Insurance co wants to take our damaged items to sell.

[Ouch12]

We had a water line burst and flood a storage area. Lots of electronic equipment was water logged, including some instruments. (And some other sentimental items.) Insurance co wants to use a company called ensurion to inventory and value what was damaged...then haul it away. We called them and ensurion as to why they want damaged goods. Turns out they want to refurbish our items and sell them to off set their, 'loss.' They said they won't pay us anything at all, (or a very, very, depreciated amount,) if we want to keep anything. So if an instrument is too damaged to actually work correctly, but I want to keep it, (Perhaps hang it on the wall,) they won't pay us for our loss of use of that instrument? How can that be legal? How can they profit off our loss?

 

[Zigner]

We had a water line burst and flood a storage area. Lots of electronic equipment was water logged, including some instruments. (And some other sentimental items.) Insurance co wants to use a company called ensurion to inventory and value what was damaged...then haul it away. We called them and ensurion as to why they want damaged goods. Turns out they want to refurbish our items and sell them to off set their, 'loss.' They said they won't pay us anything at all, (or a very, very, depreciated amount,) if we want to keep anything. So if an instrument is too damaged to actually work correctly, but I want to keep it, (Perhaps hang it on the wall,) they won't pay us for our loss of use of that instrument? How can that be legal? How can they profit off our loss?

What US state?

In general, once the insurance company pays the claim, the item is theirs. Like a car - if you are paid for a total loss by the insurance company, they get to keep the car. You can, of course, negotiate to "buy back" the item...

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

You are being paid the value of the items. If there is an item that you want to keep, ask the insurance company or the company that is buying the scrap what the scrap value is and let them reduce the amount of the settlement by that amount or buy it back from the scrap company.

 

[adjusterjack]

How can that be legal?

It's legal because you agreed to it when you bought the insurance policy.

Is this business insurance or homeowners insurance?

They said they won't pay us anything at all, (or a very, very, depreciated amount,) if we want to keep anything.

Do you have Replacement Cost coverage? If you do, you get the depreciated amount up front and the balance when you replace the item and submit your receipt. As for "very, very" it depends on the item. Unfortunately, electronic items tend to depreciate rather quickly because new generations of products make the old generation of products obsolete and almost valueless.

If you don't have Replacement cost coverage, you're only entitled to the Actual Cash Value (defined as replacement cost less depreciation).

You can, of course, dispute the amount of depreciation applied to any given item by invoking the Appraisal provision of your policy.

How can they profit off our loss?

They aren't. If they pay you $100 for an item and they sell it for $50, that's not profit.

I suggest you take out your policy and start reading it (as painful as that seems). If you need any more discussion please refer to policy form names and form numbers.