Personal Articles Insurance


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Creative Commons License photo credit: bfishadow

Don’t Own Electronics Without It

Today, we live in a world filled with expensive consumer electronics – from laptop PCs and tablets, to MP3 players, wide screen HDTVs, and smart phones. The valuable contents of your home are generally covered under a renter’s or home owners insurance policy – but only under certain conditions.  If you are reading this, it is likely you own a few of these items, and that you were offered some version of a service or protection plan that covers certain types of damage and extends the original product warranties.  These plans can range in price from$49 to $349 per item – but for those prices, there are some surprising circumstances they would not allow coverage for:

  • water damage
  • theft
  • accidental breakage
  • screen damage
  • power surges

Such mishaps are common occurrences, but just as commonly dismissed out of hand when it comes to original factory warranties, and extended care plans.  So, what happens if your college student drops his Macbook Pro off the sofa during spring break in Rome while cackling at a particularly amusing YouTube video his friends made?  Nothing good, if you rely solely on the manufacturer’s warranty.  Even your basic home owner’s policy is unlikely to be of use in this scenario.  That’s where a Personal Articles policy (or floater, as it is sometimes called) comes in handy.

Advantages of Personal Articles Policies:

  • protect your items no matter where in the world you are
  • cover item disappearances, breakage, and accidental damage of any sort
  • will cover for the full purchase price
  • can be purchased to cover an extensive list of personal items – not just electronics
  • most incidents have no deductible (though breakage may have a $100 deductible)
  • automatic coverage of newly acquired property, with 30 days to notify your agent

Personal articles coverage is a good idea if you have a lot of expensive electronic devices in your home network and you want to be sure you’re covered in case of problems not covered by your home owner’s policy, or extended product warranties.  Many people now use Personal articles floaters instead of extended care plans, for just that reason.  To find out more, call your insurance agent today!

M.  McLaurin enjoys writing about economics, personal finance, and technology.  She currently writes for Allied Satellite Tv

Posted by on Apr 1 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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