Insurance

[compuwar]

Well, with the rapid speed and customer service of most old companies, today I finally received my insurance policy for my camera and computer equipment (herein after "business personal property.")

I figured it was as good a reminder as any- if you're not insuring your camera equipment add up those equipment dollars! While some homeowner's policies cover this stuff, many don't cover it if you're using it for commercial purposes. Also, if you make a claim and your homeowner's policy is cancelled it voids the mortgage if you dont' get a new one, and that can be a very expensive proposition. Mine covers ~34k of equipment, liability if someone trips over my tripod during a shoot, and pretty much everything except floods and terrorism. It's a whopping $500/yr. You can spend less- I didn't do a lot of haggling, as I'd added up just my camera equipment for both North American Nature Photography and Nikonians.org's inland marine policies (neither of which cover my Macbook Pro or liability) and the delta was about $10/month.

Inland Marine policies cover theft, damage from dropping, etc. They're generally "scheduled" which means you need to provide a list of at least the more expensive items and their serial numbers to have the items covered (there's usually a limit on how far down the price list you have to go to have to add an item.) My policy is unscheduled, but I'll still need all the numbers for claims I'm betting.

Anyway, just a friendly reminder- when I totaled up my investment and factored in the professional use I knew I had to do it.

 

[hodgjy]

Insurance is a great idea. I scheduled my camera gear for about a $3000 policy, which costs me about $35 a year. That's probably the best $35 I ever spent. Who knows when I'll need to redeem that policy.

 

[EstorilM]

This is something I need to look into.. $35 a year, seriously?

 

[compuwar]

This is something I need to look into.. $35 a year, seriously?

It's based on replacement cost (or value) and risk of theft in your area. If you have less than $5000 in equipment you're probably looking at less than $50/year. At $20,000 it's around $220-320/year from what I've seen. I added liability, rental, etc. just to make sure I had the coverage I need personally- which isn't the same as any business insurance. It lets me keep my equipment personally and still have good coverage instead of having to assign it to a business.

I'd recommend calling an agent though, it's not easy to shop for and they can explain a lot.

 

[hodgjy]

I just called my agent who handles my auto and renters insurance. He asked for receipts for the camera goods, and "scheduled" it into my current policy. It's separate from my renters--has no deductible, "travels" with me, and also covers accidental breakage and mysterious disappearance.

This is the US. Not sure how the do it on the other side of the pond.

 

[EstorilM]

Hmm interesting, how would it work if you travel a lot though? I mean, "theft in your area" would get a lot worse if you go from a rich community in Florida to cover some story or event in a 3rd world country or something.

 

[compuwar]

Hmm interesting, how would it work if you travel a lot though? I mean, "theft in your area" would get a lot worse if you go from a rich community in Florida to cover some story or event in a 3rd world country or something.

Doesn't make any difference. My camera spends at least 5 out of 7 days out of my home area. I just made sure that the insurance agent I talked to knew that. My policy is actually at my business address, two states away from my home address. You do need to make sure the policy covers international travel, but that's normally not a big deal. They just need to base the actuarial tables off an area in some cases (not all- some like the NANPA ones are fixed per-dollar rates.)