How much does Home Owners Insurance cover when there has been a theft of property?
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 at
3:31 pm
Brett J asked:
My house was broken into and a lot of stuff was stolen. I have home owners insurance, but I was wondering if these companies are good at refunding what you lost or if they undervalue a lot. It was mostly electronics and guns that were stolen. I have some receipts, some were gifts, and some were old and I have since lost the reciept. What is their process and do they typically resolve these issues amicably?
My house was broken into and a lot of stuff was stolen. I have home owners insurance, but I was wondering if these companies are good at refunding what you lost or if they undervalue a lot. It was mostly electronics and guns that were stolen. I have some receipts, some were gifts, and some were old and I have since lost the reciept. What is their process and do they typically resolve these issues amicably?
Tagged with: Home Owners Insurance • Insurance Cover • Stuff
Filed under: Homeowners Insurance
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Consult your policy for coverage and limits.
it depends on your policy. IF they cover possessions, you would have to prove you owned them and their worth. Before the break in, and now in the future, you should photograph and keep all receipts for your personal possessions, and store them away from your home-in event of fire or disaster. You may be outta luck this time, but be prepared from here on out!!
The declarations page of your policy should tell you the amounts, but read your contract or call your comany.
Usually, a homeowners policy will cover guns and electronic equipment up to a certain amount; $500 – $1000. You should have had an endorsement added to the policy to cover these items up to their replacement values.
Well, it’s impossible to say.
There are built in limitations on jewelry, guns, cash, silver & gold – collectables like that.
Plus, you have a policy limit. So, assuming you didn’t have an HO41 endorsement on any of your stuff, it matters if you have replacement cost on your contents, and what your policy limit is.
YOu’ll make up an inventory of what was stolen. The insurance company will depreciate things for age, and apply the special limits of coverage (to the guns, jewelry, cash, etc). Then, they’ll compare to your coverage limit. Then they give you the lesser of the depreciated value of the items, or your policy limit.
If you have replacement cost on your contents, then you go replace the items. When you’ve actually replaced them, you send the receipt to the adjuster, and sometimes the UPC, and then you get the difference between the original value, and the cost to replace it.
But your agent can give you all this information, and it will be specifically tailored to your policy.
don’t worry about it until you something to worry about. call your carrier and let the adjuster do their thing. After they present their offer you have plenty of time to decide if it is a fair offer or not.