Wait! Don't move the truck!

January 1, 2007 9:26 PM

Has anybody ever filed a claim on a personal articles policy with State Farm? If so, what was the process? how long did it take? do they replace your stuff or give you $ to buy it yourself? I'm especially interested in answers that pertain to camera equipment.

My Canon 5D and 24-105L and 28mm 1.8 got run over by a tow truck today. I'm wondering what insurance odyssey is in store for me.

Thanks.

posted by rbs to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Your agent will take care of you. Just call first thing in the morning. They'll give you a check. You have the broken parts, presumably, so they can easily verify that you're not scamming them. (If it had been stolen, they'd want a police report.)

It won't be a pain. Good job on having the insurance, though.
posted by kindall at 9:34 PM on January 1, 2007

It doesn't sound like there's any flags there, so you should be ok. In contrast, a friend of mine had his car broken into 2 months ago and State Farm has still not paid out his claim for the lost articles inside. The problem? He driving cross-country (Canada) moving house, and so his car was stuffed to the gills with his personal belongings -- a stereo, a computer, etc. So the claim is huge, and that of course sets off flags to State Farm that it might be a scam. In his case, it's not a scam (it's just very bad luck), but they are incredibly suspicious.

I don't think you should have too much trouble.
posted by modernnomad at 7:47 AM on January 2, 2007

Also note that personal items may be covered by your renters/homeowners policy even if you didn't have a policy specifically for said item. But kindall is right; see your agent. Your agent is the reason you are paying State Farm and not some no-name internet only company.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:49 AM on January 2, 2007

We had a renter's policy with State Farm and our house got broken into. The thieves took thousands of dollars of small electronics. State Farm was great to work with, and gave us a mix of cash and replacements. We voluntarily took a lot of replacements because they replace stuff with the newest comparable model, so we got upgrades from our old stuff. HOWEVER, State Farm then dropped our policy because we made a claim before we'd had the policy for three years. I don't know if this is a concern with a personal articles policy, but be sure to ask your agent about this. When we bought a home six months later, I had to sweet-talk State Farm into covering us again, which they eventually did.
posted by gokart4xmas at 12:53 PM on January 2, 2007

Response by poster: Update: they say they're going to cover the stuff that was specifically listed on the personal articles, but not the other stuff, because the rest isn't over the $1000 deductable.

On the upside, the body seems ok, but both lenses are fucked.
posted by rbs at 4:48 PM on January 2, 2007