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Hifi equipment insurance

Tarzan

pfm Member
Hi all, just a quick learning question, l have some equipment that l have no receipts for what is the beat way to go about insuring this, ( stuff l brought new l have receipts for and have claimed on my home contents insurance with no problem) any advice appreciated.

:)
 
Can always get a valuation from a friendly dealer. Keep all boxes if you have them, adds to the evidence. I do wonder if hi-fi is that much of a target these days?
 
Do you need receipts to make a claim?

I have about £30,000 worth of gear (I have got receipts!) and I was told by my insurance company that it would be included in normal household equipment, not as a specific item, like jewellery.
 
I once had a really frustrating conversation with our home insurers. The person was adamant that I was covered under our contents cover the problem was that she didn’t realise that the £1,500 single item limit wasn’t enough. Eventually after shopping around I found an insurer that allowed me to list the items individually for not a lot of money.

Don’t assume the person you are dealing with at the insurance company gets the fact that we don’t all play our music through our phone and a £10 Bluetooth speaker!
 
Do you need receipts to make a claim?

I have about £30,000 worth of gear (I have got receipts!) and I was told by my insurance company that it would be included in normal household equipment, not as a specific item, like jewellery.

yes told that every year , i check every year , i explain what items cost etc and told the above
 
I once had a really frustrating conversation with our home insurers. The person was adamant that I was covered under our contents cover the problem was that she didn’t realise that the £1,500 single item limit wasn’t enough. Eventually after shopping around I found an insurer that allowed me to list the items individually for not a lot of money.

Don’t assume the person you are dealing with at the insurance company gets the fact that we don’t all play our music through our phone and a £10 Bluetooth speaker!

Can you tell us the insurer you used please?
 
I was told that single items worth in excess of £2000 had to be named on the policy and that single items not named would be paid out to a maximum of £2000.
My Hifi consists of about 20 single items most of them costing in excess of £2000 to replace. So Id have the system covered for £40K which would just about enable me to go out and replace with second hand in similar condition.

My policy only covers the house contents up to a maximum of £60K so id be out of pocket in the event of a total loss.
 
Do you need receipts to make a claim?

I have about £30,000 worth of gear (I have got receipts!) and I was told by my insurance company that it would be included in normal household equipment, not as a specific item, like jewellery.

Interesting that Phil will take a gander at the household insurance.

Thanks to those who replied.:)
 
I was told that single items worth in excess of £2000 had to be named on the policy and that single items not named would be paid out to a maximum of £2000.
My Hifi consists of about 20 single items most of them costing in excess of £2000 to replace. So Id have the system covered for £40K which would just about enable me to go out and replace with second hand in similar condition.

My policy only covers the house contents up to a maximum of £60K so id be out of pocket in the event of a total loss.

You are at great risk being under-insured. In the event of a claim you will get perhaps much less than you think as any claim payout is calculated relative to the level of under-insurance. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Condition_of_average is a starting point for you to read. Sounds like you should insure for more than £100K. Even £60k is barely enough for a small house contents - do not forget that the kitchen units and bathroom are 'contents' too.

AND, based on lucky experience and a long chat with an insurance assessor, you are well advised to have Buildings and Contents with the same company - the opportunity for argy between the 2 policies is immense. When I was flooded I was lucky - it was easy manage the claim as both building and contents damage was the same company.
 
AND, based on lucky experience and a long chat with an insurance assessor, you are well advised to have Buildings and Contents with the same company - the opportunity for argy between the 2 policies is immense. When I was flooded I was lucky - it was easy manage the claim as both building and contents damage was the same company.

When our farmhouse was flooded it was a great help to have contents and buildings insurance from the same company. The farm insured the house and we the contents.
 
I have long since held the view that one should only own something that one can afford to replace tomorrow without insurance.

If you insure expensive items in time you will pay for them twice while owning them once!

I insure my sixteen year old car because it is legal requirement. I insure the building of my home as it a requirement of the lease. Otherwise I limit the value of everything to what I could afford to replace tomorrow without insurance.

Of course it does mean that my house is not worth burgling!

Best wishes from George
 
I have long since held the view that one should only own something that one can afford to replace tomorrow without insurance.

If you insure expensive items in time you will pay for them twice while owning them once!

I insure my sixteen year old car because it is legal requirement. I insure the building of my home as it a requirement of the lease. Otherwise I limit the value of everything to what I could afford to replace tomorrow without insurance.

Of course it does mean that my house is not worth burgling!

Best wishes from George

Insurance is peanuts compared the cost (and hassle) of replacing your home and its contents. Unless you have nothing of any value and live in a tent.
 
Like hifinutt, I too use Aviva although I started off with Marks & Spencer Home Insurance, Aviva took it over.

Every year I go through the process and ensure the call IS recorded and logged so that my separates and LP12 are covered individually. I also ensure my vinyl collection is insured at replacement value. When asked if I could provide details of the collection, I offered my Discogs and Music Collector Databases as support. Same for CD collection

Perfectly happy with the service
 
My policy only covers the house contents up to a maximum of £60K so id be out of pocket in the event of a total loss.

Already addressed by Jensen Healey, who is right, if there were an investigation into a claim for hifi replacement or whatever. Unless I'm totally out of date (* see below) contents insurance covers a number of sections, one of which is Audio-Visual, which can cover TV, hifi and sometimes computer stuff etc. This section, regardless of the other contents, has accidental damage cover. It may or may not have a single item limit.

However, it IS PART OF THE OVERALL COVER, and will be treated in relation to the cover you have paid for. No good having a £50 K hifi set-up included within a £75K house contents, as it probably only represents less tan a third of the overall new for old value of all your contents. This, i.m.o., is logical.

* After a few years of (expensive and labour intensive) bespoke cover, then paying more to up my Saga cover to well above the £100K mark for a few years, I settled on John Lewis unlimited cover for buildings and contents. As each year the premium either goes up or down by a few quid (this year due is down), I simply renew, saving all the worry, time and hassle of phoning round. My records and CDs are covered for certain risks too.

Lots of insurance threads on pfm (and Wigwam) over the years and lots of useful info. but Hiscox (they're bespoke but have good claims record) is used by many, as is John Lewis (who are not the underwriters). You'd be surprised what everything in your house/flat comes to, and these mail-shots, usually from building societies, limiting cover to £50K or £75K are pretty useless foe anybody with a half decent system, i.m.o.

My unlimited cover for a 3 bed detached fluctuates around £300 p.a., though that would be dependent upon area (as would all quotes).
 


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