troy12n wrote:
State Farm is pulling out of Florida because the Insurance Commission denied their request to raise homeowners policies 47%. Yes, you read that right. So they are dropping all their homeowners policies.
Something one needs to understand is that FL OIR (office of insurance regulation) and FL state legislators have been playing a political game with homeowners' rates. No one in their right mind doubts that Florida has much, much higher hurricane exposure than just about any other state. Basically, the regulators are telling multi-state insurers to subsidize their high risk by spreading the cost of covering FL homeowners among their policyholders in other states. That is the bottom line. State Farm is one of the few big players who even write FL homeowners at all.
Again, why should the rest of the nation's taxpayers have to fund Floridians' decisions to live on their mostly sunny but hurricane-prone beaches? The 47% rate increase was actuarially justified, but as you can see they'll take what they can get because they have been burning through their surplus like you wouldn't believe.
That's right, you've got homeowners who are willing to pay higher rates for their existing policies but aren't even given the opportunity to do so. If they're being forced into Citizens then they could see premium increases of as much as 200%. Makes 47% sound tiny in comparison. The OIR and Gov. Crist are delusional and denialist buffoons without any competence to assess insurance rate adequacy. I'd be surprised if they have ANY actuaries working for them.
I have a renter's policy which covers almost everything for replacement value for about 700 bucks a year. Just about everything. Except water damage, floods, and earthquakes. The earthquake authority charges about 1300 per year for very limited coverage of my home and belongings. Makes me want to move to Florida... Just kidding.
I regularly photograph all my gear, all my books, and all my other valuables and print a copy which I deliver to my insurance agent. He's amused by this. Fine. Gives him a chance to pitch me something new, and I get peace of mind.
Remember that insurance is to protect against loss you can't afford to suffer. It's a gamble, of sorts, when you buy a policy believing that you have a greater chance of experiencing some sort of loss that might ruin you, and so you pay for "protection." Over a period of time, if your gear gets stolen or damaged and you have a claim, the policy might very well pay for itself. On the other hand, you might never have a claim and your premiums are simply lost to you (well....you would at least have gained peace of mind by having the policy!).
Some people might choose to "self-insure" where they set aside money they would have spent on insurance premiums and use that as an emergency fund to replace/repair their gear in the event that someone really does happen.
These days, in a business situation, I think you have to have the liablity insurance. In my state, you are required to have a minimum amount and type of car insurance. As for insurance on the gear of the average Joe, that's not always so cut and dried.
Call State Farm; they don't have a problem with your gear falling into the professional category as long as you don't use the gear professionally in a business.
State farm covers my gear at replacement cost, not market value. So if my old Rebel XT went for a swim presumably I'd get enough to replace it with a new camera (obviously not a Rebel XT) of equivalent value/market position to my XT when I purchased it. At least that's what my agent told me.
* Camera Equipment Protected Worldwide (Theft included)
* Rented Camera Equipment
* $2,000,000 Comprehensive General Liability Coverage
* Portfolio Coverage ($3,000 included)
* Computer Equipment Coverage ($15,000 included on premises)
* Office Furniture and Equipment (Theft Included)
* Property of Others on and off premises ($15,000 at your business location - $5,000 off premises)
* Third Party Property Damage ($5,000 included, can be increased to 1,000,000) @ $200 per year
* Business Income Protection Including Extra Expense Coverage
* Camera Equipment Protected Worldwide (Theft included)
* Rented Camera Equipment
* $2,000,000 Comprehensive General Liability Coverage
* Portfolio Coverage ($3,000 included)
* Computer Equipment Coverage ($15,000 included on premises)
* Office Furniture and Equipment (Theft Included)
* Property of Others on and off premises ($15,000 at your business location - $5,000 off premises)
* Third Party Property Damage ($5,000 included, can be increased to 1,000,000) @ $200 per year
* Business Income Protection Including Extra Expense Coverage ...Show more →
The rented camera part of TCP is great. My local camera shop(Glaizer's) will waive their deposits(full MSRP) if you have a policy through them.
Our homeowner's policy is a replacement value policy. Under that, everything is covered from theft or damage in either house or car, subject to the deductible. I have left everything except lenses under that. They also allow for "scheduled personal property", for which I had to supply receipts which covers repair and any loss (e.g. losing it off a boat or dropping it), but it doesn't cover replacement cost, only depreciated cost. I use that for my lenses, since they don't depreciate much. $10000 of scheduled coverage for $100.
If you don't need the 2M liability coverage, property damage, and business income protection, then you probably don't need TCP&Co. They're only needed if you're doing photography as a business. Here in Los Angeles, for example, at least 1M liability is needed in order to get a permit to shoot commercially.
