You may not have to pay out-of-pocket for data recovery. Some insurance policies will pay for part or all of the cost of a professional data recovery service, but data loss coverage falls into a grey area on many policies. Eric’s Computer Services will speak directly to your insurance agent to see if coverage is available on your policy to secure you the best outcome as part of our data recovery diagnostic and while working on your data recovery case.
Just, for example, Liberty Mutual’s press office states that “data recovery would be paid for under-covered perils, such as a storm, power surge, or break-in”. State Farm and Allstate have policies for data loss for businesses. Businesses have greater coverage for data recoveries, but it is, of course, subject to whatever deductible is on the policy. Some homeowner’s and renter’s insurance have coverage, and many business insurance plans include coverage.
The nature of the data loss also may play a role in the insurance claim decision, especially if you can obtain documentation from the data recovery company that explains the cause of data loss. That is why working with a data recovery company is key. I am able to successfully handle insurance claims regularly due to the communication and cooperation between the customer, insurance company, and Eric’s Computer Services.
Professional data recovery services are now available.
Homeowner’s and Renters Insurance
Some policies include coverage for intellectual property such as loss of intellectual property, loss of important papers, loss of personal documents, loss of personal papers, loss of tax returns, or loss of family photos. When calling your insurance agent to be sure to ask them whether your personal papers or your intellectual property is kept under your policy.
Business Insurance
Business Insurance policies will often pay for data recovery and may include the following benefits in addition to loss of documents or loss of intellectual property.
If you are unable to handle day-to-day tasks due to data loss – for instance, if a computer or server goes down or if you cannot provide a customer with services – you may be able to submit a claim as an Interruption of Business which reimburses a business for loss of profits during a forced full or partial closing. In that case even if the data recovery
Business policies sometimes expand the offers of the homeowners and renters insurance Intellectual Property Coverage which provides specialized insurance coverage. Many insurance policies cover small and large scale businesses and their policies have already taken steps to protect intellectual property data loss.
Electronic Data Loss coverage is the best coverage for businesses. Electronic data loss insurance is configured specifically for businesses that rely on data, and it almost always covers unexpected data loss. Often coverage included data that is destroyed or damaged by a virus or any harmful code, the electronic data loss coverage comes as a great rescue to pay the cost. Business policies often safeguard electronic data damaged depending on the policy, causes can vary like human error, fire or virus.
Some policies may even have a data recovery rider for data loss, and paying for the subsequent data recovery. New provisions in more advanced policies for businesses cover cyber attacks.
What do insurance policies not cover under data recovery?
The following are typically not covered and you should check your policy’s terms and conditions or speak to an agent about the following:
- Normal wear and tear of drive or media
- Loss of data outside a period covered in the policy
- Intentional equipment or electronic media damage due to a willful act
- Problem with or loss of a software program
- Loss of device or data due to earthquake or an act of nature
- Loss due to an electrical problem, other than a power surge
- Inadvertently deleting files
