Question on "Lifetime" of Hockey Gear for Insurance

[Husker 0]

I have somewhat of a tricky question. My garage was flooded out during the storm and I need to attach a lifetime to each piece of equipment in order to get payed for it by insurance.

If it was fresh water that washed over it I don't think it would have been ruined, but the combination of salt water, oil, gas, and all around nastiness that was in the water and the fact it took me almost three days to find it all since some of my garage washed out has me worried about staph and things like that even after cleaning what I could.

I need to know what kind of lifetime each individual gear piece has. In my mind since I wont grow anymore what I have now will be what I use for the rest of my hockey career, but I need to assign a lifetime in years to each piece. I will also need to have some sort of backup if the insurance questions it.

Skates- Mine are brand new, but I lost two other pairs

Gloves- Lost two pairs with one glove still missing.

Elbow Pads- Been using the same ones for almost 8 years now

Shin Guards- Almost 8 years now.

Shoulder Pads- Using the same ones for 6 years

Pants-

Sticks- One used, one unused Easton RS floated away is my main concern. Plus a bunch of newer/older composite sticks that had life in them are breaking down from the salt water.

Any help or even experience with this would help.

[hunt3rsean 44]

I work for a manufacturer and we got a lot of customer calls regarding similar questions after Hurricane Katrina. Your best course of action is to contact the manufacturer of each product. I don't know how hockey gear works in terms of life expectancy, but the fastest way to get this information will probably be to contact the manufacturer.

Also, a lot of the time insurance companies required we forward paperwork proving cost of an item or proof of whatever information was needed.

[Chadd 916]

Given the differences for each person in weight, strength, style, frequency and level of play, I don't know that it is possible for someone to say how long a piece of gear would last for anyone else. I would say that ten years isn't unreasonable for someone playing at a recreational level for skates or protective. Obviously helmets lose their certification after three years or so as well.

[wrangler 157]

True. The lifetime of a piece of equipment has to be measured in both years and use; the limit will be which maxes out first.

It will last the most years sitting on a shelf, and only days, if used hard all the time.

[raganblink 82]

6.5 years after date of creation, chad. And if hes done growing, legally according to USA hockey, the helmet no longer needs to be certified so hypothetically he wouldn't need to buy a new helmet, although we all know he would.

But you're right, there are so many factors that come into play that its impossible IMO to give an accurate length of life on equipment.

I for one will use the same pair of gloves for only 2 years, but there are some people who play the same rate as I do at the same hardness/level/etc and they are going to be 6 months or 6 years. Same with skates, protective, sticks, etc. Impossible to give an accurate length even if you know all the factors of the player, because everyone has a different value on equipment and deciding when they need to replace it.

[jimmy 194]

Wow, usually insurance covers replacement value. A friend lost all his stuff to burglars. they grabbed his hockey bag to put in the laptops, jewelery etc. His insurance covered it all, he just came in the store and bought all top of line stuff and submitted the receipt for his claim, no questions.

[Husker 0]

Well it's flood insurance taking care of this stuff. I have contents included, but the guy said they pay the depreciated value of the contents and it depreciates 20% a year based on the life of the item in question.

[wrangler 157]

That doesn't make sense. 20% per year implies a five-year life.

[bigdmac 12]

I lucked out about 7 years ago when my basement flooded, a guy from the insurance company came over checked everything out and simply asked me if the equipment was top of the line or not. I had some higher end skates at the time, around $400, I believe, so he took a look at those and decided he'd give me $2500 strictly towards my equipment, and $1700 for my son who would have been about 11 at the time. Pretty obvious the guy didn't know anything about hockey, and there was no research that went into any of washed up equipment, simply two cheques... only catch was it had to be used for equipment, nothing else! I don't even think I managed to spend everything! Hopefully somebody here who got affected by the storm has the same luck I had, i'll tell you that I had a fun weekend going to a bunch of hockey stores trying on anything I wanted with no budget!

[Husker 0]

That doesn't make sense. 20% per year implies a five-year life.

If something has a 10 year life that cost 100 dollars then after one full year I would get $80. After two years $64 dollars. The value depreciates 20% per year.

[wrangler 157]

That's a bit different -- 20% on a declining balance. That's a very unusual depreciation method, one I've never heard of. Normally, when a declining balance is used in depreciation, the percentage varies with the useful life of the asset.

EDIT: It's possible that the depreciation was not explained properly to you. One standard depreciation method, double declining balance, over 10 years, would result in the use of 20% as you described. The percentage would differ, however, for a different useful life.

[gxc999 7]

I've got experience on the law and insurance sides, though not in flood or personal property, but the formulae used to establish value and the tables in general can vary widely. I'm no expert, but I've seen some things done by insurance companies that are industry standard that wouldn't make sense from a traditional legal perspective, to say the least.

[wrangler 157]

I've dealt with depreciation for accounting and tax purposes, but not for insurance issues like this. I find it strange that insurance companies would invent their own depreciation methods, but, obviously, parties can write any provision they choose into a contract.