Computer Insurance

Hi guys, I’ve build a PC for Stephen about 2 years ago. The specs on the PC was an impressive rig at the time, i7-920, ASUS P6T-Delux, ASUS GTX260. It was a real beast of a machine back in the day and still capable to play anything you throw at it today. If memory serves me correct, the cost of the machine was about R20k (everything included).

Long story short, lighting killed his PC, monitor, keyboard, you name it, all of it fried. His insurance is with Santam, and I’ve been his unofficial “IT-engineer” reviewing the various quotes and just to make sure that he don’t get screwed.

He took the pc to Matrix Warehouse in order to have it assessed. Matrix came back said everything is fried. They quoted him on a real kick ass machine, Sandy Bridge, massive RAM, proper case, SSD, the works, I think the quote came out at about R20k and I “endorsed” the quote as a reasonable (great) replacement. All happy, the quote was submitted to Santam, who then turned around and said in his own words: “It is impossible for a pc to cost so much” and they suggested the pc be re-appraised by some other assessor.

Now, first of all, the assessor said no, it is just the PSU that is dead, then it was just the motherboard that is dead, but everything else is ok. Then eventually the GPU is also dead but the CPU and the hard drives are still fine. So this dodgy character prepares a quote, and Stephen asked me to review it, but the guy is fitting out this rig with the biggest load of kak. Each time Stephen contacts him, this dodgy character argues technical points. Eventually Stephen asked if I could talk to him, fortunately, technical crap doesn’t work that well on all people, and he is now changing his tune a bit.

Most of our PC’s are older generation, at least some components in it at least. I realise that it is impossible for insurance companies to replace the exact same motherboard that I’ve installed in that machine, and if you have a slightly technical person (like anybody in GRRR) then they will quickly say that the replacement parts are crappy components not manufactured to the same standard. This means the insurance company has to go to the next socket, or fork out a lot more to get the same quality older generation boards. The saga still continues, but I am hoping that this dodgy character just gives up, and do the honourable thing and tell Santam that he is unable to match the components and that they should go with the Matrix quote, but let’s see.

This poor guy has been without gaming now for nearly 3 weeks, my question that I have for you all, do you have your PC insured, and if so, by whom. Did you specify your pc or is it under your general house hold contents. I’ve done a quick calculation, for me to replace my gaming rig, I will need about R50k, for me to replace my servers and networking kit, another R50k, while all the other computers in the house (several of them) will add up to approximately R40k as well. I can just imagine the kind of problems I will have if my place burn down, given the problems that Stephen had with Santam and a mere R20k rig.

Now, I appreciate my PC may be a bit more than the average pc, but I will imagine most of the PC’s in GRRR is at least R20k plus, so what kind of insurance do you have on it?

I’ll start, my pc’s are not specified (at least not yet, I think I am changing that) and forms part of my household content. My household content should be sufficient to cover all the household content together with the PC’s / Servers. My insurance is Outsurance and touch wood, never needed to claim against household yet.

My PC is insured against lightning and theft but it is under general contents so I maybe in the same situation as this guy if something had to happen.

My pc is also insured under house contents and not specified. I am insured with virgin money

I had to claim a while back after my pc got hit, sent them a assesment and a replacement quote, they sent me a quote with the same hardware from a vendor is Jo'sy. I told them there is no way I am driving all the way there to get the parts if I can get them locally.
they didnt argue back and I had my replacement rig in the same week. Have to say I am very happy with this company.

my claim was about 18 grand and some of my stuff was still fine so it wasnt claimed eg. my screen,keyboard,mouse case etc

insurance?!? WTF if it blows up....we just build another one :biggrin:

I don't have any insurance on my pc.
Hoping the heavy case and 3 flights of stairs save me from theft.
Hoping Table Mountain saves me from lightning.
Hoping the screams of the people on the floors below will wake me with enough time to save me and my pc from fire.

Hope is a long shot but the premiums are low.

LOL geth (and greg)

OK - i am by no means an expert, but i firmly believe that the insurance companies haven't quite got the right method for insuring PC's - I got quote for mobo and GPU replacement from 2 places, both reasonable replacements for "PUTTING ME BACK IN THE POSITION I WAS IN" They paid with absolutely NO fuss at all. BUT they weren't high end replacement parts. The point I am making is that i would STRONGLY suggest specifying - of your own accord (honesty) - the total value and replacement value of each item (important) of your PC. The problem with total value household contents is that some insurers will then take a good look at your total value in your house and make a call relevant to the how much you where UNDER insured. IE - if your contract said total household contents R100k and they asses your ACTUAL total value to be R200k they might only pay half your claim. Hence the need to SPECIFY.

fly, I agree, as much as I hate paying my insurance every month, the risk of my house burning down or anything along those lines are just too high a risk. I do lose individual components every now and again (as we all do) but I will not be submitting an insurance claim if my HDD breaks for instance, I am more concerned about if my pc would be stolen (unlikely given the things weight) or worst, get striked down by lighting, or eskom spiking my electricity and all my components gets fried. Trying to convince the insurance company of what the actual worth is of my computer, that is where I am thinking that I may have a serious problem (as we will all have).

yeah skoups - hence - if you have specified what you have and how much they cost then they cant pay out less - ie yiu still get the same bucks down the line - maybe

seriaaasly, ive been with santam all my life, and ive had no kak with them, YES they are a little bit more expensive on the premiums, but when it comes to paying out.....i have had NO hassles
i mean even my big old bakkie is insured and covered for 4x4 use, so if i roll it on the dunes ...they pay out....how lekka is that. my pc falls under household content and IS specified.