Depreciation manager

Depreciation and ACV without the spreadsheet

Give an item its age, a yearly rate and a cap, or set one rate per category for the whole claim. ClaimTime works out depreciation and ACV on every line and carries them into your exports. You choose the assumptions; the arithmetic is done the same way every time.

The same math, line after line

Depreciation is a handful of assumptions applied to hundreds of lines. Worked out by hand, the assumptions get buried under the arithmetic.

The manual way

  • Multiply each item's age by a yearly rate, check it against a cap, then work out the ACV, one row at a time.
  • Re-type the results into a spreadsheet, and redo them whenever a price or a quantity changes.
  • Keep category rates in a notebook or last month's file, and hope they are the current ones.
  • One typo moves the ACV, and nothing points to it.

With ClaimTime

  • Enter the age once. Depreciation and ACV follow from the rate and the cap you set.
  • Change a price or a quantity and RCV, depreciation and ACV move with it.
  • Save your category rates as a template and load them on the next claim.
  • See the total depreciation before anything changes, and revert it in one step.

You set the assumptions, ClaimTime does the math

  1. Price the contents. Each line's RCV is its unit price times its quantity, from AI replacement cost pricing or a price you enter yourself.
  2. Choose the method. Give an item its own age, % per year and cap, or apply one rate, or a rate per category, to the rooms or categories you pick.
  3. Review before applying. The Review step shows the method, the scope, how many items change and the total depreciation. Nothing changes until you apply.
  4. Hand it off. RCV, depreciation and ACV go into the Excel workbook, the HTML claim report and the claim package. Revert whenever you need to.

The Depreciation dialog on a tablet: one rate for every room, reviewed before it applies (illustrative scene, real app screen).

Change one number, watch the ACV follow

This is the math behind every line. Replacement cost $2,400, 4 years old, 10% per year (an expected life of 10 years), capped at 50%: depreciation is $960 and the ACV is $1,440. Move the sliders, or push the age past five years and watch the cap take over.

An illustrative calculation with the app's own rule: Dep % = min(age × % per year, cap), kept between 0% and 100%, and ACV = RCV × (1 − Dep %). The age is always entered by you.

A rate for the claim, or one per category

Open Depreciation from the claim and pick a method: one flat percentage, a rate for each category, or a template you saved. Choose where it applies: all rooms, the room you are in, the rooms you pick or the categories you pick. Then review what will change before anything does.

The Depreciation dialog on the sample claim, which already has its category rates applied (Revert takes them off). Rates run from 0% to 90%. Items with their own age-based settings keep them.

Every item can carry its own numbers

Open any line and set its age in years, the percentage it loses each year and the most it can lose in total. The item's pricing breakdown then reads price × quantity = RCV, followed by the depreciation percentage and the ACV.

Those settings belong to the item. They stay when you edit its title or its price, and a claim-wide rate won't overwrite them. To take depreciation off one line, choose Remove Depreciation from its menu.

  • Age (years), % per year and Cap % on every item
  • Leave the cap empty and it is 100%
  • Pricing breakdown with RCV, Dep. and ACV
  • Remove Depreciation from a single item

Select the items, depreciate them together

Select items in the inventory and choose Apply Depreciation in the toolbar. Enter one age, a yearly rate and a cap, and ClaimTime applies them to every selected line.

The dialog opens at 5 years, 10% per year and a 50% cap, so a common case is quick. Change any of the three before you apply; each line's ACV follows from its own RCV.

  • Starts at 5 years, 10% per year, 50% cap
  • One age, rate and cap for every selected item
  • Each line keeps its own replacement cost

Totals that carry into the hand-off

Once depreciation is applied, the Default Excel workbook adds DEP % and RCV AFTER DEP columns beside each item's age, with an after-depreciation subtotal for every room and a grand total after depreciation. The HTML claim report shows each item's ACV and depreciation percentage under its replacement cost, and an ACV beside every room subtotal.

The claim package carries contents RCV and contents ACV in its summary. The Premium Claim Report workbook shows replacement cost only, so use the Default template when the reader needs ACV.

Depreciation sits on the rest of the claim

The Depreciation manager works on the same lines the rest of ClaimTime uses, so a change in one place shows up everywhere.

  • AI replacement cost pricing: Depreciation starts from the RCV pricing sets: the selected source's price times the quantity.
  • AI contents inventory: You enter each item's age in the contents inventory, and its pricing breakdown shows the Dep % and ACV.
  • Reports & exports: The Excel workbook and the HTML claim report carry depreciation and ACV by room; the claim package carries contents ACV.

Questions about depreciation

How is ACV calculated?

ACV is the replacement cost less depreciation. ClaimTime takes RCV as unit price × quantity, works out depreciation as min(age × % per year, cap), kept between 0% and 100%, and sets ACV = RCV × (1 − depreciation %). A $2,400 item, 4 years old at 10% per year with a 50% cap, depreciates 40%: $960, for an ACV of $1,440.

Can I set different rates per category?

Yes. In the Depreciation dialog, choose By Category, enter a rate for each category on the claim and one rate for all other categories. Save the setup as a template to reuse it on other claims.

Can each item have its own age and rate?

Yes. Every item has its own Age (years), % per year and Cap % fields. The age is always entered by you: ClaimTime doesn't estimate it from the photo.

What does an expected life of 10 years mean here?

ClaimTime takes expected life as a yearly rate: 10 years is 10% per year, 8 years is 12.5% per year. Enter the rate in % per year and set the cap to the most the item may lose.

Can I undo depreciation?

Yes. Revert in the Depreciation dialog restores every item in the claim to its pre-depreciation price, and Remove Depreciation clears it from a single item.

Does ClaimTime decide the depreciation?

No. You choose the method, the rates, the caps and the scope, and you see the total before applying. ClaimTime only does the arithmetic and makes no coverage decisions.

Does it track recoverable depreciation?

Not yet: tracking recoverable depreciation (holdback) is coming soon. Today ClaimTime calculates depreciation and ACV for each line, each room and the claim.

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