Will Your Homeowner’s Insurance Cover This Appliance Issue?

On Friday afternoon we came home to our freezer not being quite as cold as it should have been.  We chalked it up to a bag caught in the door causing the temp to rise and of course blamed the 11-year-old.

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The next morning, our freezer was dripping and the fridge was hanging out at over 50 degrees, so it wasn't just the door staying open.  We apologized to the kiddo and headed to the appliance store to snag a new fridge.

It was probably time anyway as the one we had come with the house and was a bit older when I moved in over three years ago.  Still, it sucks spending money on adult things, and not only did we have the price of the new fridge, but there was also a lot of money worth of groceries that were ruined.

My wife requested I check with our Homeowner's Insurance Policy on if that ruined food was covered.  My first thought was that I'm not making a claim over some food, then I realized how much we lost and how much the cost of groceries currently is.

Because I'm a bad adult and didn't dig out our policy and spend a ton of time looking through it for what's covered, I decided to wait until Monday to call my agent.  In the interim I did consult with my Uncle Google for some thoughts.

The consensus seems to be that most standard policies will not cover spoiled food from an appliance malfunction.  Many will however cover up to a certain dollar amount if it's the result of power going out.  Of course, each individual will have to refer to their own policy on those matters, and while I will check tomorrow, I'm not thinking we'll see any kind of a check in the mail.