Question

Your home insurance provides for replacement value for personal property losses. A microwave is stolen. It cost $300 two years ago and has an expected life of six years. A comparable microwave costs $400 today. What amount will the insurance company pay?

Answer 1

Answer:

$400

Explanation:

Since your insurance policy provides for replacement value, then if your microwave is stolen, the insurance company must pay the cost of a new and similar microwave oven. Insurance is not about gaining or losing money, it's about returning the insured to its previous financial state before the incident happened.

In this case the insurance company has to pay a higher amount, but sometimes the replacement value might be lower, e.g. high tech products are usually very expensive in their introduction stage but then their prices start to decrease at the growth or maturity stages.