Blogger @ A New Bike
A New Bike
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Using renters insurance/product insurance

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone here had experience with renters insurance/product insurance. Basically, I just want high-ticket stuff covered: Computer, iPhone, Kindle, etc.

My roommate got robbed last week (ugh, Oakland) and I'm a mix of figuring out how I'm going to defend myself (ugh) or just hand over my stuff if/when it happens to me. As dumb as it sounds, living in Oakland would still be worth it if each time I got robbed I could just hand over everything and not risk getting shot/beat up. (Awesome, right?)

Does anyone use it? Whats your cost per month and deductible? I don't want to pay $10 a month but then have to pay a $500 deductible to get a ~$500 phone back.

Lemme know,

Andrew Ford

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'95 Rialta-dweller, VFR800-rider, builder of cool things
John Wes
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Never.  Only self-insurance. 
Full coverage insurance policies on anything has never made since to me: give money to the insurance company, then when shit goes down, your payments go up!  I simply keep a huge buffer in my checking account (enough to live on for a few years if I wanted) that could easily replace such gadgets or even my entire RV.  I'd also never live in a high-crime area without owning a gat.

This may not be related, but I've had at least 5 excellent experiences with Square Trade repaying me for things like cameras and stereos that break on their own, but never bought a plan that covers it if I break it.


Blogger @ A New Bike
A New Bike
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A few year buffer, shit, must be nice. 

'95 Rialta-dweller, VFR800-rider, builder of cool things
John Wes
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1. It might've taken near a decade of frugal living to get to that point.

2. I have way more buffer than necessary rotting in a checking account = fail; hence the investments threads I started.

3. Keep in mind I don't pay rent or have an electric bill.

Blogger @ A New Bike
A New Bike
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Roger roger. Props on getting there man. I think the new Ford Transits are going to make the RV life more and more popular. They should get similar gas mileage to Sprinters, but be based on much cheaper Ford Engines and Transmissions. If Tynan is listening to this post, is there a reason you haven't jumped over to Sprinters? Seem to be more reliable than Rialtas and better mpg. 

'95 Rialta-dweller, VFR800-rider, builder of cool things
John Wes
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The reasons are that Sprinter-based RV's are so expensive and Tynan has upgraded his Rialta so extensively.  I haven't seen a Transit-based RV yet, post about it if you have.

Software Engineer Extraordinaire
Joe
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Ya, one thing I like about my Rialta is it cost $12k. Most people who will want to buy it would rather the AC/microwave/rear chairs be there. I'm perfectly fine with devaluing $12k. The $80k for a roadtrek? eeehhh.

Though having an engine/transmission from Mercedes sure would be nice :)

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Christian
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Do you think that you have a higher risk of being robbed as the average person who would buy the insurance?

Otherwise getting insurance for things like that is a bad deal. It's better to put the money into an interest bearing emergency fund.

Hi, my name is Jason! My philosophy for life? Don't settle, let go, no obligations, single-task, and deliberate practice.
Jason Martin
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I use State Farm to insure personal articles, they have Personal Article Protection (PAP) insurance. For $30 a year, I can insure my $2,500 laptop against theft, loss, damage...basically if anything happens to it, I get a new laptop. 


Most things I don't insure, but I ensure my laptop and get AppleCare+ on my iDevices (already used AppleCare+ once when I dropped and shattered my iPad). 

Blogger @ A New Bike
A New Bike
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Hey thanks Jason. I haven't spent the time to call any Agents yet to figure out pricing, but it seems like a decent deal. What is your deductible like if something goes wrong? Also, is there a reason you do Applecare and PAP? 

Hi, my name is Jason! My philosophy for life? Don't settle, let go, no obligations, single-task, and deliberate practice.
Jason Martin
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Hey A New Bike,


$0 deductable with State Farm. You can insure laptops, or other expensive electronics such as DSLR cameras & lenses.

Anything happens to my laptop? I get a brand new one, free of charge.  I do also have regular AppleCare on my laptop, for 2 reasons. 1) because if I plan on selling it before 3 years, it helps keep the retail value high (buyers have peace of mind when they get an Apple product with AppleCare that if anything is wrong at all, it can be fixed free of charge); 2) If I ever have any minor issues or mechanical defects with my laptop, rather than waiting for State Farm to deal with it and send me a check while I have no laptop, I can go into any Apple store for instant resolution — however, I could always "pretend to lose" the laptop or purposely drop and break it so State Farm would cover it and save me the $ on AppleCare, but State Farm has been good to me and I only prefer to use their insurance if I have to. 

AppleCare+ covers my iPhone and iPad — State Farm doesn't insure iPads. AppleCare+ covers everything except loss/theft, and I almost always have my iPhone on me, and usually my iPad so I'm not as concerned about this. ($49 deductable to replace with a brand new unit, but it's already paid for itself on the iPad, plus gives me peace of mind — I depend on and treat apple hardware as easily replaceable and swappable units, if one breaks I instantly get a new one and restore from the cloud and am back and up running in minutes). 

Since my laptop/phone/tablet is such an integral tool and part of my workflows, the peace of mind and ability to get them instantly repaired basically worldwide is why I have outside insurance. 

Other than my laptop & iDevices, I don't insure any other items (other than the required auto/homeowners insurance). 


Hope that helped! Let me know if you have any more questions.


Take care,

Jason

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Peter Park
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I'm ambivalent. I'd make 100% sure what their terms are. I know with my RV insurance, they would only cover loses if there was a clear sign of forced entry.

I know someone who got all her stuff robbed and her insurance replaced everything. Whereas I got robbed twice and ended up costing me $2k+.

Despite my exceptional case, I still think robberies are pretty rare.


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