Advice needed after storm damage

[assouptro]

Hi all 

I had a disaster today! 

We had a freak gust of wind that blew my Canadian Canoe off my garage roof, across the garden and into my scope! 
 

warning! 

Not for the faint of heart! 
 

 

Main damage was my Samyang 135 which was ripped off my Qhy filter wheel, also a dent to my qhy268m and a broken Pegasus Astro focus cube 

 

lens

 

focus cube 

 

camera 

 

 

mount 

I have been in touch with my home Insurance (never claimed before) and I had the foresight to include extra cover for my telescope and photographic equipment so it looks like they are going to help! 
 

my Qhy camera works, but it’s taken a big knock! 

What I’m wondering is, should I claim for the camera  and possibly the eq8 mount? 

With them  being sensitive precision pieces of scientific equipment that have taken the brute force of an old  heavy 40kg canoe slamming into it at speed will it be sensible to claim for them both? 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions! 
 

Bryan 
 

 

[malc-c]

I'm no expert so take this with a pinch of salt, but from my experience with a loss adjuster when my £1000 camcorder was knocked off the counter by my 5 year old son (now 29) is that they only pay out the full amount if the item is damaged 100% beyond a repair, and if damage appears cosmetic it may be a case that they will pro-rata any pay out.  The other thing to be concerned over is the impact having a claim on your policy might have.  There is every chance that your premiums will sky rocket next year.  Having said that things may have changed in recent years so only your insurance company can really advise you what may happen.  But be careful.  Years ago I contacted my insurance seeking advice to see if a small issue with flashing on out roof was covered.  The following year out policy jumped and when I looked at the details the call was logged as a no pay out claim.  When I asked them to go back and listen to the call as I disputed this as I never asked or suggested I was making a claim did they correct this and removed the claim form my details.

Personally, if the mount / camera and lens still works fine, and there are no cracks in the lens, so you can still get the same results as before the canoe attached it then just put this down to an experience that you can learn form and save the claim for a more pressing time should you ever need it.  But its your call

 

[Louis D]

In my experience, once you have enough damage to get past the typical 2% of insured value deductible, file for everything possible to make it worth your while.  When I had a lightning ground strike wipe out my plumbing and multiple electronic devices, I had repairmen and original cost receipts along with photos and videos of the damage to show them.  They just took my word for everything and wrote me out a check for plumbing/electrical repair costs and full replacement value of fried electronics minus my deductible on everything.

Six months later I found I'd missed that my water softener had gotten partially fried as well, so its $600 repair didn't end up being covered because the claim was closed.  It worked post-strike, but at only 40% capacity.  That was a subtle issue to track down and root cause once I noticed the reduced capacity.  Thus, make sure to assess all damage before claiming.

It will be hard to know if anything you have is repairable back to the level it functioned at before.  That would depend on finding a repair facility qualified to do the repairs, and it being able to do the lab testing necessary to verify factory tolerances are being met once repaired.  Good luck with that.  Instead, push for full replacement value as much as you can.

It turns out trying to dispose of a fried 50" plasma TV was the most difficult task of all related to that claim.  Our trash collector and our recycler wouldn't take it.  I finally found a local repairman who would take it for spare parts.  He could sort through it to see what was salvageable.

[assouptro]

39 minutes ago, malc-c said:

I'm no expert so take this with a pinch of salt, but from my experience with a loss adjuster when my £1000 camcorder was knocked off the counter by my 5 year old son (now 29) is that they only pay out the full amount if the item is damaged 100% beyond a repair, and if damage appears cosmetic it may be a case that they will pro-rata any pay out.  The other thing to be concerned over is the impact having a claim on your policy might have.  There is every chance that your premiums will sky rocket next year.  Having said that things may have changed in recent years so only your insurance company can really advise you what may happen.  But be careful.  Years ago I contacted my insurance seeking advice to see if a small issue with flashing on out roof was covered.  The following year out policy jumped and when I looked at the details the call was logged as a no pay out claim.  When I asked them to go back and listen to the call as I disputed this as I never asked or suggested I was making a claim did they correct this and removed the claim form my details.

Personally, if the mount / camera and lens still works fine, and there are no cracks in the lens, so you can still get the same results as before the canoe attached it then just put this down to an experience that you can learn form and save the claim for a more pressing time should you ever need it.  But its your call

 

Thanks for your response Malc

I had the foresight to protect my no claims discount so I’m hoping this will help when my insurance is up for renewal? 

