy a new one - My contents insurance means for £65 excess I could get a new one as it falls under accidental damage. They'd likely send it away to attempt a repair (which would be fine) but I'm concerned about the ultimate cost if I get a replacement.

Has anyone ever actually claimed on their contents insurance for something like this? The projector cost close to 1.5K back in the day IIRC but isn't worth much now so am I likely to "make" much money out of the claim or is it better to just save?
 
Did you get the contents insurance through the bank you wanted to set up if so then just buy it yourself and go with option 2) to save money in the long run.
 
The point of insurance is to put you back to the point as if teh accident/issue had never happened.

So I cannot see why you would think "why do I even bother with insurance". You either want your stuff covered or not, you should not expect to be better off after a claim so the fact that your goods may have dropped in value is of no concern.

The accidental damage part is probably worth considering dropping, unless you have very expensive items its normally not worth claiming for accidental damage as you will lose/damage no claims and have to declare you are accident prone ;)
 
This is where a "new for old" policy is brilliant.
My 7 year old daughter spilled her glass of smoothie all over my desk, onto my PC underneath, despite immediately shutting it down and cleaning it carefully, the psu, gpu and mobo were fried. When I put the claim in, Direct Line tried to fob me off with an off-the-shelf system from the purple shirt wearing buffoons... A quick call to someone who actually understood the term "custom built gaming pc" meant I was soon speaking to their replacement people - who then passed me on to some shoddy outfit in Bournemouth. After rejecting the pc they sent me (great spec but poor quality components), I insisted they allow me to put the equivalent spec into OCUK's basket and wend me a cheque for that amount (including delivery). Don't let the insurer fob you off with their "preferred supplier" BS - you have the right to choose a reaonable replacement and they have to pay for it, with no deductions for the discount they're likely to get from their own supplier.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
The point of insurance is to put you back to the point as if teh accident/issue had never happened.

So I cannot see why you would think "why do I even bother with insurance". You either want your stuff covered or not, you should not expect to be better off after a claim so the fact that your goods may have dropped in value is of no concern.
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I suppose it just stems from other people always appearing to be better off after making a claim on their insurance. Maybe they just have better insurance :)

I'll get them on the phone tomorrow and see what can be done. See if they're able to tell me what increase in premiums I'd likely have or how the claim would be. I'll also see if I can get a quote from a repair specialist or something.
 
Monserrat said:
Be careful when claiming IT equipment through insurers. I've known them to give you a voucher that is only valid at the purple shirts, which is expensive for what they are.
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Then don't accept it - you have the statutory right to source your preferred replacement elsewhere. They also must cover the full replacement value - regardless of any discount available to them from a "preferred supplier" - FOS ruling! :D
 
rainflux said:
This is what I know too.

So if you are aiming to have a new equipment when claiming contents insurance it won't happen unless you pay out of the pocket. So yes, somewhat it is useless. Also, it might trigger a higher premium in the end.
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Why are you linking to a completely irrelevant US site?
 
rainflux said:
>a new equipment
>a new equipment
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>a new equipment
>a new equipment
>a new equipment
>a new equipment
>a new equipment
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Thought I recognised the title of this thread! It was someone spamming / bot that brought this back to the top so feel free to ignore as I started this back in March and it's long been resolved.
 
[FnG]magnolia;25096021 said:
Did you falsify your claim in the end?
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Ha, I claimed on insurance.

I said what happened and they said it would fall under accidental damage (no pun intended).

Got picked up the next day and sent away to one of their approved tech centers. Took a while for them to get back to me (two weeks) but it went really well. It got a full service and said the damage to the bulb obviously wasn't from any regular wear and tear. I asked for an OEM replacement, which they did, and I paid the £65 for the service and replacement bulb (about £200 new if I remember right).
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
The accidental damage part is probably worth considering dropping
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Disagree. You are far more likely to claim for AD than for a standard peril.

If it's going to cost you £500 to replace it, I would claim. You only need to declare previous claims for five years, it's unlikely you will pay £100 a more on your premiums for the next 5 years.

(disclaimer - 'unlikely' not impossible, it's all relative to your premium afterall)
 
RoyMi6 said:
Ha, I claimed on insurance.

I said what happened and they said it would fall under accidental damage (no pun intended).

Got picked up the next day and sent away to one of their approved tech centers. Took a while for them to get back to me (two weeks) but it went really well. It got a full service and said the damage to the bulb obviously wasn't from any regular wear and tear. I asked for an OEM replacement, which they did, and I paid the £65 for the service and replacement bulb (about £200 new if I remember right).
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Good man :)
 
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