Aquarium insurance

[rickybrooks05]

Tanks and equipment would be covered under personal property, live stock would not be covered. A slow leak would not be covered, an insurance claim has to be sudden and accidental. It would be an all peril claim. And most likely would be covered up to your personal property limit subject to your deductible. Depending on your adjuster, you may get he or she to cover live stock. Insurance is all in wording.

 

[mibwb]

My insurance company covered nothing when power went out for a week in 2012. I lost five 5gal buckets of fish alone....not counting anything else. They said on the other hand if I was a pet store but since I wasn't......but as a home owner I took the liability of having aquariums filled with water in my home....I am on my own. But if my home was vandalized...I would've been covered for tanks only.

 

[neuwave]

Think of it this way. The tank pumps, stand etc are all personal property (coverage C on your policy) are covered. The inhabitants are considered livestock/animals which are not covered. Now the vast majority of you have what's called a HO3 policy which is a standard home policy. With the slightest possibility of tiny differences between companies, if any. Now I've heard many of you mention that you called you insurance company for extra coverage on their tanks as part a "catastrophic event". So I'm assuming your agent didn't give you much detail about what a catastrophic event is. They should have explained the difference between that and "covered perils". For starters an example of a catastrophe is a nuclear blast or war or earthquake and so forth and so on. So if your neighborhood gets vaporized and you loose your tank, congrats your tank is covered. Hope you get the idea I'm painting.

So please read your insurance policy on which PERILS are covered. These are the guidelines your insurance adjuster is going to use to file your claim. Even if you have a rider on your policy, it doesn't guarantee that you tank or inhabitants are covered. It will have its own section of covered perils.

As for mold and fungus damage, you will have a specific section on your policy that mentions it. Every state has different guidelines. Some states have zero coverage for mold. If your aquarium has a slow leak, your pretty much on your own. But if you leave the ro unit on and it damages the house most policies will cover it. Which is similar to leaving the bathtub running/overflows and excess water destroys your floors.

Anther point don't mix up how insurance works between business insurance(LFS) and home insurance. They don't cover tanks the same way. So don't confuse the two.

 

[Sharvey103]

Just had a failure of a 265 gallon tank. My insurance (Amica) covered the house repairs and damage but nothing on the tank as it was freestanding. They would have covered everything if the structure is a "built-in" tank into a wall or an integral part of the structure. Lesson learned is to attach the stand or hood some way to the room it is located plus I added a rider.

 

[ReefQueen]

This is a great topic, we all know accidents happen, be it man-made or acts of nature. It's nice to know that insurance often covers tank related catastrophes in some way or another. I feel like I should mention that insurance fraud can get you in a lot of trouble though, so it is probably better to be upfront if you have something like a tank blowout instead of trying to pull it off as a home plumbing issue. If they investigate it and find out you lied you could find yourself in a bad jam! Just a friendly reminder lol

 

[neuwave]

This is a great topic, we all know accidents happen, be it man-made or acts of nature. It's nice to know that insurance often covers tank related catastrophes in some way or another. I feel like I should mention that insurance fraud can get you in a lot of trouble though, so it is probably better to be upfront if you have something like a tank blowout instead of trying to pull it off as a home plumbing issue. If they investigate it and find out you lied you could find yourself in a bad jam! Just a friendly reminder lol

Be careful using the word catastrophe as coverage for your tank. Check what cover perils on your tank is covered under not catastrophe.

 

[Dino]

I'm new here and am learning about reefs before i turn my 135 fresh into a reef tank. But anyways when the guy next door caught his hose on fire and mine also. The insurance companys people came and took everything out to be cleaned and list what was lost do to fire. I had to give all my fish away for free so they could move the tank out. Well when they brought everything back the rachet straped my tank and stand. I called the insurance company and said unless you want to pay for a flood with in the next month. That it needs to be replaced along with the stand that they straped so tight. They broke the corners on stand the insurance company paid to replace both but not the fish. Lame because i had around $ 400 in fish but was happy to get the new tank and stand. The only thing that sucks is they will not pay full price on a lost item.

 

[neuwave]

I'm new here and am learning about reefs before i turn my 135 fresh into a reef tank. But anyways when the guy next door caught his hose on fire and mine also. The insurance companys people came and took everything out to be cleaned and list what was lost do to fire. I had to give all my fish away for free so they could move the tank out. Well when they brought everything back the rachet straped my tank and stand. I called the insurance company and said unless you want to pay for a flood with in the next month. That it needs to be replaced along with the stand that they straped so tight. They broke the corners on stand the insurance company paid to replace both but not the fish. Lame because i had around $ 400 in fish but was happy to get the new tank and stand. The only thing that sucks is they will not pay full price on a lost item.

Make sure next time you have "replacement cost" on your policy. That way they'll replace it at today's value without depreciation.

 

[Urbanknight]

@neuwave, thanks for pointing out the difference between catastrophic and perils. Good info for me being that I'm in the middle of a 300 DD build!

