Claim for new TV under contents insurance

piperm87

Good Afternoon

My son was playing this morning before school and started throwing his monster jam trucks around. Before his mom could get him to calm down he threw one in the direction of our precious Sony Tv. To both his and his mom’s horror the toy made contact with the screen on said precioustv and has cracked it. 

We don’t really have the spare cash around at the minute to buy a new one - School holidays on the horizon and family days out etc. . . Which has prompted me to look at claiming for accident damage on our home contents insurance. I’ve never claimed on our home insurance in the 11 years since buying our first house so am a little insure of the process and what to expect in return and was just after a little bit of advice on that front if possible?

For context the TV is an 8 year old Song Android TV and we are currently insured with policy expert for home and contents cover with accidental damage and a £50 excess 

Thank you

mr_stripey

any claim you make will have a knock on effect on premiums going forward. It is also worth carefully considering if you want to claim before you contact the insurance company. If you tell them what has happened, they may well increase your risk profile, even if you don't end up claiming.

How big was the TV? That may have a bearing on whether it is worth claiming or not?

piperm87

I think it’s either a 46” or 48”.  We paid around £1200 for it new as it was meant to be a top of range 4K UHD LED tv at the time with the Android / google playstore set up 

user1977

What's an equivalent (undamaged) tv worth secondhand now?

DullGreyGuy

user1977 said:

What's an equivalent (undamaged) tv worth secondhand now?

Almost all policies are new for old so secondhand values are not too relevant. 

piperm87 said:

I think it’s either a 46” or 48”.  We paid around £1200 for it new as it was meant to be a top of range UHD LED tv at the time with the Android / google playstore set up 

First step is to see how much a TV with similar features is today... just because it was top of the range 8 years ago doesn't make you entitled to a top of the range one today. In reality being LED it's fairly likely an entry level device is going to have very similar details these days.

I'd suggest you double check the excess, it could be £50 but that would be unusually low these days. The excess is sometimes made up of more than one part. 

Assuming they accept the claim, they'll want to know the age of the child, and you have the AD optional extra or it's covered by the embedded if you dont. Generally they'll either send someone out to judge if its economical to repair or not and then either send a gift voucher up to £X (the value of the replacement less the excess) for the likes of Currys or the inspector's company is a supplier and so they'll arrange the replacement to be sent and you pay the excess to them.

piperm87

Looking on eBay there’s many different models on offer of similar spec. Massive price range depending on age and subtle differences. Just had a Quick Look and it could be £400 - £850 depending. It’s abit excessive for an item with little to no guarantee