Will my homeowners insurance cover electronic devices?

Question

Recently a bad storm hit and we were out of power for a few days and when we finally regained power I noticed my t.v. does not work properly. The colors seem to be all messed up now. Also I had roof damage and my basement flooded. I did not know if it would be worth it to cliam. It was a 54' RCA HD tv.

Answer 1

to add to those answers a lot of them time with my company electronics are only covered up to a certain amount minus the deductable. Also the basement flooding will not be covered unless you had flood and then still it will most likely not be covered anyways. besides your homeowners is going to go up when you submit that claim and a lot of ther time new companies will not pick you up because you have made a claim.

Answer 2

Call your insurance carrier and file a homeowners claim.  Give the approx date of the storm when all the damages occurred.  It will be up to their adjuster to see what is covered.

If the roof damage was due to the storm and flooded your basement you will be covered.  Also lightening does not need to strike your home directly to ruin the TV. A near miss may be enough.  A electronic shop can determine the cause of the problems with it.  Your adjuster may send it out to one.

Answer 3

Only if you have personal property added to your insurance.  It is an add on, not part of the structure insurance.  Call your agent and ask.  The worst he can say is 'no'.  The best is 'yes'.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Well, no one here knows for sure, but if it's fried due to lightening, it might be covered.  If the basement flooded due to backup of sewers & drains, and you have that coverage, THAT might be covered.  And the damage to the roof is probably covered.  The question is, what is your deductible, and how much is the damage total.

And no one here knows that.

Answer 5

I am an agent now but was a claims representative for 10 years.

Since you've got damage to the dwelling(roof & water in the basement) you already need to file a claim.  The claim you file should include the TV.  The insurer would apply one deductible to the sum total of the claim...not one each for the contents(TV) and the dwelling(basement & roof).  

I agree that they may want to have someone check the TV to see if it was fried however carriers also use a firm called StrikeFax who provide them with a list of all lightning strikes in a given area for the date of your claim.  This will tell them whether its possible there was a surge that damaged your TV.

Answer 6

Your typical homeowners policy does cover personal property pending their assessment of how the item got damaged.   Not sure if your house got struck by lightening that would be a logical cause for your TV to go bad.  They may have your TV inspected before paying for it.