Repair contract necessary?

[joconn]

Do I really need the repair insurance that the sales person is trying to sell me? The cameras I am interested in are the Olympus 550 and the Canon SX100, and maybe the Fuji 700.
Joe.

 

[Garbz]

My advice is if you are really interested in doing crazy things with your camera then insure it yourself on your home and contents insurance. All my camera gear and my bicycle are covered on the mobile goods policy of the house insurance. For $200 / year with a $150 excess I have covered some $5000 worth of equipment for fire, damage (repair or total), accidental damage, theft and loss.

 

[joconn]

Thanks for the reply, Garbz. What I meant was the extended warranty the sales people push so hard to sell you. Are digital cameras that prone to failure that I need the extra protection?
Thanks again,
Joe

 

[Garbz]

That depends entirely on what the warrenty covers. I know plenty of P&S cameras which have failed. I know a few DSLRs which have failed too but they were always the result of a worn out shutter which wouldn't be covered anyway.

Read the fine print is all I can suggest. I personally am happy with the standard 1year warrenty and the rest can be taken care of by my insurance agency.