Insurance

[Big Mike]

Who among us has insurance on their photo gear? I'm talking about on your household insurance, as opposed to those who are paid professionals.

My gear is covered by my regular household policy up to the value of all of my possessions in my house...but I have a high deductible ($1000) to keep the premium payments down.

Now I don't want to pay the first $1000 to replace all or just some of my gear, so now that I have a 20D, I looked into a rider for my gear. It actually looks pretty good. The cost will be based upon the replacement value of my gear but it looks like it will cost less than $4 a month...with a $25 deductible.

I have to make a list of everything and get a store to verify the replacement costs of everything...so that's what I'll be doing today.

 

[Ihaveaquestion]

good thinking man.

 

[Meysha]

Oooh Smart man that mike is!

When I get my DSLR,, one day,, it'll be getting insured right away.
What's a rider? Is that like an add on to your Home and contents insurance?

 

[etaf]

i'm covered by my household insurance which also covers photogear when traveling abroad upto 30days away from home including accidental damage.... its always worth checking household before going after a specialist

 

[Big Mike]

Oooh Smart man that mike is!

When I get my DSLR,, one day,, it'll be getting insured right away.
What's a rider? Is that like an add on to your Home and contents insurance?

Yes, a rider is an add on to your regular insurance. I don't know if it covers things that wouldn't already be covered by your insurance...but effectively it gives me a lower deductible on specific items. So even though my gear is already covered by my policy, I can have a much lower deductible on just my gear. I assume you could choose just about anything to insure with a rider attached to a general policy.

 

[Christie Photo]

It's the same for my studio... sort of. My business owners policy covers my gear while it's in the studio, but I need a rider for times when I'm on location. The only included equipment coverage out of the studio is liability... like if someone trips on a cord or something.

 

[Rob]

It's probably a bit different in the UK, but we tend to use a separate "all risks" list for things like watches, glasses, cameras, telescopes, wallets etc. This "all risks" list covers accidental damage, theft etc. and it doesn't have an excess on the payout. You record the value and serial number of the item, including proof of value and it's added for very little extra money.

It's a pain keeping the list up-to-date, but it's well worth it, especially for when you drop something.

On a slightly different note, if you have equipment taken by a monkey (more common than you might think in places like Bali and Thailand) - bear in mind that "MONKEYS ARE AN ACT OF GOD". I couldn't believe it, but my mum tried to claim on sunglasses for this and monkeys are not capable of crime, so you can't get a crime reference number or a police report and you can't claim for "theft". Once you've attempted to claim for theft, you can't claim for accidental damage on the same item! So make sure you claim it right if this happens. I'll stop talking about monkeys now.

Rob