OT We All Should Look @ This.

[Clevelander]

So a guy came in the other day....

And told me his garage burned to the ground. I asked him if he had replacement value insurance. He assured me that he did. As part of the insurance claim he was required to work up a list for a quote in conjuction with an employee of the store. So we went to it. Over a period of three days he came in and we made a double column list about four pages long. As we kept going with this list I finally thought to ask him what his coverage was: $10,000.00. I knew he was a little slow but we must have hit 10K by the second page....he wasn't done at 6 pages...he just has no conception.

So, as far as I'm concerned about insurance. You bet your ass I'm willing to put up $150.00 per year against a loss of $150,000 (yes that's a 1,000 year break even). I'll bet dollars to bullets that most any of us would be shocked when we started to add up the small individual things that we all take for granted in our shops. Take this example from the other day: I bought a few packages of belts for my belt sander $50.00 and that's virtually nothing.

This is the third person I've met in two years that had their shop burn to the ground.

The thing that is also very interesting when I was talking to my insurance agent she was telling me that most customers UNDER CLAIM on their insurance simply because they can't remember all of the items they have.

I have tried to be good (unsuccessfully) about making a good inventory but at the very least if you make a video tape of your "stuff" it would help prod your memory in case of emergency.

BTW: I'd like to think that every one of you have fire extinguisers conveniently mounted in your shops. There is nothing worse than having a small fire that could have been put out take out your whole house or shop. To take care of your equipment and prevent damage you have at least two choices of extinquiser that does not leave residue: Haelon and carbon dioxide, with both you need to be careful about ensuring you have air to breath, as they both smother the fire by displacing the oxygen.

I wish you all a safe hobby.

[oldtiffie]

Perhaps risk is how something was installed and who by.

"Shop Hygiene" as well as personal risk factors (OHS topics) can be to blame in the first instance in which case the "insurable event" was either inevitable or preventable.

I am pretty well insured (over-insured if anything) but a bunch of cash and a smouldering ruin are still poor compensation for an insurance pay-put on a preventable event.

[gnm109]

I don't use insurance myself for a few reasons...
Insurance is a company designed to make profit, So clearly they pay out less then is paid in = Net loss of money.

Its thier job to try and *not* pay you out to make higher profits... So you are paying someone whos job is to try and not pay you back and may very well denie your claim for whatever reason they can find.

By very difinition, you are paying more then you will on average get out. Maybe its a little better with home insurance.. but when I checked on auto insurance I found that.....
in just 5 years time, the cost of fire/theft/flood insurance would cost me more then I spent to buy my truck, and they would not pay out any more then the 'value' of my truck (What I paid when I bought and registered it)
For collision insurance.. Again, about 5 years before it costs more in insurance then my truck is worth.

So for full insurance id need to have my truck catch fire/be stolen or run into something due to my own fault, every 2.5 years, just to brake even, assuming they pay out every single time, and they may not.

I think I have had my truck for about 6 years now, So by not buying insurance, Not only do I still have my truck, I have enough money to buy two more just like it!

You are speaking of vehicle insurance, then? The OP was mentioning the need for insurance for a home in the event that it burns down. I presume that you have insurance on your home.

If my home were to burn down with it's contents, there's no way I would have the cash to rebuild without insurance. Or course, if you have a mortgage like some folks do, you must have at least single interest insurance to at least cover the lender's interest.

Back to vehicle insurance - here in California and many other states, we are required to have at least a minumum amount of insurance to cover potential damages that we might cause. We only need collision and fire and theft if there is a loan on the vehicle.

Hopefully there is a requirement for some vehicle insurance in Canada.

[oldtiffie]

For those that may have forgotten - here is the OP:

Hello Group,

The reason I am posting this is the issue of insurance and coverage for our houses/shops and the contents of these.
I have a friend that is not into machining but is a gun collector and he had his house burn to the ground 2 weeks ago. The cause was his oil furnace had burnt a hole in the heat exchanger and caught the floor joists on fire from the heat in the ducts to the main level of the house which caught the floor joists on fire and was a total loss. My friend has lost most everything. He has also found out there are 2 kinds of coverage, insured value and replacement value. Now his guns were on a seperate rider and fully covered but this got me to thinking, should this terrible thing happen to any of us are we covered for the loss of our house/shop and equipment. I checked with my agent and I am way under insured since I have added new equipment to the shop in the last year and a half, so I am making an appointment to update the coverage. My friend has only insured value on the house which is older and the total cost for repairs is not fully covered so he will have to find alternate funds to completly fix the house. Like I was told by my grandfather you are betting with the insurance company on the house and contents and in this case my frind has lost this bet so just take a moment to think about this for everyones sake both the ones we love and the ones we will leave our collection of tools to.

Peace to all
Mr fixit for the family
Chris

So far as I can recall, all the "shop" "total" fires quoted/cited here were remote from the house and neither attached to it (garage) or under it (cellar) in which case if the shop were "totalled" the rest of the house might well be as well.

I could well do without the fire insurance company fixing what is left as a smoking ruin in the first place from a fire which may be preventabe.

[Evan]

I had the extraordinary good luck to be a member of an insurance pool when I worked for Xerox. They didn't care where you live or how close you are to a hydrant and the insurance itself is unusual. Most importantly, it was portable when I left Xerox.

I still have it and the policy covers everything I own, all hazards at replacement value with a ceiling of 2 million. There is no separate this or that with only very few exceptions like boats or vehicles. You can claim whatever you lose until you hit the ceiling. It even provides 10K insurance on my trees, which isn't enough but it beats nothing. It covers jewellery and even "mysterious disappearance". Best of all it's only $500 per year.

Back a couple of years ago it seemed like a really good deal when it looked like this from the back deck:



Because this was just on the other side of the hill.