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take... My wife is a state farm Claims adjustor and we went over our policy recently when I purchased a computer for home. I had to add a rider to our house insurance for the computer since its replacement cost (not its depreciated value) is > $5000 which is the limit for any individual item on our policy. When I first got the computer I counted things like this (computer $3000, monitor $500, external modem, $150, extra memory $400, etc, etc), which I figured meant I didn't need to worry about getting a rider. StateFarm however add's up ALL the computer items together (just like they would for a Car) which is why the total value of the computer is much greater the $5000 even though no component even comes close. Our Car insurance is also with state farm which makes things easy, but you will find that most insurance companies cover stuff stolen out of a car under the home owners insurance, if its an item thats not specific to the car (ie: a car stereo is, a walkman isn't). Check with your agent for the specifics. I think the rider just a added a buck or two a month to the policy (my wife is the expert!). By the way, these are Canadian/ontario dollar values and may not apply elsewhere. cheers ed -------------------------------------- Date: 10/10/95 12:30 PM To: Edmond Bourne From: Don Whiteside On Mon, 9 Oct 1995, Martin P. Smith wrote: > A word of caution MOST home insurance does NOT cover a portable > machine when used for work or outside the home. Yes - State Farm told me that the criteria is "is it used or intended for use primarily inside the home?" While in my case I could probably contend that the primary use is for inside the home, I suspect that with any reasonable amount of outlay they'd argue the issue, given that the _nature_ of a laptop is to be portable. Similarly, I discovered that my car insurance won't cover something that isn't "permanently attached to the car." Meaning that a mounted car phone (which is infinitly more recognizable as there to be stolen) would be covered while my handheld unit isn't! Sheesh! So my laptop wouldn't be covered either. But as a final note, most insurance companies will sell you a rider policy for your transportable electronics. Their quote on my cellular phone worked out to the same as the "no questions asked" $4 a month my carrier wanted, so I passed on that. I have yet to ask them about my laptop (living dangerously for the moment...) but I'd suspect it would be similar to Safeware's price.