Temporary Rental Insurance

[gckless]

Is there a such thing? I have my gear covered now under a high-value personal property insurance, like $100 a year to cover my own gear. Doesn't cover rentals. I want to rent a big lens or two for a short time, which require rental insurance. This is the last time I'll be renting before I leave the States for a while, so I don't want to go and take out a $700+ annual policy just to rent one or two lenses one time. Does anyone provide temporary independent rental insurance?

 

[gckless]

Well, feel kinda dumb, found insuremyequipment.com. Still decently pricey at $250 minimum for just 10 days. Or maybe that's not really pricey, dunno. Still looking for any info if people have it.

 

[pixmedic]

doesnt the company you are renting the equipment from handle that? they dont have an insurance company they use like when you rent a car and pay for their insurance instead of using your own?

 

[Overread]

+1 to what Tired said - most if not all rental companies will have their own insurance system in place; it would be madness for them not to be insured against loss, theft or damage to rental gear. I can't imagine that you'd need any additional cover at all.

 

[unpopular]

Are you doing a video or film project and renting from a production rental agency? I think they usually have you get your own insurance because you typically will insure the entire production under one policy and there are special underwriters that handle just that. As others have mentioned you should be able to get insurance from rental outfits that cater to small productions such as photographers.

 

[gckless]

The rental places I've looked at have their own coverage that you can pay for, but require independent insurance or a deposit on the big lenses. I'm looking at a Nikon 300mm f/2.8 right now, $6k retail, which apparently is over their limit that they will cover. I've looked at local guys as well as at least 5 sites online, the two big ones were borrowlenses.com and lensrentals.com, both as I've said above. I'll look around at other places see if I can find somewhere.

I'll be on assignment shooting the Lone Star Le Mans, well hopefully the request gets approved anyway. But I'm just looking to rent a lens, maybe a battery grip. I'll keep looking around. Thanks guys.