 

[neuwave]

@neuwave, thanks for pointing out the difference between catastrophic and perils. Good info for me being that I'm in the middle of a 300 DD build!

No problem. I was an insurance agent for 6 years and as a hobbyist I was always asking questions about my tank. It seemed like most agents are given some basic rules about aquariums to tell customers with very little info on coverage. Even when a customer would call a company I noticed agents from various companies didn't want to deal with the mess of insuring an expensive tank. But there are a few things I was able to figure out. When I saw people posting using the word catastrophe it raised a red flag. What the consumer considers a catastrophe isn't what an insurance considers one. It's in the insurance definition.

I felt bad reading Dino's post about not getting full cost for his tank and equipment. Means that Dino doesn't have replacement cost on his personal property. It does give you a cheaper home insurance rate but not having this endorsement only gives you value of an item with depreciation.

 

[gcrance]

my insurance agents just told me that while they cannot insure they live stock due to the fact that value is market dependent and really not possible to put a comparable amount to what i can do however is build in additional equipment insurance like say my calcium reactor and ozone machine were all destroyed (i dont have these items) and use that money toward my livestock. sounds kinda fraudy but at the same time it makes his paperwork look legit

 

[briancarterkc]

When my ATO malfunctioned three years ago and flooded my living room and basement, State Farm covered all damage to the house, but not the livestock. Which makes sense. They can't insure something that depends as much on your husbandry as avoidance of accidents. They were great about the house though. $15k claim, no hassle, no premium increase. They did confiscate the float valve and hose timer though so they could investigate whether they wanted to go after the manufacturers. Not sure if they did or not.

 

[Brandon Chi]

Following

 

[Untamedrose]

my insurance agents just told me that while they cannot insure they live stock due to the fact that value is market dependent and really not possible to put a comparable amount to what i can do however is build in additional equipment insurance like say my calcium reactor and ozone machine were all destroyed (i dont have these items) and use that money toward my livestock. sounds kinda fraudy but at the same time it makes his paperwork look legit

You buy a dog....hell lets say a special dog...

that dog is Free on CL, that dog is 30 at a shelter, that dog is 500 a "breeder" that dog is 1500 at a breeder.

and you want a pencil pusher(be it no pencils) ... to get why your blah blah is worth more then a goldsish or a tang?

No this isnt really covered by home owners.........

 

[RobberyinCSharp1824]

My insurance cover tank and live Stock also corals.

But only If the power goes out, someting fails like the Pump or Chiller. If the glass breaks and water get on the floor.

Im not covered If its my own fault or the equipment is old and has a High change af failing.

If a brand New dosing Pump desides to dump All in the tank im also covered as long as the Pump aint to old. Tough i run reaktor Today

I live in denmark. We checked up on it like to weeks ago hence the the Price on fish and corals starting to add up.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did that increase your monthly premium?

I'm house hunting right now and I have my 20gal, plus a 125gal waiting for setup once we find a place. If anything catastrophic happens, I don't want to lose all that equipment+livestock.

 

[briancarterkc]

If you don't mind me asking, how much did that increase your monthly premium?

I'm house hunting right now and I have my 20gal, plus a 125gal waiting for setup once we find a place. If anything catastrophic happens, I don't want to lose all that equipment+livestock.

My $15,000 claim didn't increase my premium a cent. Thank you State Farm!

 

[gcrance]

Same here. It didnt seem to.make a difference on the yearly premium. Only just over 600$ a year since we are doing a 203k loan on this house to fix it up it has federal mortgage insurance built in. When we refinance for a conventional loan the home owners insurance will increase. But i dont remember how much exactly. I wanna say it was closer to 775$ per year but thats not much imo to protect my tools, house, tank electronics so on and so fourth. Geico and progressive wouldnt even give us a quote since the house doesnt currently have central ac and heat in it even though it will be installed in the next month ish. Which i also think is bs because your home isnt required to have ac. Only a heat source in the home capable of evelvating the interior temperature to 60degress. Which we have a pellet stove that heats the home to near subtropical. But they dont count that for whatever reason.

 

[gcrance]

Btw i know it prob seems lame but im super stoked. (Thats right i said "stoked") that i started a thread which has reached nearly a 2 full pages of comments. Feel all pro and stuff

 

[briancarterkc]

Btw i know it prob seems lame but im super stoked. (Thats right i said "stoked") that i started a thread which has reached nearly a 2 full pages of comments. Feel all pro and stuff

I think you missed a real opportunity to tie in your "stoked" comment with your previous comment about your pellet stove. LOL

Was a good thread; people don't think about insurance implications until the worst happens and then just hope they're covered.

 

[jonas helsted]

If you don't mind me asking, how much did that increase your monthly premium?

I'm house hunting right now and I have my 20gal, plus a 125gal waiting for setup once we find a place. If anything catastrophic happens, I don't want to lose all that equipment+livestock.

Mine dint increase. It was included and i have it on text from Them so they Cant run from it..

But it has to be someting i Cant prevent. It dosent cover ny own fault og old equipment.. (last one beeing the tricky part. When is it old? Haha)