Glad you are ok! Sorry to hear about the damages!
This is actually a pretty good article that provides a great general overview on what to consider when looking for insurance. I'll chime in too and happy to help answer peoples questions. My background; I currently work in personal insurance sales managing an office for a larger company. I am licensed in personal insurance sales, and I am no longer licensed as an adjuster, however, in the past I've also managed property claims teams. My by the book advice is that if you think you have a claim, contact your insurance company. Even if you are not covered, they often can get you in contact with licensed contractors who can help you with your repairs.
In insurance, like most things in life, you do get what you pay for and it's all about how you are going to manage risk in your life. Inexpensive insurance isn't necessarily bad, its just not suitable for what one person to the next has to protect. When it comes to risk management, you often have to find a balance between the value you need for coverages and what you can afford. In a perfect world we'd all have significant savings set aside and not even need insurance, but even then, insurance is still an affordable way to recover from a catastrophic loss.
Remember that insurance is designed to get you back to your pre loss conditions, it is not meant to make you better off than before and each state has differences because it is regulated at the state level. Your insurance policy is a contract, full of legal verbiage, which adjusters utilize to determine if based off of the cause of loss if you have coverage or not. My best piece of advice is that I highly recommend those interested in learning more about what they are or are not covered for download a PDF of their homeowners or renters policy, and start doing a keyword search using the "control f" search function. Having a better understanding of your coverages will help out when you are talking with your agent - be it with someone in person, through an agent or broker, online or through a call center. Every avenue is going to have different people with different experience levels. I work in a local sales office, and have a bias to say we are going to be more knowledgeable than the 1-800 call center or if you purchased something online without ever talking to someone, but I do know that there are a significant amount of great sales people who work in call centers and make a good living doing so. To each their own, most of us on this forum get advice from one another and don't always talk to anyone in person when building their tanks, so something to consider.
So if you have a loss, now what? If you ever have a submit a claim for a loss, contact your carrier, they will assign an adjuster, the adjuster is going to gather details of the loss, review your policy and determine if you have coverage for your loss. The insurance adjuster will (and should) provide you a letter explaining why you are or are not covered. If the letter isn't written properly, details can be vague and even if properly written, will likely be full of legal jargon. So if you do not understand, and your adjuster isn't doing a good job, I would personally ask to escalate to a manager for a better explanation. I have, at times, reviewed coverages in further detail, and had to go back to the adjuster and point out where they had coverages, and would often have our legal team get involved to determine if something was unclear to verify if there was or wasn't coverages. Some companies even have an executive team designed to provide a more detailed written explanation of this. Depending on the severity of the loss, you may be dealing with an adjuster over the phone or in person. If that doesn't get you anywhere, and really at any time, you can get a legal representation, just know that once you do, your attorney is now the one the company will talk with so if you call in yourself you might not get any answers.
Its challenging to go through what if claims situations. Every person's claim is usually unique and has a different reasoning towards it. However, I'm happy to give one example a shot. So lets say my new red sea reefer, 160 gallon bursts randomly in my living room, and I come home seeing the disaster. Searching through my homeowners policy, nothing is specifically stated about an aquarium. So where to begin in determining your coverage? So the next thing I looked up using control F to key word search was "water", as well as "overflow". When searching, I found the verbiage the adjuster would provide me with, which was that the loss has to be "sudden and accidental", and cannot be from a long term issue (like seepage.. most companies don't cover if its been over 14 days and will deny your claim) and then I found what was excluded. Exclusions usually provide more details on if you have coverage or not. Reading through the exclusions section, I came across this part which reads:
"2. If items 1.f. through 1.p. above cause water damage which is not otherwise excluded, we cover the resulting water damage, including the cost of tearing out and replacing any part of a building necessary to repair a plumbing, heating, air conditioning or automatic fire protective sprinkler system or household appliance. We do not cover loss to the system or property that causes it to damage or appliance from which this water escaped." there are also different areas discussing water losses which also state something similar, without mentioning items 1f-1p (no need to list them, just using this as an example)
This is essentially saying, if my tank bursts, the resulting water damage and the cost to repair my house is covered. Coverage limits and the deductible apply. My tank and all its inhabitants, having suddenly and accidently burst at the seams, are not covered. Cost of the dry out, floor replacement, and likely any personal items around the tank will likely be covered. The tank, equipment, stand... will most likely not be covered. With that said, every claim situation is unique, their could be specific circumstances why something is or is not covered.
Also, in some situations, your insurance company may or may not be able to try and build a case against a manufacture defect, and if they win, can help you get your deductible back, and some companies will then note that your claim was "subrogated" . Essentially, in this case of a burst tank, subrogated means the insurance company sued the manufacture for the defect, won its case, got the money it paid to you for your repairs back. This can take a pretty long time, though this is important, as some companies factor this in determining your future rates and may be able to remove subrogated claims. This is not always the case, and is really up to the insurance company on how they underwrite their policies.
Hope some of this info helps others here trying to navigate the insurance world. One last thing, when looking through your policy, don't forget to look through your endorsements at the end! these can change coverages for you. Sometimes this is good, sometimes its not good. Don't overlook this!
-Eric
Great post and a good description of how insurance works!
I think the big difference is asking your insurance company or an agent whether the tank itself is covered or if the resulting damage from the tank would be covered either from the personal property or liability standpoint (for those living in multi family homes).
3rd party liability is more likely to be fully covered unless fish tanks (or water filled furniture) are specifically excluded.
