Kraaaappppp!, Son away at college had a fire Options

[Engman]

My son - soon to be graduating from IU in Bloomington, IN - had a fire last nite - room is totaled!

He was renting a house with 5 others off campus - no renters insurance (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/headbang.gif)

Question is - does any of my homeowners insurance cover his property? It looks like it might - but I am no expert on reading/interpeting these policys. Yes - his primary residence remains here at home...........

Dammm - he is really down..........


M

[jwalters]

Man that is terrible. I truley feel bad for your son, terrible, terrible thing to have happen.

I believe there is federal statute that renders any renters of domiciles to have thier own renters insurance for personal property--this was done many years ago to reduce the costs of h/o ins. It is also a liability thing tho--this statute is rendered useless if the owner of the domicile is at fault from not properly maintaining the property--but again, I was privy to this a few years back, the statute may have been amended by now.

I know here in South Florida, you are required to have your own personal property ins when renting--

I hope it works all out for the better.

[GaroldShaffer]

Mark, that sucks. The main thing your son is ok. I can't comment on the insurance issue. Hope eveything works out. - Good Luck

Garold

[Mark Henry]

Don't know how it works down there but the house is covered by the owners insurance, the contents are not.

As long as your lad is all right that's the important part...It may be a pisser, but the rest is just stuff.

[GWN7]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Good thing everyone is ok.

Read your policy, depending on your carrier, sometimes personal property is covered up to 20% of the stated value of the policy when it's away from your principal residence.

Call your agent, file a claim. All they can do is say no.

[CptTripps]

Mark,

The good news is that everyone is ok. It sucks to have that happen, but if he was hurt, the LAST thing you'd be worried about right now is the property.

File a claim and see what happens. Another thing to consider is checking with your credit card company. Chances are SOMETHING has been purchased on it recently, and sometimes you can get them to replace some of it. American Express is REAL good aobut this. I bought a new BlackBerry a few weeks ago, and it was stolen 4 days later. They replaced it without question...

Again...glad everyone is ok...that's the important part.

[markb]

Just had something similar happen. Son's renting a room while at college and had his room burglarized. His PC and laptop, 2 digital cameras, etc. Since we bought all of these things for him, our homeowners insurance covered it. Just got the check this week. Call your insurance company. We DID need some sort of proof that we bought them, tho. Good luck.

[morph]

i really feel for ya man,i try to look at the good side of things,you CAN replace things,but you cant replace youre kid.at least he is ok.im really sorry to hear about what happend to youre kid.
james

[seanery]

Mark, so sorry to hear this news (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/sad.gif)

[rick 918-S]

Mark,

Check your PM!

[rhodyguy]

what was the cause? maybe there is an underlying problem with the building. if it's a landlord botchup that caused the fire your son may have some recourse. back in my college days i saw plenty of boarding/shared houses that SHOULD have burned down. big closets rented as "rooms", 2 guys living in what had been the sleeping porch, extension cords and space heaters everywhere. your son is not on a burn ward. material items are a visa card away. a co-worker of my wife lost her 20 y.o. daughter in a similar situation 3 years ago.

k

[Engman]

He WAS lucky - He and 2 others live in the basement of the house - 2 others live on the main floor. I have been there - older house but decently maintained.

At 10:00 last night they decide to go out to someone elses house to watch the rest of B-ball and a movie - None of them smoke, or anything but they do turn off tvs, lights etc - cause they pay the utilities and then leave. Come back at 2:30 am to a fire in the basement - so far all the fire department can find is that it started in the room next to my sons room, and that they have not found the ignition source. No space heater in that room - that was their primary suspect - so right now no one knows how it started. My suspicion is the wiring in da walls or some of the older outlets/switches. We will see.

Good news is that the landlord has anothe rvacant house they will move to. More good news is that it looks like my sons clothes 'may' be only smoke and water damage. They may clean up.

He is being real careful to document everything, digital pics, expenses, timelines, and anything else.

We may even be able to salvage his hard drive - (may not need to he had his jump drive in his pocket and is 80% sure most of his thesis is on it - thank god I got him that this last xmas)

All in all someone was watching over him. We are grateful.

M

[Pnambic]

Hey Mark,

My condolences on your son's loss. But like everyone said, he's OK and that's the important part.

My wife had her IN Insurance Licenses for Property, Casualty, Life and Health a few years ago. (She let them lapse when she wasn't using them...) She says that she is 90% sure that his lost items are not covered, but that you'd have to take a closer look at your home policy to be sure. If you have a good agent that you trust, they should be able to guide you through this.

Something to think about though...home-owners insurance has been a really tough market over the last few years. A lot of companies are just looking for opportunities to drop people. If you were to put in a large claim for something like this, it might not bode well for you at next renewal time and if you've been non-renewed, it'll really hit the wallet when you shop around for other insurance. Depending on the cost of replacing everything, it may be cheaper in the long run to not turn it in to insurance. Again, your agent should have a better feel for how your insurance company is looking at stuff like this.

HTH

[riverman]

I never like to hear stories like that. The main thing is that your son is okay.

I'm a landlord and have several houses that I rent to students. In the lease I require the students to carry renters insurance to cover their own property and liability. Typically, this is done as a rider to their parent's homeowner policy, but some homeowner policies automically contain this coverage. Check with your agent if you are unsure about your coverage. Plus, laws can vary in different areas. Check to see if the landlord is legally obligated to cover an event like this.
In defence of the landlord, if the fire wasn't caused by his own negligence it's probably the responsibilty of the person who caused the fire. If your son didn't cause the fire, the person who did should be on the hook for damages.

[STL914]

Mark,

Sorry to hear about your son and the fire. Glad he's OK.

Went through a house fire back in 97 and wouldn't wish that on anyone. Fortunately no one was home at the time.

QUOTE

We may even be able to salvage his hard driv

My Packard-Bell went through the fire and thought it was toast. Took it in to a service center, had it cleaned and it worked just fine. In fact, it still works while the replacement we bought after the fire only lasted two months.

[1bad914]

Mark,
I'm sorry to hear about that. I think that he would have needed renters insurance. My son is a junior at IU, I would crap if that happened to him. I'll be down there during the Lil' 500, my son rides in it. Good luck with everything.

[rick 918-S]

Taken from My "Home Owners Analysis" A publication of Rough Notes Company Inc.

Under the Definations discussion section;

As a general rule, a student temporarily living away from the residence premises at a collage or training school is considered an insured since the student is still a member of his parent's household. Some courts have even held that a married student residing at collage was a member of the parents household, if that student was still dependant on the parents. This general rule would also apply to insureds in the military reserves as long as they intend to return to their parent's household.

This is a text that adjusters use to help them understand the intent of the insurance policy.


BTW: Considering I am employed as a claims rep I should do the disclaimer thing. This is not intended to be legal advise and should in no way be construde as more than it is. One friend sharing a text from a book with another.

[neo914-6]

Mark,

My stepson lost everything (and some things we loaned him) in a fire. The big kid had his first experience losing things he valued. He was really appreciative to have parents at that moment. Every THING can be replaced.