Insuring Your Computer Equipment

By Ed Dalton

Most homeowner's (or renter's) insurance policies cover home computers and software, but with a stated policy limit. For example, you can get a policy that allows for $5000 coverage against things like fire and theft. An extra $15 a year can get you $5000 additional coverage. If you want more coverage than that, you can get a supplemental policy for about $9 per $1000 of coverage.

The coverage in the example above applies only for computers in the house. If you wanted coverage for "off-premises" situations, such as for a laptop, you would have to pay about $15 per $1000 coverage.

As computers come into more common household use, the trend is for the standard homeowner's policy to include more coverage.

Check with your insurance company or agent to see what coverage is available and what the costs are. If you are going to be using a portable computer, be sure that you get the right amount of "off-premises" coverage.

Check whether the policy pays original cost, replacement cost, or some other amount. Discuss this with your agent if anything is unclear. For example, there's a good chance that you won't be able to replace a computer with an exact equivalent, because that product may not be on the market anymore. Do you have the right to buy new equipment, and if so, how much can you spend?

If you buy additional equipment or software, add the value in, and determine whether the amount of your insurance is still adequate. Conversely, since computer equipment depreciates rapidly, you might need less insurance as the years go by. Update your calculations at least yearly, and adjust your insurance accordingly.

The preceding material was written by Ed Dalton. These are the opinions of the author, not the opinions of eBay, and therefore eBay does not validate the accuracy of or endorse these opinions.