Dave -
I understand your frustration and, yes, insurance adjusters are not usually
familiar with ham radio. But I can tell you if you go into this with the
attitude that the insurance guy is a jerk and and your gonna get screwed,
you will get screwed. To you this is a real problem - the lost of your
beloved ham gear. To the insurance adjuster it is just another file he
wants to close as soon as possible. Don't insult him and give him some
solid information to justify a quick and even generous settlement and he is
likely to jump at it to just close the file and report another settlement to
his boss. I've had agents actually call me on ham radio insurance
settlements pleading with me to just please send in the estimate I got so
they can settle and move on to other things.
Take a deep breath and relax. Try to get a "professional" estimate of your
loss from a ham dealer or someone who the insurance company recognizes as
being knowledgeable. This kind of thing can really help. Praise your
adjuster for how quickly he came to understand the value of your
installation and give him something he can use to justify the settlement.
You'll likely be pleased at the result. Good luck.
73, Bob - W3YY
P.S. If you don't have "replacement value" coverage on your insurance, you
should really consider this.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Vondrasek" <n5ito@davidv.net>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2005 3:53 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Dealing with Insurance Dweebs
> Welp here is were I'm at now after talking to an Insurance Adjuster. This
> isn't looking all that good as I can see, I had to spend 30 minutes
> explaining to him is was not a room full of AM/FM Stereo eqt. and give him
> a class is Ham radio operations.
>
> I'm being sent forms for "Inventory" of what was damaged, On this form I
> have to provide the Cost of the items when new and the year, and also the
> model and ser #'s.. ,Then this information is put through a Process of
> them
> telling me what a "depreciated" value of the item is and how much I get
> for
> replacement value. If Im lucky I think I might get enough "value" to go
> buy
> a new CB radio!
>
> This is not all new gear. The FT-990 could be bought back in 1991 for
> $1995.00, but try to explain to them it can still be bought now for around
> $1000 used when all the INRAD filters and such are installed like this one
> even after 14 years. I will most likely wind up with a single transceiver
> instead of separate VHF/UHF & HF rigs because of this after all the
> numbers
> fall. Because what they offer isn't going to buy a new rig for each now.
>
> So my current task is to play their own game and see what happens, Its a
> numbers game. The value is based on the Retail Price for the year and then
> depreciated from that. I can play this game too I guess. The FT-990 was
> brought out in 1991, but was sold for several years after that, so if I
> give the last year of manufacture with the price at that time, I have less
> deprecation then if I give 1991. So I need some help from anyone that can
> help. I've been searching the Internet for prices and years for items to
> get the highest value for the items. Some I can't fine. If anyone has old
> catalogs with MSRP and a date and year and can FAX or email a PDF showing
> this, that would be great. I need to get a nice high dollar value to
> replace at least most of the gear. Below is the Inventory of items.. I
> need the last year of Manufacture and MSRP.
>
> 1.Yeasu FT-990 with All the INRAD filters.
>
> 2. Yaesu FT-736R Loaded
> w/6 Meters
> w/FEX-736-220 220mhz module
> w/XF-455MC 600hz CW Filter
> w/CW Keyer Unit
> w/FTS-8 CTCSS Tone Squelch Board
> w/FTS-8 tone encoder / decoder
> w/ Voice Module
>
> 3. CDE Ham IV ( Still available @ $559.95)
>
> 4 Tempo 2002 2-Mtr 1KW AMP ( Early Henry)
>
> 5. Mirage MP2 ( Still available @ $235.00)
>
> 6. TE Systems 0510G
>
> Some gear I can't test as I can't put it on line like the SB-220 as I have
> no HF radio now. So I'm not sure if it's dead or now. I'm lucky is wasn't
> a direct tower strike, or I don't know how I'd get cost of 4 each Modified
> KLM-16LBX modified to 18 LBX .
>
> Dave - N5ITO
> Rebuilding after Lightening.
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
> any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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