I too had an insurance hike 10 years ago  when I called about a phone screen but decided to get apple to fix it, the call was logged and the insurance price went up until I proved it wasn’t a claim!

Regarding the damage, the lens is broken, not the glass but the plastic ring at the back was ripped out,

I may be able to glue it back together but it’ll never be the same?
My camera works but has had a big knock, is dented and this might have shifted the chip and surely effects its re-sale value

I can’t be sure the mount or the camera will perform as they did unless I get the chance to test them thoroughly, which will be difficult with the weather we’ve been experiencing of late 

So as I have the no claims cover, and had the telescope equipment mentioned in the policy, paying extra for the privilege I’m hoping it’ll be ok? 
 

Thanks for taking the time to shed your thoughts and experience 

 

kind regards 

Bryan

 

[tooth_dr]

That’s a bit of a nightmare Bryan.  Hopefully you get sorted.  Looking at the video, that couldn’t have been a worse hit, right on the button! ☹️

For me personally, if it was one item I wouldn’t bother, but given your entire imaging rig has been damaged I think I’d be inclined to do a tally of the cost of replacing it and see what it’s looking like, with a view to putting in a claim.  If it’s one of the better companies you’ll be ok. 

[assouptro]

44 minutes ago, Louis D said:

In my experience, once you have enough damage to get past the typical 2% of insured value deductible, file for everything possible to make it worth your while.  When I had a lightning ground strike wipe out my plumbing and multiple electronic devices, I had repairmen and original cost receipts along with photos and videos of the damage to show them.  They just took my word for everything and wrote me out a check for plumbing/electrical repair costs and full replacement value of fried electronics minus my deductible on everything.

Six months later I found I'd missed that my water softener had gotten partially fried as well, so its $600 repair didn't end up being covered because the claim was closed.  It worked post-strike, but at only 40% capacity.  That was a subtle issue to track down and root cause once I noticed the reduced capacity.  Thus, make sure to assess all damage before claiming.

It will be hard to know if anything you have is repairable back to the level it functioned at before.  That would depend on finding a repair facility qualified to do the repairs, and it being able to do the lab testing necessary to verify factory tolerances are being met once repaired.  Good luck with that.  Instead, push for full replacement value as much as you can.

It turns out trying to dispose of a fried 50" plasma TV was the most difficult task of all related to that claim.  Our trash collector and our recycler wouldn't take it.  I finally found a local repairman who would take it for spare parts.  He could sort through it to see what was salvageable.

Thanks for the input Louis

I was only going to claim for the lens at first but as it’s all sensitive precision equipment I think it should all be replaced if possible 

we’ll see what happens 

Thanks again

Bryan 

[assouptro]

12 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

That’s a bit of a nightmare Bryan.  Hopefully you get sorted.  Looking at the video, that couldn’t have been a worse hit, right on the button! ☹️

For me personally, if it was one item I wouldn’t bother, but given your entire imaging rig has been damaged I think I’d be inclined to do a tally of the cost of replacing it and see what it’s looking like, with a view to putting in a claim.  If it’s one of the better companies you’ll be ok. 

Thanks for the input Dr!

I spoke to the insurance today to make sure my policy would cover it and I have been told it will

The camera and the mount are going to be difficult to test but I can’t see them liking the impact and it’s bound to have caused some miss alignment with gears, and cmos sensors etc 

I’m waiting for a call from the Specialist company that deal with electronic goods, it’ll be an interesting chat! 
I doubt they’ve heard of a Pegasus Astro focus cube let alone a qhy268m or an eq8! 
 

Thanks again 

Bryan 

[malc-c]

I think for piece of mind, and given you are covered then putting in a claim is the thing to do, especially as you have the protection in place.  Under the circumstances, it might be worth asking if they would agree to a report from a reputable astronomical equipment supplier such as FLO / RVO or one local to you given that the "approved" electrical agent may not have any experience on these items of equipment.

 

[tooth_dr]

If you want new equipment, and I think you are correct in doing so, I wouldnt be pushing for any specialist report.  The fact that the assessor wont be a specialist in this field will most likely be at your advantage.;  This claim will small to them, they will look at the equipment, not know how it works, and accept that it doesnt work and pay you.  If they dont play ball then push for a specialist report.  Having recently completed an insurance claim that took a few months (5 figure sum), the best advice I can give is not to going excessive detail, just keep the details to a minimum - doesnt work etc.  You start saying too much it will just complicate things!  Thats my personal view   Good luck!