I have been trying to insure my photo equipment through my homeowners company, Auto Club of Southern California. I have spent 2 hours at their office where they photgraphed the equipment and copied all the serial numbers. Now, their "underwriter" tells them that I must have a current appraisal for each item even thouth I have invoices that go back about 3 years. I am just about fed up. Does anyone know of an insurance company that welcoms photo equipment?
The total value is about $10,000. Thanks for any advice.

Frank

The reason they want the appraisal is because it is essentially a rider to your exisiting home owner's policy and that usually means you have to have an itemized value.

Get an inland marine type policy or join NANPA or PPA and get your insurance through them. Plus the membership perks are pretty good also.
I have a separate "for professional use" policy from my insurer that also includes event liability and the cost is pretty reasonable. It also acts a "firewall" of coverage so that I don't run any risk having my home owner's policy go up because I had a photography equipment loss.

While insurance laws/policy may different in California, I would never get an insurance policy that was essentially a rider to my home owner's policy just for the above reason-- and who knows what they would do if they considered a claim as moving you to the high risk category or if they decided to just cancel everything.

good luck

State Farm provides a Personal Articles Policy that will cover photo equipment. Have to check with a local agent for rates, but I would expect something to the tune of ~$1-2 for each $100 insured per year so for ~$10k you would be looking at around $100-$200 per year for insurance. It has no deductible and insures for full replacement against loss/theft/drop/etc. Not sure if they will take on a PAP if you don't already have an auto/renter/homeowner/etc policy with them though. Also, it is probably for personal use only so if you are using this for a business you might need to look elsewhere.

g'luck

If you use your gear for professional use, your HO policy might not cover it. Mine won't.

And consider that if you have a claim against your HO policy, your insurance can be canceled.

You should consider getting a pro policy through someone like Hill & Usher.

<Chas>

Robert Deaver wrote:
State Farm provides a Personal Articles Policy that will cover photo equipment. Have to check with a local agent for rates, but I would expect something to the tune of ~$1-2 for each $100 insured per year so for ~$10k you would be looking at around $100-$200 per year for insurance. It has no deductible and insures for full replacement against loss/theft/drop/etc. Not sure if they will take on a PAP if you don't already have an auto/renter/homeowner/etc policy with them though. Also, it is probably for personal use only so if you are using this for a business you might need to look elsewhere.

g'luck

State Farm is $12/1000 value.

USAA.

mach250 wrote:
USAA.

+1

Thank you all for the help. I will follow up the leads.

Frank

I also use State Farm's Article insurance. I already have car insurance and renter's insurance with them as well and they only ask for the serial number plus the approximate value for each item. Also, they have a different rate for professional/business use. Anyhow, you can still get insured. Hope it helps.

Hey Frank,

Did you figure out where to get an appraisial? I'm needing one for my new - used camera.

thanks.


docfrank wrote:
I have been trying to insure my photo equipment through my homeowners company, Auto Club of Southern California. I have spent 2 hours at their office where they photgraphed the equipment and copied all the serial numbers. Now, their "underwriter" tells them that I must have a current appraisal for each item even thouth I have invoices that go back about 3 years. I am just about fed up. Does anyone know of an insurance company that welcoms photo equipment?
The total value is about $10,000. Thanks for any advice.

Frank

I went to my local camera shop. I got a hand written appraisal of my 5D and ny 300 F4L IS. It was written om the shop's receipt stationary. Auto Club of Southern California refused to accept that format. I guess my next stop is Christys or Southebys for an appraisal.

All my stuff is insured through AAA. I just got a used MkIII but the seller couldn't find the original reciept. So I called my agent to tell him I have a new camera but no transaction docs and to ask where can I get an apprasial. He said he has no idea where anyone can get a camera appraisal but that it would work if the seller *cough* could "make" a sales receipt indicating the transaction of the camera. ...so I hop on to MS word and use their template to produce an official sales reciept and it turns out to be completely acceptable.

Frank - for you, I would consider calling the local camera shop and ask if they would be okay with you simply copying their apprasial estimates into a MS word invoice template and having them sign or approve it - and then re-presenting this to the Auto Club. My wife gets her rings appraised from our local jeweler for insurance purposes and, seriously, it's like one sentence that says X piece is valued at $$. ...I can't believe they are giving you such a hard time.

If they are giving you this much trouble now, how much trouble are they going to give you when you submit a claim?

