house content insurance (laptop)

brooker1234

ok heres the situation. yesyerday morning like a clumsy dik i tripped over my brothers xbox lead running accross the landing landing. when doing this i was carrying my laptop and it went down the stairs. it turns on but doesnt load to windows now, one corner is all smashed up and the harddrive came out and basically the bottom is all cracked and so is the top lid. the laptop is only year and half old and cost near 600 new. i am covered through legal and general for house insurance and for contents and all that. has this happened to anyone here before and i claim of the house insurance, i dont mind wot happens, just want it fixed and the cracks fixed as well. when doing it through the insurance does it take long to sort out because it is business insurance i have and the laptop is mainly needed for work so would need it fixed asap

thanks for reading and feel free to let me know what you think

Astaroth

Need to check you have accidental damage on your policy, this is normally an optional extra.

If you have, call your insurers and lodge a claim once you have worked out if minus the excess, loss of no claims discount and premium loadings for 3-5 years will be worth while the cost of the claim.

brooker1234

yeah i have found out i have accidental damage and i also have a no claims bonus aswell. the problem is that i need it fixed or replaced asap as i use it a lot for work.

Astaroth

If you use it for work you will have to ensure that the Home insurance will cover it. Many policies do allow for administration type work from home and its associated equipment but not all.

brooker1234

yeha thats cleared and its ok but im just wondering would it take months and months of mucking about

Astaroth

Generally not, many insurers will have a deal with the likes of PC World where you take it in for inspection, if its economical to repair they do that, if it isnt then you get a replacement from them.

brooker1234

but the thing is that they are sending me the form out and then they said they are going to get someone to collect it from me. was just wondering would this be a whole hassle for months sorting out and also, they do not do or sell the same laptop anymore as i have checked, so im just wondering, on my policy it is "old for new", if it cant be fixed would they give the original price back or what would happen? thanks for your help

dacouch

You might find L&G do a long telephone interview or send a loss adjuster around as dropping a lap top down stairs is common fraudulent claim. It is nothing to worry about if you have a genuine claim as it basically involved them asking controlled questions often the same question a few times or detailed questions about the exact circumstances. This is used as someone who is lying will often give varying answers or not be able to answer precise obscure questions.

It's nothing to be afraid of as the interview is not definative and does not mean they will throw the claim out if you get a question wrong etc. It is used to weed out claims that need further investigation.

There is a good chance they will arrange a replacement computer as it's often cheaper than a repair. You might want to take the computer to a computer specialist (PC World at a push) if there is data on it that you want to keep as they can often hook the hard drive up to their computer and produce a copy of the data for you (The cost of this is not normally covered by your Insurance).

keith1950

Hi, some insurances I have dealt with will just arrange for and have delivered to you an equivalent laptop they might not give you the money to replace it .

brooker1234

i dont mind a replacement or fixed either way, bit if it came to replacement i wouldnt want say the lieks of a crap acer when this was a top of the range toshiba. would they do say toshiba replacement and match the spec. would preferably wanted this sorted within couple of weeks and dont want it running on for months and months

Astaroth

Claims rarely run on months and months for simple things like this.

Typically they will put a value on the item and then you select (often from a limited list of suppliers) exactly what you want or you receive a cheque or prepaid credit card or such.... generally insurers want to push you down the route of having the item replaced at their preferred supplier because as their volume of sales go up so does the discount they receive.