Contents Insurance Suggestions

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NonprayingMantis

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#683768 10-Sep-2012 12:01

worth checking what kind of cover you get.

Is it replacement value or purchase price? i.e. do they cut you a cheque for the amount you originally paid for the item, or for what it would cost to replace with equivalent spec product now (with electronic stuff coming down in price so quickly it;s likely that the thing you paid $2k for 2 years ag is only worth $500 now)

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richms

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#683770 10-Sep-2012 12:06

The issue I have with the replacement value stuff is that they dont have to do anything to make sure you can get it for their price, or at all even. Can be quite problematic with proper audio equipment where newer stuff isnt always better so old gear holds its value well, yet they depreciate it massivly.

Richard rich.ms

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Snowflake

#683787 10-Sep-2012 12:37

AA insurance are great, totally recommend them. They are great with claims if you need them and they cover "new for old" for everything, not excluding sports equip etc. Other insurers will charge you a premium for the 'new for old' policy and still exclude sports equip.

$10,000 cover will probably cost a similar amount to $100,000 cover. The rate is worked out on the likelihood of a claim, not a claim for everything at once...

Also, if you are in a "shared" house - your costs will increase.

Ring around, but you might not find much better out there.

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timmmay

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#683798 10-Sep-2012 12:54

I asked State Insurance this question. Their reply (within 2 hours, quite impressive) was

To prove that you own an item when you make a claim, you can provide the following:

    Receipts
    Photos
    User manuals
    Credit and bank statements, or
    The box an item came in

It is advisable to keep a copy of the photos, receipts, manuals or statements at a different address, in case the house burns down.

There are limits to the cover we offer for valuable objects. Your policy covers you for watches, jewellery and cameras up to $2,500 per item, collections up to $2,500 in total, artworks up to $10,000, watercrafts and bicycles up to $2,000 per item, unset precious stones up to $500 in total, watercraft parts up to $1,000 in total and motor vehicle parts up to $1,000 in total, and $15,000 for all jewellery which is not specified on the schedule. If you have any of these items, please let us know as these needs to be specified on the policy.

Otherwise, other expensive electronics will automatically be covered under the general contents policy your policy.

I've asked them follow up questions mainly around the practicality of keeping receiepts when a house burns down (digital, offsite storage), and what happens given most people don't bother to do that.

richms

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#683804 10-Sep-2012 12:57

Watch the "collection" limitations if you have several items of a single item. they declined a friends initial claim for his PS3 and some games and movies as they would have exceeded the collection amount. I talked to westpac who do my insurance and just ended up specifying all my computers as I didnt want them to call it a collection and impose a retardedly low limit on them.

Richard rich.ms

stevenz

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#683809 10-Sep-2012 13:03

I've got my contents with AA and I'm only paying (IIRC) $35/month for $30k of cover. Did you choose a super-low excess or something?

@KnightNZ

DravidDavid

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#683810 10-Sep-2012 13:04

Thanks for the advice guys. Might ring state tonight. AA are definitely number 1 on my books though.

I didn't specify any excess. I will have another chat with them. Do you think the fact I turned 21 recently will help?

Lias

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#683820 10-Sep-2012 13:21

+1 for AA Insurance.

I'm not a huge fan of IAG so my personal opinion would be to avoid any IAG Companies (NZI/Lantern, State, AMI)

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

timmmay

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#683869 10-Sep-2012 14:37

A follow-up from state

We would appreciate if you can provide as much evidence as you can provide when lodging a claim.

Belongings like books, clothing, computer software and camping equipment are covered for their present value. We?ll either pay the cost of repairing them to the condition they were in before the loss, or we?ll pay you what they were worth. Photos would be sufficient as a proof for clothes.

It is important that you provide evidences for all the items you will be claiming for, regardless of its value. Photos would be fine for all items, however, receipts or manuals can make the claims process easier.

Sounds to me like photographing everything is essential, and keeping receipts for big ticket items and all bank/credit card statements would be a good idea. I think I'll do that this weekend, and store in cloud storage and in my offsite backup system.

kingjj

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#683923 10-Sep-2012 15:34

mjb:
kingjj: If you do specify all expensive items, and one or two of them are a bit more private... say an engagement ring set, make sure that the confirmation isn't sent to your fianc?, complete with its purchase and valuation costs :-)

speaking from experience?

Unfortunately so... and I did so well hiding the price from her for 3 months haha

stevenz

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#683935 10-Sep-2012 15:49

I keep receipts for _everything_ worth more than about $50. Of course, in the case of a fire, they'd all be ruined, but if I get burgled, as long as they don't take my receipts box, I'll be ok...

@KnightNZ

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Snowflake

#684176 10-Sep-2012 23:58

stevenz: I've got my contents with AA and I'm only paying (IIRC) $35/month for $30k of cover. Did you choose a super-low excess or something?

I think I pay about $1000 annually for $150K cover (probably over-insured, better over than under in a disaster....)

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