Portable Generator Insurance?

valhalla360 wrote:

rexmitchell wrote:

jkwilson wrote:
Insuring something you can afford to replace is a poor financial decision. If you can’t afford to replace a portable generator, you shouldn’t have one because they are difficult to insure. Insure companies sell the idea that insurance is a good idea. It’s a bad gamble in almost all cases until it begins covering more than you can afford to pay.

Seems like pretty dumb logic. I can replace my pickup but cover it with insurance because I’d prefer not to write a check when a couple hundred bucks a year covers me in the event of a total loss. Risk mitigation is smart if it is cost effective. Just like we ensure personal items that are valuable, I wanted to explore the same with a generator that costs over 2k. The price isn’t right/not available so I’m not doing it but it was worth exploring.....

Could have explained it better but he's right....

On average, insuring something will long term be more expensive than simply paying for the replacement. With insurance, the price has to pay the average replacement cost plus advertising, agents, taxes, all kinds of expenses of running a business and making a profit.

Where insurance makes sense is for rare events that would cause a major financial impact.
- Lose a $1k generator...I'd be mad but I could go out and buy another without any significant long term effect on my financial situation.
- Lose a brand new $70k pickup a week after buying it...While I would get by, it would be a significant impact that could set me back a few years going towards retirement, to liberate enough cash to go get another...I would want to protect against that.
- Lose an old $5k pickup...again, I would be mad but it's not a big impact on my lifestyle.
- $250k house...very few people can justify skipping the insurance as the impact of a loss is simply too high.

My thinking was this, when initially considering this I was thinking the cost would be that of a personal article policy. This runs about approximately 12$ a year per thousand dollars of insurable value. So in this case, if they would have covered it, it would have been $24 dollars a year. I'd pay that to insure the generator and I guarantee you it would die before I even came close to paying out the total value of it. This isn't an option since they won't insure it but that would have been worth it had they been willing to insure it in the same manner as they do jewelry, art, etc.

rexmitchell wrote:

jkwilson wrote:
Insuring something you can afford to replace is a poor financial decision. If you can’t afford to replace a portable generator, you shouldn’t have one because they are difficult to insure. Insure companies sell the idea that insurance is a good idea. It’s a bad gamble in almost all cases until it begins covering more than you can afford to pay.

Seems like pretty dumb logic. I can replace my pickup but cover it with insurance because I’d prefer not to write a check when a couple hundred bucks a year covers me in the event of a total loss. Risk mitigation is smart if it is cost effective. Just like we ensure personal items that are valuable, I wanted to explore the same with a generator that costs over 2k. The price isn’t right/not available so I’m not doing it but it was worth exploring.....

Could have explained it better but he's right....

On average, insuring something will long term be more expensive than simply paying for the replacement. With insurance, the price has to pay the average replacement cost plus advertising, agents, taxes, all kinds of expenses of running a business and making a profit.

Where insurance makes sense is for rare events that would cause a major financial impact.
- Lose a $1k generator...I'd be mad but I could go out and buy another without any significant long term effect on my financial situation.
- Lose a brand new $70k pickup a week after buying it...While I would get by, it would be a significant impact that could set me back a few years going towards retirement, to liberate enough cash to go get another...I would want to protect against that.
- Lose an old $5k pickup...again, I would be mad but it's not a big impact on my lifestyle.
- $250k house...very few people can justify skipping the insurance as the impact of a loss is simply too high.

I have an Inland Marine Policy thru State Farm. It costs me $78.00 per year, and covers any tools, or materials in my truck up to $5,000.00 with a $100.00 deductible. It is also replacement cost of item. I had my laptop stolen out of my truck. It was mounted on a Ram Mount and was used for Invoicing. I paid $800.00 or $900.00 for it when new, and State Farm ended up sending me $1,300.00 because that is what the closest spec HP laptop cost to replace the stolen one.

jkwilson wrote:
Insuring something you can afford to replace is a poor financial decision. If you can’t afford to replace a portable generator, you shouldn’t have one because they are difficult to insure. Insure companies sell the idea that insurance is a good idea. It’s a bad gamble in almost all cases until it begins covering more than you can afford to pay.

Seems like pretty dumb logic. I can replace my pickup but cover it with insurance because I’d prefer not to write a check when a couple hundred bucks a year covers me in the event of a total loss. Risk mitigation is smart if it is cost effective. Just like we ensure personal items that are valuable, I wanted to explore the same with a generator that costs over 2k. The price isn’t right/not available so I’m not doing it but it was worth exploring.....

I just insure the big stuff. 1,000 to 5,000 deductible would be no help on a used Honda that walked away.

“and say it is for work use.”

Any other LIES OP should make? Can you spell “INSURANCE FRAUD,” HTE? How about “adding and betting.”

While you are at it be sure to check the details of coverage for items in the RV. We had a theft and found that the RV insurance provided minimal coverage. We learned that homeowners typically provides the coverage so it is not included in the RV coverage. Sadly we were full timers, thought we had full timer's insurance and did not have any other policies.

Insuring something you can afford to replace is a poor financial decision. If you can’t afford to replace a portable generator, you shouldn’t have one because they are difficult to insure. Insure companies sell the idea that insurance is a good idea. It’s a bad gamble in almost all cases until it begins covering more than you can afford to pay.

Get an Inland Marine Policy, and say it is for work use.

Deprecated value will be all you get..won’t be much.