TV ha died, is it worth claiming on insurance?

apesxx

TV is 40" samsung LCD and was about £800 about 4.5 years ago. it was working fine this morning and whilst giving the little one dinner noticed lines had appeared on the screen and it very quickly went black with loads of pretty coloured lines running across it.

Will it be covered under the house insurance? we have accidental damage cover. Im not sure if the little one has hit it with something whilst i was making his dinner (it has stood up to quite a beating so far) or whether it has just chosen now to die. The excess on the policy is £50 and we havent had any claims so far in the 6 years we have lived here.

thanks in advance for any advice

rs65

You won't be covered for electrical breakdown so would need proof that it was accidental damage.

Probably best to get a local guy to have a look before talking to insurers.

forgotmyname

£50 excess on the policy for accidental damage? Are you sure?

That sounds cheap to me, I dont have accidental damage and mines more than that.

Making a false claim could see you uninsured. With the age of the TV and the policy excess it maybe cheaper to go and buy a new one.

Quentin

forgotmyname wrote: »

£50 policy and has accidental damage? Are you sure?

That sounds checp to me, I dont have accidental damage and mines more than that.....

Presumably your higher excess is reflected in your premium.

A £50 excess isn't unusual.

pinkteapot

LCD screens can die in exactly that way. My last laptop went very suddenly with exactly the same symptoms. I could plug in an external monitor and it worked fine, but its own screen was dead as a doornail. I suspect that electrical breakdown is more likely than accidental damage. If it was AD, it would more likely have died at the time it was hit.

I suspect your insurer would argue with you (unless you're insured with Hiscox). If your little one had knocked the TV off its stand or thrown a drink over it then you'd have a better chance.

Just_Some_Guy

This sounds like "wear and tear", i.e. the TV came to the end of its natural life and died. House insurance doesn't cover this, extended warranties do. If your child hit it and then it broke then you have a valid claim as this is accidental damage.

Large flat screen TVs set off all kinds of alarm bells at insurers, they will probably want a TV repair guy to say "the kid hit it and it broke" before paying out. If your child didn't break it then you are on a hiding to nothing I'm afraid.

lisyloo

Will it be covered under the house insurance?

Electrical failure isn't covered.

I don't think you can claim for an accident if you don't know there was one.

Whether it's worth claiming is difficult to say, you need to bear in mind that you will lose no claims and have a claims record so will face higher premiums for a few years. Usually it isn't worth claiming and the replacement will probably be a lot less than what you paid.
I would get a local repairer in first and do NOT call your insurer (the loss may be noted and count against you if you so much as mention it and it may turn out to be a tiny repair).

£50 policy

No, it's £50 excess.

MSE_Tony

Home policies normally exclude any breakdowns, electrical faults or mechancial faults.

Just touching on another subject about 'Accidental Damage'. It is quite common to be covered against accidental damage for your TV (and some other electrical items such as radios/computers/videos) as standard without paying for the extension.

Just a final recommendation. If you remember where you purchased the TV from, check the length of the warranty.

Some stores do give a standard 5 year warranty as part of the sale. Just something to consider.

Hope this helps.

MSE Tony

apesxx

Thanks for the advice. After being switched off for an hour the tv is now working again so must be an electrical problem and more than likely on its way out we haven't got the money to go and buy another as partner was made redundant and only managed to find part time work since so if it does go we'll just have to bring the 32" down from the bedroom for a while x thanks for the replies x

Quentin

apesxx wrote: »

.... we'll just have to bring the 32" down from the bedroom for a while.......

Lets just hope there's no "accident" whilst the switch is getting carried out!

JimmyTheWig

apesxx wrote: »

we haven't got the money to go and buy another

Check out your local freegle/freecycle. You're unlikely to get a flat screen, but if you can cope with a CRT (and if it's going into a corner, like most people's TVs, I see no problem with that) then you should be able to get one.