Who's insurance company covers water damage?

[new_orleans_guy]

State farm covered my water damage from aquarium. They wont cover livestock however.

 

[ThaBeast]

State Farm has my homeowners, personal & commercial vehicle, business liability, umbrella, and contractor policies. My home and personal items are fully covered in case of tank failure, including tank and equipment under homeowners.

I have noticed State Farm is diligent about checking mileage on my Shelby & they will request documentation when requesting large coverage amounts on certain items. Tank equipment cost was one that made them request documentation.

 

[dwayne.b.william]

In Canada, CAA covers this as well as TD and Meloche Monnex. This happened to me recently and they covered all materials and labour

 

[ThaBeast]

Anyone who think their insurance covers it, please share your company name, but do this first.

Call them, and ask them these questions:
If my aquarium breaks, is any water damage covered resulting from the broken aquarium? If water damage is covered, what kind of water?

Most agents will sucker you by saying, 'yes water damage is covered!' but what they mean is, 'water damage from floods, or rainfall that happens to get into the house'.
The water from your tank is waste-water, and not 'natural'. Which I've yet to see any company cover.

The only way you'll be covered, despite companies saying no, is personal liability.
So if/when it happens, you'll need to be the reason for the misfortune.
"I broke my tank", "I forgot to turn off the hose filling the tank", stuff like that.

Of course just because they put 2 sentences directly next to each other, doesn't mean they're lying. It means you didn't read the policy.

No homeowners insurance policy covers flood damage. Typical water damage coverage comes from faulty/broken plumbing, leaky roof, etc. Flood insurance isn't flood insurance at all but rather a socialist style program run by the government.

 

[Shredded]

My State Farm agent told me everything is covered except livestock, that included fish, coral, liverock etc. I said so everything except my 500.00 fish. He said right. So photograph and document. Also State Farm mentions excluding sump related damage. That concerned me and sent I pics and said these tanks have sumps. He checked with the underwriters and that refers to home/basement sumps, so it's covered.

 

[Steelersfan]

So they won't cover a couch or tv damaged by the aquarium? If they do then what makes aquarium equipment and electronics any different than the rest of your personal property. Sounds sketchy to me.

They will cover anything damaged by the aquarium. My point here was that they will not reimburse you for a new tank, stand, livestock... There is no company out there that will reimburse you for the tank and livestock.
As long as my house is protected, I am good with that.

 

[Kawicivic]

I have trained adjusters for a major insurance carrier and am a consultant for a commerical insuranace carrier currently.

Coverage for this kind of thing is very gray. There are multiple ways to cover water damage and multiple scenarios where it could or could not be covered. The way your tank is plumbed could be the difference in coverage. The way the tank leaks could also be the difference. This thread should only serve as a reminder to review and discuss your coverage with your agent. Document this conversation as well. Unfortunately agents do not handle claims and even though they have the best intentions, they do not always give the most sound advice. Situations are very dependent on the details. Things like fires are easier to discuss but water damage is not very straight forward at all.

 

[Panky]

MetLife.

 

[rayn]

I also have State Farm. They won't cover the tank or live stock, but will cover damage.

One thing they mentioned is it would have to be a major fail as in the tank broke apart. They won't cover if it's a leak and I just decide not to fix it.

 

[JaimeAdams]

I know that it seems that no one will cover livestock. Years ago we had a house fire back when I saw into reptiles. Livestock was not covered. I am surprised that the tank it's self is not covered. If I have an empty tank sitting in my living room and my house burns down, how would the tank not be covered? Or if vandals broke in and took a baseball bat to the front of my tank? Or even if I was moving furniture around and dropped the couch into the tank smashing it.

 

[chet31]

Does AllState cover?

 

[Desmond]

I live in Norway my whole tank plus livestock is covered. I had to produce recepits of everything and everything new i get and it is added to the policy. Bear in mind though. It covers for accidental damage and if i had a power failure in the house and lost everything. I had a claim before from a tank that leaked and lost all my fish. This was a fresh water tank. I got money for every single fish and a new tank and the equipment that got damaged.Insurance companys are good at getting out of paying up bear in mind !

 

[Kawicivic]

The reason the tank is not covered in these situations is because typically the failure of a tank is wear and tear. The item that causes water to escape is normally not covered if the cause of loss is not covered. Wear and tear is a catch all for a lot of general damage - damaged seam would be an example. If a fire happened then you aquarium is not any different than your couch.

Some of these intricacies are what make coverage debatable. Many policies only cover water escape from a plumbing system. Some of our tanks could meet that definition, others are a stretch.

Live animals are normally excluded under a policy. I've seen people get things covered by calling them decorations. I couldn't morally tell you to do that, but I'm saying I've seen it done. It's basically a move to take advantage of the naivety of the adjuster but by definition, it's insurance fraud. Nobody like insurance people though

If this coverage is a deal breaker in the event of an emergency, you should take the time to understand your policy language before something happens.

 

[Dan Friday]

Irie insurance coverd when my
marinland 250 leaked at seam at less than 1 year old .However marinland would not stand behind their tank even though they claim it's a lifetime warranty .Around 16,000 in damage not counting livestock

 

[JaimeAdams]

Irie insurance coverd when my
marinland 250 leaked at seam at less than 1 year old .However marinland would not stand behind their tank even though they claim it's a lifetime warranty .Around 16,000 in damage not counting livestock

Was the tank on a Marineland stand? I have 2 different buddies who had their marine land tanks seams fail. One was a 150, the other was a 200DD. Both were on marine land stands and they cut them both big checks. My understanding of it is that the tank needs to be on their stand to be covered.

 

[DRoth335]

Was the tank on a Marineland stand? I have 2 different buddies who had their marine land tanks seams fail. One was a 150, the other was a 200DD. Both were on marine land stands and they cut them both big checks. My understanding of it is that the tank needs to be on their stand to be covered.

That is my understanding as well and a big reason we put our 300DD on one of their stands.

 

[RMS18]

For some like myself who have drilled their tanks the manufacturer Warranty went out the window. Having the insurance company replace the actual tank or stand imo is not important compared fixing the damage from the water.

So far statefarm is at the top of the list.

 

[ksc]

What you need to do is read your policy. You are covered unless your policy specifically says "damage from fish tanks leaks is excluded" or something like that. If you called your agent have them point out the exclusion in your policy, I've never seen one.....

 

[BadSquishy]

Mine didn't offer a policy that specifically covers water damage but after pushing them to cover my tank, they suggested adding a liability policy to my renters (couple bucks a month). This covers any damage or injuries caused by accident or negligence on my part, including water damage. I have usaa but I imagine they'd all work the same.

My insurance also works this way, but I got it through AAA.

 

[805reef]

I have travelers and had asked about this a long time ago and they said I was covered, but now I can't find where they told me that. I will have to look into it again and if not then I will look in to switching also.