Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!mcnc!ecsvax!mvolo
From: mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP (Michael R. Volow)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Personal Computer Insurance ?
Message-ID: <4302@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: 12 Dec 87 05:07:00 GMT
References: <4769@iucs.UUCP> <4689@eecae.UUCP>
Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service
Lines: 49
Summary: What are business purposes

In article <4689@eecae.UUCP>, driscoll@eecae.UUCP (Mike Driscoll) writes:
> in article <4769@iucs.UUCP>, bobmon@iucs.UUCP (RAMontante [condition that I not be identified]) says:
> > Summary: maybe a rider on your homeowner's insurance?
> > 
> > I purchased a rider on my homeowner's policy (actually, renter's policy)
> > that specifically covers my computer stuff -- I had to make out an inventory
> > of what was covered (sheesh!  That $1300 box is the basis of a $3500 system,
> > and I was trying to hold the costs down...)
> > 
> > My impression from the insurance agent is that such riders, for computers as
> > well as for other specifically valuable items, is a fairly common option.
> 
>    I once received an advertisement from some `computer insurance'
> company that said that most homeowner's/renter's policies don't cover
> computer equipment that is used for business purposes.  Was this just
> a scare tactic on their part?  Do the riders mentioned cover the
> equipment no matter what it is used for?
> 
> 
> -- 
> Michael A. Driscoll              UUCP: ...ihnp4!msudoc!eecae!driscoll
> Dept. of Electrical Engineering  ARPA: driscoll@eecae.ee.msu.edu  (35.8.8.151)
> Michigan State University        Office: (517) 353-5337
> E. Lansing, MI, 48824


What are "business purposes"; and how does an insurance company dis-
tinguish serious "hobby" user from business purposes?  I suppose that
a computer maintaining financial records from an income-earning activity
is a "business" activity, especially if the computer is used for little
else.  What about a university faculty member using the computer more-
or-less as a typewriter (word processor)?  Typewriters used in this way
are insurable under homeowner's policies.

Does the rider on the homeowner's policy for a computer approach the
cost of a standalone computer insurance (e.g. on a $3000 system)?

If my $3000 (1984 value) system is now worth about $900 (1987), what
should I insure it for?  Does this have any effect on whether I should
try to persuade my insurance company to cover it under a rider, versus
a standalone policy?

Could insurance/legal experienced net members give their views on these
matters?


--Mike Volow, Psychiatry, Durham Veterans Administration Medical Center
  Durham, NC, 27712             919 383 3568
  mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP