r/personalfinance • u/[deleted] • Jan 31 '16

Our family of 5 lost everything in a fire yesterday. Would appreciate advice for the rebuilding ahead. (x/post /r/frugal) Other

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148

u/OPINION_IS_UNPOPULAR ​ Jan 31 '16

Guess I'm buying a rare shitty projector just in case...

142

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Rare shitty projectors. Rare shitty cameras. Rare shitty video cameras. Rare shitty sewing machines. Rare shitty commercial cooking equipment (i.e., stand mixers).

Any rare, shitty, old thing that is made of cast iron and has moving parts.

9

u/aguacate Jan 31 '16

"Lost turn of the century loom and child workforce - replace with like kind and quality."

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16 edited Aug 05 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Maybe I misunderstood, but my understanding is that the person didn't actually own a 65k camera. He owned a pos camera with some unique features that were only available in the 65k camera.

So the issue was the owner insisted on having a replacement that had the same features -- and that's what they came up with

22

u/sooodvs Jan 31 '16

That's why the adjuster said "Like kind and quality" There's a difference between fair market value (what you're saying) and replacement cost. Can't really tell why they paid the claim that way without looking at the policy, but if the insurance company clearly has to pay for "Like kind and quality" and they flat out refuse they're facing an even bigger loss for a bad faith claim.

18

u/LeNouvelHomme Jan 31 '16

You'd be surprised. When my house was burglarized when I was in high school, we lost an old video camera from like the 80s or maybe early 90s era. Like a you put it on your shoulder, it weighs 20 lbs, and records direct to VHS style.

When this happened, in ~2005, the only way to get one of these (of the same style and brand) was online through some specialty manufacturing company, and iirc they cost roughly 400/500. Our insurance tagged it as that 400/500 in our total payout, so we were able to buy a (at the time) pretty high end little handheld video camera for like 250 with almost as much leftover for other stuff that we got stiffed on maybe because we weren't as detailed in our descriptions.

Your mileage may vary depending on insurance company, but it does not surprise me that an old "obsolete" piece of tech landed a large payout in this process.

50

u/Fuckin_Hipster ​ Jan 31 '16

You'd be a lot smarter if you didn't already know everything.

10

u/jhxl3 Jan 31 '16

And do they just replace the camera or do they give him the $65k?

8

u/TheBeginningEnd Jan 31 '16

Depends on the policy. I've made a few claims on home insurance for stuff that's been broken or lost. Sometimes they sent me a replacement product other times they sent me vouchers for the value that could be used in a variety of stores that carried similar products.

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u/tryin2figureitout Jan 31 '16

In my law class in college we went over an insurance case where a man's roof had a small leak. The insurance came out and had a contractor fix the leak, but since it was some kind of fancy shake roof the new shakes didn't match. So he demanded the roof be brought back to original matching quality. I forget the legal buzzword he used. Cost the insurance 100 k.

2

u/LordBiscuits ​ Jan 31 '16

Somebody should of painted the new shakes!

-8

u/munketh Jan 31 '16

He's probably talking out of his ass with the whole thing. No insurance company is going to pay 65k because of a 'loophole'.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Next thing you know, you're a hoarder.

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u/yes_its_him Wiki Contributor Jan 31 '16

Here's hoping you lose it in a tragic accident!

2

u/jihiggs ​ Jan 31 '16

this industrial light meter i rescued from the trash cause it looks cool might come in handy..

1

u/obsolete_filmmaker ​ Jan 31 '16

Woohoo! I already own several of those!