<Chas>

I went the State Farm route since I already had my car insurance with them. I still live with my parents so while it was possible that it could be covered under their homeowner's I didn't want to risk any claim on my part affecting their homeowner's insurance. The rate will depend on location--it's kind of lame because I think it will likely be adjusted depending on the risk of your area since I've heard different rates from people across the country for the same policy. State Farm accepted printouts of prices from BH for me along with a spreadsheet listing all of the serial numbers. Of course I think the true test is really when something happens to see how good an insurance company really is, but we all hope that it never comes to that.

Also, it'll be higher if you actually get paid for photography so keep that in mind if you are a professional.

ZENGHOST wrote:
I went the State Farm route since I already had my car insurance with them. I still live with my parents so while it was possible that it could be covered under their homeowner's I didn't want to risk any claim on my part affecting their homeowner's insurance. The rate will depend on location--it's kind of lame because I think it will likely be adjusted depending on the risk of your area since I've heard different rates from people across the country for the same policy. State Farm accepted printouts of prices from BH for me along with a spreadsheet listing all of the serial numbers. Of course I think the true test is really when something happens to see how good an insurance company really is, but we all hope that it never comes to that.

Also, it'll be higher if you actually get paid for photography so keep that in mind if you are a professional.

ZENG: I believe those photography equipment will only be covered if they are stole while placed inside the house and won't be covered if you do take it outside to shoot. While I think most of us that wants to get insurance are looking for coverage during usage outside of our homes.

Other: I also went to State Farm to ask about insurance, and the receptionist ( i didn't even get to talk to an agent) told me I would have to receipts for the equipment. I told her that most were 2nd hand and she said then I would have to get some sort of estimate price via interweb or other viable sources...

If someone that has more information or has any experiences in dealing with insurances please shed some light. thanks

PS. I actually went to State Farm last friday to pay for my home insurance and asked about it. I was also thinking about posting questions regarding insurance on FM but forgot to do so. So kinda glad some1 did it before me.

kaska1 wrote:
ZENGHOST wrote:
I went the State Farm route since I already had my car insurance with them. I still live with my parents so while it was possible that it could be covered under their homeowner's I didn't want to risk any claim on my part affecting their homeowner's insurance. The rate will depend on location--it's kind of lame because I think it will likely be adjusted depending on the risk of your area since I've heard different rates from people across the country for the same policy. State Farm accepted printouts of prices from BH for me along with a spreadsheet listing all of the serial numbers. Of course I think the true test is really when something happens to see how good an insurance company really is, but we all hope that it never comes to that.

Also, it'll be higher if you actually get paid for photography so keep that in mind if you are a professional.

ZENG: I believe those photography equipment will only be covered if they are stole while placed inside the house and won't be covered if you do take it outside to shoot. While I think most of us that wants to get insurance are looking for coverage during usage outside of our homes.

Other: I also went to State Farm to ask about insurance, and the receptionist ( i didn't even get to talk to an agent) told me I would have to receipts for the equipment. I told her that most were 2nd hand and she said then I would have to get some sort of estimate price via interweb or other viable sources...

If someone that has more information or has any experiences in dealing with insurances please shed some light. thanks

PS. I actually went to State Farm last friday to pay for my home insurance and asked about it. I was also thinking about posting questions regarding insurance on FM but forgot to do so. So kinda glad some1 did it before me.


Sorry, went back and looked at my post and it can be a bit confusing. To clarify, I went with the personal articles policy instead of the homeowners so I'm covered when I leave the house. I didn't need receipts (I also have a lot of used stuff), the BH printouts of prices were acceptable for my agent. No deductible and I pay something like $173 a year for around $11,000 worth of equipment, but that's as a hobbyist and not as a pro. If I used it for business purposes the rate would be different.

staxnet wrote:
mach250 wrote:
USAA.

+1
It depends on the state - you have to tie the camera gear to an existing homeowners or renters insurance policy with USAA in IL. That's why I have USAA for everything but camera insurance (which is State Farm).

State Farm only needs either receipts or printouts from reputable sites like B&H + serial numbers.

docfrank wrote:
I have been trying to insure my photo equipment through my homeowners company, Auto Club of Southern California. I have spent 2 hours at their office where they photgraphed the equipment and copied all the serial numbers. Now, their "underwriter" tells them that I must have a current appraisal for each item even thouth I have invoices that go back about 3 years. I am just about fed up. Does anyone know of an insurance company that welcoms photo equipment?
The total value is about $10,000. Thanks for any advice.

Frank

Call a different home-owners insurance company.