Accidental Damage Warranty - yes/no?

[RxForB3]

How many of you are glad you did (or wish you did) by a warranty for your camera or lens? Would you buy one on your next camera/lens?

 

[Overread]

Accidental Damage warranties and extended warranties are mostly just there to be a cash earner for many retailers. You get your warranty by default with any new purchase and most warranty issue repairs will become fairly evident in under a year of use of the item (and in many cases manfuacture defects that cause problems after the first year can still be claimed under warranty depending on the price and quality of the product).

Accidental damage, theft and other such covers should really be done under insurance. For camera kit you can consider getting it all covered under your household policy (many offer protections even for items used away from the home) or if you've enough invested in the camera gear you can consider separate insurance.
Note many rental home insurance policies also have parts which can cover property on and offsite as well.

Note - careful with riders on the household - the last thing you want is insurance you're paying for which you're afraid to claim on when you need to. I've known many get riders on their household only to not use it unless they lost everything because they don't want to build up a claim reputation on their household policy (or bits attached to it). Since losing household insurance (ie ending up having to pay a fortune for cover or being on a blacklist were companies basically won't be interested in covering you) is a big concern for many.

 

[tirediron]

What Overread said! The types of "extended warranties" you get from places like Best Buy and other big-box stores are pure profit for them. If you do have a claim, you're going to have to fight hard to get any sort of satisfaction despite what they tell you at the time of purchase. I never have taken them on anything and I never will.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

state farm insures my stuff

 

[MLeeK]

My husband recently did the accidental damage, theft thing when he purchased a cell phone retail instead of through Verizon. About 6 months later the phone dropped off the roof of the truck where he had sat it. They refused to cover it as the phone was "not secured" and it wasn't an accident, it was negligence.
I had always refused to purchase them before because of what Overread said. He thought I was nuts. He won't purchase them again.

My personal camera is covered on our homeowners insurance. My business gear is all covered in a business policy. Yep, I have the two separated. My business policy would be void if I used my business cameras for personal use, so I just separated out my oldest body for personal use only. It didn't bump my homeowners up that I know of. If it did it was only a couple of bucks.

 

[RxForB3]

Thanks for the replies. I have state farm for my renter's insurance. It seems like a good policy from what I can tell. I just need to update the covered amount to include the new gear, or make sure I requested enough coverage in the first place.

 

[table1349]

Thanks for the replies. I have state farm for my renter's insurance. It seems like a good policy from what I can tell. I just need to update the covered amount to include the new gear, or make sure I requested enough coverage in the first place.

You would be better served to take your gear off your your homeowners policy and get a personal articles policy from them instead.

http://www.statefarm.com/insurance/other/personal.asp

 

[IByte]

I'm all for accidental warranties on certain items. Home insurance yes, but remember if that stuff breaks and is replaced premiums may go up.

Before you buy any extended warranty, do your homework to see what the warranty actually covers it will save you a lot of headaches.

 

[KmH]

Accidental Damage Warranty - yes/no?

No!

Learn how to safely and securely handle your gear.

 

[Kolia]

I'm all for accidental warranties on certain items. Home insurance yes, but remember if that stuff breaks and is replaced premiums may go up.

Before you buy any extended warranty, do your homework to see what the warranty actually covers it will save you a lot of headaches.

Considering that many Loss/theft warranties sold by retailers costs nearly 20% of the purchase price, you can rapidly spend MORE on these toxic products than on a rental/home insurance.

I never buy those, except for my smart phone (retail iPhone is not cheap !) and have never regretted despite multiple warranty claims thru the years.

 

[zombiemann]

It depends on the item in question. For my camera, yes I did buy the service plan. I worked at Best Buy when the store opened here in my city. Specifically I worked on the Geek Squad (although considering the caliber of most of my coworkers I must admit I am ashamed to admit it). We handled the check in/shipping/receiving of warranty repair. I've seen the cost of repair vs the cost of the plan in far to many situations to not buy it. Sure proper handling can help reduce risk, but they are called accidents for a reason.

Basically when I decide to get the extra plan or not, I look at the most common type of warranty/plan claim and compare the cost of repair vs the cost of the plan. For cameras it is by far either dropped and scratched/chipped front element or water exposure. Both of those cost well over the cost of the plan to fix/replace. Sure it's a gamble and many people never need them, but many people never need their car insurance policy either, but they pay for it.