camera and lens insurance

[lennon33x]

Mine is insured through the home and since I do waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more personal stuff with it than pro stuff, it's apparently okay. That said, that's definitely a gray area and I wouldn't consider that gospel. I'd talk to your insurance provider. Generally the home insurance route is cheap and effective. (I used mine once when my D300 was smashed). Also look into the low or no deductible option as it doesn't tend to cost much more and doesn't leave you paying $500 out of pocket or whatever.

I asked my wife about a situation like your's. Apparently for underwriting/coverage purposes, your livelihood needs to somewhat depend on your photography in order to schedule your items. Otherwise, it's considered "personal property."

The industry standard starting this year is to eliminate the $500 deductible. And if you're paying a $500 deductible, you're paying a higher premium.

Private companies insuring only camera gear or electronics equipment is a safe bet. I personally wouldn't add it to our homeowners insurance as a means of "what happens if..." Luckily for us, we don't have thousands and thousands of dollars in equipment and need that kind of coverage.

 

[manaheim]

Not sure what "schedule" means?

Sounds like you know way more about this stuff than I do. All I know is I discussed it in great detail with my insurance provider- we've known them for like 30 years- and we came up with this solution. It has worked so far. lol Useful, right?

 

[lennon33x]

Not sure what "schedule" means? Sounds like you know way more about this stuff than I do. All I know is I discussed it in great detail with my insurance provider- we've known them for like 30 years- and we came up with this solution. It has worked so far. lol Useful, right?

All "scheduled" means is that you are including the items to your insurance so that they are included separately from your personal items. It's like including jewelry, furs and heirlooms. It allows for more extensive coverage and it's additional supplementation. For example, if you include $10k in your personal belongings on your insurance, and have a total loss, then you only get $10k for everything and your gear. If you have $2k worth if gear, you get the $10k plus the $2k minus the deductible.

It's all insurance jargon. And I only know it bc of my wife lol

 

[manaheim]

hahaha... ok. Yeah, that's what I did then. We listed each item specifically because most of them are high-dollar items and I wanted to be sure they were covered.

 

[Nevermore1]

If you're going to depend on your homeowners policy covering theft/loss of your gear then check with them on the requirements. Our house was broken into and all my husbands tools were stolen along with a few other items. I'm not talking about a few hammers and screwdrivers. He was a mechanic and had thousands of $'s in tools not to mention the large upright toolbox that they also managed to steal. Our insurance company wouldn't even look at a claim unless we could provide receipts for everything which we didn't have as it took over 10 years for him to compile all of it. We had pictures of everything and the police report but that wasn't enough for them.

 

[CMfromIL]

It depends. If you are accident prone and tend to drop cameras and/or lenses, then insurance is an absolute necessity. If you buy top of the line equipment such as the Leica S2 or Red Epic, then insurance is probably worth considering as well.

On the other hand, if you are a pro, you may consider equipment as consumable with a limited life span of 3 to 5 years or less. It is therefore not worth insuring. You work regular equipment purchasing into your business expenses and declare it off your taxes.

That's about the most nonsensical comment I've seen, and this being the internet and all...there are a lot of foolish things out there. Insurance need isn't based on 'consumable' life of equipment. Theft, liability, and a host of other business related issues can/are covered with proper insurance. And BTW, the 'cost' of the insurance policy is also a deductible expense.


As for any 'hobby' photographers insuring their gear under their homeowners...I have 1 word for you. RIDER. It's a smaller policy (think sidecar on a motorcycle) specifically for high value items. If you have all of your camera gear on a rider (under your homeowners policy) and something gets stolen for example...you file a claim on your rider. Typically they have a lower deductible, and it has ZERO affect on your overall homeowners insurance. It's not counted as a claim, and will not affect your homeowner rates. Typical cost is around $1/per $100 of insurance. So a $1000 lens will cost $10/year to cover. If you have $10,000 in gear, figure about $100 or so. It's a no-brainer.

I used that with my equipment. I also had a separate rider for my wife's jewelry as it exceeded our regular homeowner allowances.

 

[GlennT]

As for any 'hobby' photographers insuring their gear under their homeowners...I have 1 word for you. RIDER. It's a smaller policy (think sidecar on a motorcycle) specifically for high value items. If you have all of your camera gear on a rider (under your homeowners policy) and something gets stolen for example...you file a claim on your rider. Typically they have a lower deductible, and it has ZERO affect on your overall homeowners insurance. It's not counted as a claim, and will not affect your homeowner rates. Typical cost is around $1/per $100 of insurance. So a $1000 lens will cost $10/year to cover. If you have $10,000 in gear, figure about $100 or so. It's a no-brainer.

This is precisely what we did. I don't recall the cost, but I have $4300 worth of gear insured at a negligible cost and there's no deductible in my case.

This is a clarification of the actual coverage that I received from our insurance company, which I interpreted to mean the coverage is fairly comprehensive.

The items will be insured for all risks of physical loss to the property
except for the following:
Wear & Tear, gradual deterioration, inherent vice, latent defect,
mechanical breakdown or faulty manufacturing.
Insects or vermin
War, including the following and any consequence of the following:
Undeclared war, civil war, insurrection, rebellion or revolution Warlike
act by a military force or military personnel Destruction, seizure or
use for a military purpose Discharge of a nuclear weapon (even if
accidental) Nuclear Hazard