After reading MSC's post about his gear taking a dive, I wondered how many of you guys are actually insured. I called my insurance agent and the most they offered was homeowners insurance which doesn't cover things like dropping gear into water, concrete, etc. Right now I have a couple of bodies and lenses with no insurance and would absolutely hate to have something bad happen to my gear. So if anybody has suggestions as to who to insure with, please feel free to drop some suggestions.
The easiest approach is to have a rider added to your homeowners insurance. Mine covers my wife's engagement ring, my camera gear, and my telescope. Covers loss, theft, or damage, at the insured cost (i.e. replacement value).
The risk is that with it attached to your homeowners, if you make a claim, they could drop you. You'll also need some type of appraisal. My local store itemized all my gear and gave me a printout of the replacement cost, which I then gave to my insurance agent. The store charged me something like $35 for the service, but it's worth it. And they do put a lot of time in (the itemized list includes all the serial numbers).
If something isn't available any longer, make sure they give you the replacement cost of a like item. For example, replacement cost of a 40D should be a 60D. My non-USM 100mm macro is insured for the cost of the USM version (but not the L).
Also note that a rider on your homeowners typically does not cover commercial use, so if you are on a paid job you would be out of luck.
I have a commercial policy, which is absolutely 100% necessary when doing it professionally...
I have $2million in general liability (required for a lot of the nicer venues around here), $100k Errors and Omissions coverage, $18k in equipment (full replacement cost) with a $250 deductible, and it covers a whole slew of other stuff like $50k in computers or electronics, office furniture, portfolio materials (sample albums), $5k in rental gear, etc etc etc. The only thing they wouldn't cover is wind/hail damage (hurricanes) because my "studio"(house) is right next to the water. But, I live in NJ on top of a hill and hurricanes are super rare here, so I'm not too worried.
I negotiated with them on polices a little because I needed $2million in general liability, and they came back with the above policy for $556 a year. Not bad, not bad at all...
vsg28 wrote:
Waiting to hear back from State Farm to get my Personal Articles policy all set in. Can't beat the price for a sense of security.
Yeah, in the US at least, this is the way to go, you can like well over 10k coverage for $100 or even less a year, no deductible, equipment covered under any circumstance and you don't risk tying it to car or home insurance and messing that up if stuff happens to your equipment.
Unless you are a pro photographer earning you living from it, then you need something else.
msalvetti wrote:
The easiest approach is to have a rider added to your homeowners insurance. Mine covers my wife's engagement ring, my camera gear, and my telescope. Covers loss, theft, or damage, at the insured cost (i.e. replacement value).
The risk is that with it attached to your homeowners, if you make a claim, they could drop you. You'll also need some type of appraisal. My local store itemized all my gear and gave me a printout of the replacement cost, which I then gave to my insurance agent. The store charged me something like $35 for the service, but it's worth it. And they do put a lot of time in (the itemized list includes all the serial numbers).
If something isn't available any longer, make sure they give you the replacement cost of a like item. For example, replacement cost of a 40D should be a 60D. My non-USM 100mm macro is insured for the cost of the USM version (but not the L).
Also note that a rider on your homeowners typically does not cover commercial use, so if you are on a paid job you would be out of luck.
arnold1 wrote:
I am with StateFarm and they did tell me that it was covered for shipping but not for loaners as the serial # would be different with the loaners
I also have a State Farm Personal Articles Policy attached to my Home Owners Policy. They have 3 levels, amateur, professional use, and commercial policy. I have the middle one, a personal policy with the professional use rider. I forget the exact cutoff, but I think it allows sales up to something like $20,000 annually before a commercial policy would be required.
When I get something new I just send them an email with the invoice and serial number and they add it to the policy. Your homeowners policy covers up to a base amount, perhaps $2000.
You should not be in business without it. A seperate policy is the way to go. One good claim on your homeowners insurance and you may have no homeowners insurance (saw it happen to someone).
Definitely pop for a separate policy from your homeowners. A big claim against your homeowners will follow you from company to company as long as you own a home. KibblesNbitz has the plan above.
I am not a professional shooter where insurance actually makes a lot of sense. A couple years back I upgraded my home owner's insurance to cover all my gear. The surcharge was more than $100 back then. I never needed to use it fortunately, later I decided to drop this expense and just go with the regular insurance which is more limited in regard to the protection of my gear. I consider myself careful enough handling my gear. In the meantime I saved a good amount by not additionally insuring my gear - it easily covers repair or replacement of camera or lens if something should happen during a trip.
As I said, for professionals it is a different thing, in such case I wouldn't mind paying additional insurance as business expense.
I'm in Rhode Island and State Farm won't write a personal articles policy here. I weighed some other options.... a rider on my Allstate policy is fine, but doesn't cover accidental damage. I tried travelers but they wouldn't write me a policy without changing my homeowners, and then they wouldn't write a policy for my house. so PPA was an option, but membership was like $275 a year. eventually I settled on CSI because I'm a part time photography student. they covered me for $7k for $150/year. at least now if I take a digger into a lake I'm covered. good enough for me.
