UKC

Any of you pros/semi pros out there insure their equipment (no jokes please) against accidental damage? If so any advice on insurers & costings?

Ta

In reply to Alan Breck:

Business or personal use ?

In reply to jj0076:

Personal.

In reply to Alan Breck:

Photo guard ~ £25 / month for £6k worth of gear. Made 1 claim for accidental damage which went well. Watch out on the cad theft small print though, apparently it is hard for most cars to meet the condition required to claim.

Adam

In reply to BStar:
Thanks I'll look into that further. There is however one possibly large problem.

The site details state that the following are excluded:
•Any mechanical or electrical failure
•Marring, scratching and denting
•Failure to use items in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions

Now being a pedantic sort the first & third bullet points MIGHT exclude say water damage. I.e. If the camera manufacturer say that the item is weatherproof & I drop it in a loch! It would certainly cause electrical failure!

In reply to Alan Breck:
I had my business insurance with Natwest and it was a really good rate on the equipment too. I considered going to a specialist but to be honest I couldn't be bothered in the end. I broke a lot of equipment and Natwest never flinched once, I couldn't fault their service at all.


I consider myself a breakage expert, I've accomplished;

Dropping full camera bag and breaking 100% on items inside,
Equipment being stolen,
Dropping camera (non-waterproof) in the sea,
Wine spilt on equipment,
Getting sand into equipment (oops) :-P
Dropping camera down a flight of stairs (metal cameras bounce surprisingly well),
Grabbing camera by the lens and catching the lens release button (it's very large on some Nikons),
Camera (sadly only a compact) damaged due to lizard attack,
Plus a lot of wear and tear repairs - when I was using Fuji I sent cameras back about 30 times :-P

In reply to Richard Carter:

Thanks Richard

The more that I look into this the murkier it seems to get. My main worries are with regard to:
1) Damage. Dropping said item or clunking it against a rock/ice or whatever and
2) Damage caused to the camera or lenses by damp/water. That could, of course, mean problems with electrics if any moisture enters.

Now if we look for example at Canons own insurance it specifically states that:
The company will not pay for loss or damage
• caused by an electrical or mechanical breakdown, wear and tear,
loss of value or anything which happens gradually;
• caused by cleaning, dyeing, repairing, taking apart, changing or
restoring;
• caused by insects, vermin, fungus, the weather, the effect of
lights or pets;

So you would be stuffed if snow got into the camera and caused electrical problems. I.e. an electrical problem caused by the weather.

I've still to see my home insurer & this might be the way to go.....

In reply to Richard Carter:












"Expert"? I'd say you had achieved Guru status! Are these all somehow linked to the bold item above?!

In reply to Richard Carter:


What kind of lizard was it - a Komodo dragon?!

In reply to Alan Breck:

The claim I put in was for a camera and lens that fell in the sea while I was shooting some long exposure work on a tripod. The claim went through without a hitch, although it did take about 6 weeks or so. I think what the electrical failure is getting at is that all items will eventually fail and the insurance doesn't cover the general manufacturers failures. Definitely worth clarifying though.

In reply to Alan Breck:

Sorry it took me so long to get back on here, but the reason I asked personal or business is that I was going to suggest just checking out how much extra you would have to pay for personal possessions/accidental cover on your household contents insurance. I have accidental cover included via barclays and had a hassle free claim not so long back when I left my camera behind on a climbing trip. Literally just left it on the ground and walked away and it was covered.

In reply to jj0076:

Thanks. so looks like I'd be better losing an item rather than having electrical or mechanical problems Better not dent it either!

In reply to Fraser:

It was at a wedding, (I was working so it wasn't me!). Someone poured champagne on a camera and it got into the card slot. Annoyingly I'd only had the camera about a month :-P

In reply to Solaris:

Ah I've posted about this before. Leant in to take a photo of of one lizard and another (previously unseen) lizard jumped on my face. In surprise I dropped the camera. It was soft undergrowth all around except for the rock by my feet which the camera hit.

In reply to Richard Carter:

Haha, your Lizard attack story is great. My previous boss - who was a bit of a space cadet - had a full zip Lowepro bag with full & brand new pro Canon kit inside. So, x2 bodies x2 speedlights wide & long & tilt shift lenses plus all accessories. He'd finished a job, went to shoulder his bag and as he remarked to us "it suddenly felt all light..." He's forgotten to zip up the bag and as he swung it round onto his shoulder, the whole lot fell out and into a lake.

Probably an appropriate opportunity to re-post this:

youtube.com/watch?v=ciqSdgLh_1w&

In reply to Alan Breck:

In case you're still hunting, it might be worth a quote from Legal and General. I went with them because i needed home contents insurance, then realised all my gear could be covered away from the home at a good rate on the same policy.

I'm paying £9 p/m for:

1. In home- Up to £30,000. No items over £2,000. Covers my computers, laptop, all camera gear.
2. Away from home and abroad (max 60 days)- £3,000 unspecified items (bag, filters, lenses under £500, flashes, tripod etc), plus specified pro body and a couple of pricey lenses, macbookpro...

Can't comment on claims but there phone line is painless and it's quick to make any changes (moving house, taking gear on and off). Please so far.

Hope this helps

In reply to Richard Carter:

Thanks, I'd forgotten that story.

In reply to Tom Last:

Ooops! LOL

Well at least I didn't do anything that silly!