House Insurance Claim

Hi,

Just a query if someone can help as I have been unfortunate enough to suffer som damage due to a thunderstorm (lighning damage through the telephone line). The damage is:-

Electronics equipment, inluding PC modem and stereo equipment, and a gizmo which controls my lighting and heating in the house:-

Stereo equipment was bough from the US (is CE approved), but is no longer manufactured. It is specialist equip, in regards to the fact that it is a multiroom system (music throughout the house), so is expensive to replace and difficult to orepair for the above reasons.

The lighting andheating controller cost 500 pounds stg, but the manufacturere has replaced it for me for 200 euros!! very kind of him.

Also some slight damage to burglar alarm (one of the sensors has stopped working).

All of the above gear is my own and self installed, so I will be doing the repair. re-install work myself.

Can someone tell me how this works, and what I wull be able to claim back, particularly with ref to the steror system which cost me about 2000 pounds four years ago, but will be more expensive to replace now!!.

Any help would be appreciated, my head is wrecked trying to work out whether or not I will be able to afford to replace the stereo system!!

Regards,
Wexfordman

Sorry for the shocking spelling by the way!!

Have you checked the policy document to see what's covered? Usually when contents are covered it is on a new for old basis so you should get the cost of an equivalent new stereo etc. Have you submitted a claim and has an assessor called out yet? Note that there may be limits on the value of single items covered and individual items of high value (usually a few grand) may not be coverered unless explicitly listed or covered under all risks.

What's the gizmo that controls your lighting/heating by the way? Some sort of control panel or an X10 switch or something like that? Just curious.

Thanks for the reply Clubman

Have not submitted a calim form yet, although have notified the insurance company. The stereo system is built into the house, so I hope the new for old rule applies, I reckon I can get a near equivelant for about 2-2.5k, hopefully.

Yep, X10 is the gear for the lights/heating etc, have had it in for about 4 yrs now, and works a treat. Pretty much every light and device wired into it, and really good and relaible so far, with remote dial in access, and more recently, web and WAP access!! Do you have the gear yourself ?
Wexforman

Wexfordman said:

Have not submitted a calim form yet, although have notified the insurance company. The stereo system is built into the house, so I hope the new for old rule applies, I reckon I can get a near equivelant for about 2-2.5k, hopefully.

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As I say you'd want to check what precisely is covered and if the stereo gear might not fall into the category of all risks or high valued items which are only covered if explicitly listed.

Yep, X10 is the gear for the lights/heating etc, have had it in for about 4 yrs now, and works a treat. Pretty much every light and device wired into it, and really good and relaible so far, with remote dial in access, and more recently, web and WAP access!! Do you have the gear yourself ?

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No - just interested in the technology (X10, ZigBee, HomePlug etc.).

If it is built in to the house, then it may not be deemed 'contents', but 'buildings'. As a very basic rule of thumb, contents are anything you can take with you if you were moving on. If you have different insurers, as some have, with 'buildings' with lender and 'contents' with own choice, you should probably notify both insurers.

Thanks Ravima,

I'm still working on getting a quote to replace it, although it seems a replacement is going to be a fair bit more expensive than the purcahse price I got it for when building the house initially (I paid about 2000punts for it at the time, and similar replacement in Ireland is no about 5k euro!!).

How would this work in the eyes of the insurance company. With ref to contents or buildings, two things. Firslty, I have both insurances with the same provider. Secondly, the stereo cannot be taken with the house, it is hardwired into the house, and has keypads mounted in the walls, and speakers in the ceilings. It would be like removing the light sockets and bulb holders I suppose in comparrison!!.

I am having a lot of difficulty getting support from the origional suppliers/manufacturersa as the product is not made anymore, and I got it over the internet from the US. Sort of makes me hope it is beyond repair (which I am fairly sure it is) and will need a new one, cos I wont go back to these guys now.

How would all this look to the insurance company ?
Regards,
Wexfordman

in my view, it would be deemed to be part of the buildings insurance. However, you should certainly report it. the longer you delay, the easier it will be for the company to repudiate on the grounds of late notification etc. There is probably a policy condition that says it must be reported withing a specified period or 'as soon as possible'

i would suggest that you report it and speak to the loss adjuster when he/she calls out or get your own expert to discus with him/her.

Good luck