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Claiming for damaged laptop on home insurance?

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  • 05-09-2013 12:47pm
    #1
    Rockfish
    Registered Users Posts: 668 ✭✭✭


    Spilled a drink on my laptop and its fecked. Is it worth trying to claim for it on my house insurance? Will my premium go up etc?


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    #2
    peteb2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,813 ✭✭✭peteb2


    Your claim will be subject to the policy excess - generally €250 or more. Then you will lose your no claims bonus as well. So no it is not worth claim and yes your premium will go up.


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    #3
    LostArt
    Registered Users Posts: 1,808 ✭✭✭LostArt


    peteb2 wrote: »
    Your claim will be subject to the policy excess - generally €250 or more. Then you will lose your no claims bonus as well. So no it is not worth claim and yes your premium will go up.

    A lot of household policies dont have no a claims bonus. Whether the premium goes up will depend on the claim cost and previous claims history.


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    #4
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,394 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    LostArt wrote: »
    A lot of household policies dont have no a claims bonus. Whether the premium goes up will depend on the claim cost and previous claims history.

    If you do claim and then attempt to get a quote from a different company and disclose that you had a claim in the past couple of years, they will either refuse to quote you for cover or quote an inflated premium and your own company will jack up the premium on your next renewal.

    All of which means that with household insurance there is a no-claims bonus system operating in all but name.


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    #5
    Trish56
    Registered Users Posts: 1,256 ✭✭✭Trish56


    All household policies have an excess as Peteb2 mentioned. Insurance companies also offer a no claim discount usually of up to 40% for up to 5 years no claims. If you put in a claim say for €500 for a new laptop less the €250 excess = €250 - if you had no claims in the last 5 years on your home policy your no claims discount could be circa €200. Your renewal premium then increases by €200 You would then start on renewal of your policy at 1 year no claim bonus which would be 15% so you stand to lose a lot more over 5 years.

    Definitely not worth putting in a small claim.


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    #6
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 8,016 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    If the laptop was specified on your policy or covered as an unspecified item within the house the chances are you'd be paying a lower excess for claims on items like this. That is the case with numerous policies with the more reputable companies Zurich, RSA, Aviva etc .

    Also if the damage was accidental you'd meed accidental cover on your policy on your contents which isn't the default with most companies and normally needs to be requested.

    Personally in the long run I wouldn't be claiming for this as you will be paying it back in your premium for at least the next 3 years. When I look at claims on home insurance I normally say don't claim if you can afford to look after it yourself it just keeps your premium low and it's there for you if the worse happens.


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