Laptop Insurance/Claim Discussion Area

sam1970

my 15 months old son could not find any thing better to do than dropping my laptop off the disk and the result was smashed screen and then ruined the keyboard with orange juice.
Now i have a content insurance with halifax which includes accidental damage. my laptop is 2 years old (cost me £1000) and was in perfect condition. my insurance policy excess is £100. Do you think it is worthed to claim on the insurance...i know it will be costly to repair it so will they offer me a new one and how are they going to valuate it...any advice will be appreciated.

Mr_Skint_2

Yes see if you can claim, afterall it was accidental, the Insurance might
send it off to be checked out.

Tomthumb

I hope someone can give me some advice, I've never needed to claim on my insurance before.
Basically my laptop has had a fall and now the power connection will not work. It's been in the repair shop for a week and they have now informed me that after soldering it it's still not working. He has suggested I claim on the insurance.

I have checked my insurance policy (small hotels insurance) and it should be covered under the general contents insurance. I think the excess is £250 - the work already done on the laptop is going to cost £120!!

My business partners concern is that claiming for the laptop will increase the premium dramatically next year and will impact on her too. (we live in the Hotel so it is my only insurance)

So, do I pay the computer guy and end up with nothing - but keep no claims on my insurance or claim on the insurance and risk a loaded insurance premium - anyone know what the impact on insurance is when you make a claim??

Thanks in advance, Jen

rdwarr

Hi Jen,
There may be all sorts of problems with your laptop so don't embark on any course until you are guaranteed a repair. May I ask what sort of machine it is? I used to do laptop repairs so may be able to shed some light.

Tomthumb

Hi rdwarr, thanks for replying to me, I just had a call from my computer guy and there's still no news - he hasn't worked on it today :rolleyes:

It's a Compaq Evo N160 and there is no power from the mains to it - the yellow light doesn't go on to show the power supply so basically once the battery ran down it died on me. Computer guy has so far soldered the connection and that hasn't solved the problem so he thinks there is a resistor somewhere?? (I have no idea what I'm talking about)

rdwarr

It's a bit of good news and a bit of bad news I suppose. The fact that it was running on batteries is indicative of there not being too much damage, the bad news is that the repair shop seem unable to fix it yet still want to charge for their efforts.
The N160 is often Celeron-based and consequently quite cheap on the secondhand market. So, if it was me, I'd buy one from eBay for £150-£200, swap the hard disks and sell the other for spares (or break it), realising £80-£100.
Then I'd refuse to pay the repairers as they obviously don't know what they are doing. "He thinks there is a resistor somewhere" does not inspire confidence. I wouldn;t go to a doctor who thought I might have a kidney or two scattered around.

Tomthumb

I am getting increasingly worried about how much this guy knows and also how much time he's actually spending on it - he's really busy and there are loads of computers stacked up in the shop to be fixed. Maybe I should go and learn computer repair - they seem to be in demand!
Thanks for your help though - maybe I'll get some news today!
Jen

Ollie

I've got a home insurance policy with morethan and for the 1st time I think im going to have to use it....

I was charging my 3yo Dell laptop on a table when my 1yo daughter grabbed the power cable and pulled it off the desk. The screen is now badly damaged. I called up dell and they said a new screen will cost me £350 + delivery. :eek:

So i've called up morethan. Somebody is going to collect it next week and take it away to either repair it or replace the laptop. The replacement screen is worth more than the laptop itself so I can't see them repairing it. But then again, a new laptop will cost them even more.

What do insurance companies tend to do in these situations ? My concern is that they will send my a cheque for £100 or something and say "Here, this is what your laptop is worth now". Other ppl in my office say that insurance companies nearly always replace them - but why ? Dont replacements cost them even more ? Especially on a new or old scheme .

mara

Hi,
The idea behind insurance is to put you in the same position you were in before the loss. If they cant repair your laptop then they will replace it with either the same model or the nearest equilvent. Most insurers have deals with various suppliers so they tend to get goods at a discounted price.

Savvy_Sue

mara wrote:

Hi,
The idea behind insurance is to put you in the same position you were in before the loss. If they cant repair your laptop then they will replace it with either the same model or the nearest equilvent. Most insurers have deals with various suppliers so they tend to get goods at a discounted price.

Surely that's only if you've gone for the 'new for old' option rather than the 'current value' option? Or does no-one offer contents insurance on a 'current value' basis any more?