Photography Insurance

webmastadj

I am curious on how many here carry insurance coverage for their camera gear? If you do carry insurance, what service do you use?

I am located in the US, so looking for insurance carriers that are available in the US. The one that I found so far is FullFrame.

WestEndFoto

I have a Chubb policy. I did not need to pay extra, but I had to declare what it was worth - $100,000.

Pistnbroke

For our wedding photography we had equipment and public liability. Never claimed thought a couple of clients threatened until they found out we were both wired " when did this happen so we can compare with the 16hrs of audio recording we have of your wedding. Consult your contract" End of conversation.You should also do this for any commercial work and videotape portrait sittings.
We also had GPS tracking devices in the cameas,used Smartwater on the cameas and a safe chained into the car. following a break in we now have a large under floor safe,heated of course. They took no camera gear due to the smartwater stickers.

webmastadj

@WestEndFoto What is a chubb policy?

WestEndFoto

Chubb is an insurance company. They are known in the industry for providing good service and not trying to buckle and dime you if you have a claim. I have huge liability risk, so I don’t mind paying a little more for a good policy.

webmastadj

@WestEndFoto Did you purchase that through NAPA?

I was also looking at the PPA Membership. I shoot from the water a lot. I want to make sure it covers if my gear decides to take a dip.

WestEndFoto

I purchased it through Marsh. But I think other brokers will sell you Chubb. It is not photography specific, but they insured my gear without charging more. And since I only earn incidental income from photography, there is nothing that I can do that the insurance would not cover.

DenverShooter

I have my gear covered under my homeowners policy. They charge me 1% of the invoiced price of the gear and it covers any type of loss/damage.

webmastadj

What is the advantage of doing a stand alone photography insurance policy vs adding it to your home?

WestEndFoto

If photography is a business, you likely won’t be able to add it to your home.

photobunny

WestEndFoto said:

I purchased it through Marsh. But I think other brokers will sell you Chubb. It is not photography specific, but they insured my gear without charging more. And since I only earn incidental income from photography, there is nothing that I can do that the insurance would not cover.

https://www.marsh.com/uk/home.html is this the right one aye?

WestEndFoto

Yes. I do business with them on behalf of my employer. There are certainly smaller brokers who will sell Chubb. Note that I am not sure which jurisdictions Chubb actually operates in.

mhedges

Anyone have experience making a claim on these policies? Insurance companies are great at collecting premiums but often not so good at paying out in my experience.

WestEndFoto

That is why I like Chubb. They are really good at that.

Pistnbroke

In the UK I used a company called Infocus Insurance.......infocusinsurance.co.uk which covered public liability and equipment. Some venues you could not enter without showing your public liability insurance.

trolley

I used Ripe last time. When my 200-500 went wrong & I claimed, the fun & games started (partly my fault)!
Summary:
1) If you pay in instalments, you have to clear all outstanding monies before you can claim - so you might as well pay up front
2) Nikon (UK) will only say it's had impact damage. Say yes - many/most insurance companies will pay out if you say you dropped it, but not for wear & tear.
3) Check if they are going to pay you rather than the repairer. If yes, then tell the repair people to go ahead - saves a lot of time!
Having finally got mine cleared, the insurance people took 10-15% off the total repair cost, because the lens was more than 3 years old! So they still never give you all the money - robbing b@stards!
Also, over here the policy covers you for theft from your car - your motor policy usually has a limit of £100 ($140) - so not much use. And you can be covered on holiday as well.
As you can tell, I don't like insurance companies

MrFotoFool

If you do it as a business, you need insurance. As someone noted above, you need it not just for your equipment, but also for liability. If you are a member of a professional photography association such as PPA or NANPA you can get it through them. In fact NANPA (North American Nature Photographers Association) you don't have to be a professional to join, so it might be a good way for anyone to get camera insurance.

However if you do not do it as a business your gear should be covered by your homeowner's policy, I don't have camera insurance because my homeowner's policy covers (if I remember correctly) up to twenty thousand dollars of merchandise even without listing the items on the policy. If you have more than that you can do a rider on your policy that specifically lists items.

mhedges

Just be REALLY careful with homeowners insurance and riders. My father got screwed by one once - he does horses and got a rider for his barn, which he thought was in addition to the regular "outbuilding" coverage in the homeowners policy. Nope. It replaced that coverage. So he was actually paying more for less coverage. The barn burned and he was out a fair amount of money. The loss of the horses was worse of course but still.

webmastadj

MrFotoFool said:

If you do it as a business, you need insurance. As someone noted above, you need it not just for your equipment, but also for liability. If you are a member of a professional photography association such as PPA or NANPA you can get it through them. In fact NANPA (North American Nature Photographers Association) you don't have to be a professional to join, so it might be a good way for anyone to get camera insurance.

However if you do not do it as a business your gear should be covered by your homeowner's policy, I don't have camera insurance because my homeowner's policy covers (if I remember correctly) up to twenty thousand dollars of merchandise even without listing the items on the policy. If you have more than that you can do a rider on your policy that specifically lists items.

I have heard some policies only cover it while it is in the house/building. If it is out and about, then it is not covered. I guess it just all goes back to reading the fine print.

I thought about using the PPA just to be covered fully. I think with the membership included it was $1,000/yr.

WestEndFoto

MrFotoFool said:

If you do it as a business, you need insurance. As someone noted above, you need it not just for your equipment, but also for liability. If you are a member of a professional photography association such as PPA or NANPA you can get it through them. In fact NANPA (North American Nature Photographers Association) you don't have to be a professional to join, so it might be a good way for anyone to get camera insurance.

However if you do not do it as a business your gear should be covered by your homeowner's policy, I don't have camera insurance because my homeowner's policy covers (if I remember correctly) up to twenty thousand dollars of merchandise even without listing the items on the policy. If you have more than that you can do a rider on your policy that specifically lists items.

The gotcha here is that the homeowners policy may only cover a specific amount. You may be (or may not be) able to get more if you pay more. That is why I switched in the first place.

Pistnbroke

Cut a large hole through the concrete floor of my house to access the 2ft space below .fitted a waterproof / heated box into the hole and fitted a steel door with two seven lever locks ...Thats insurance . ( unless you got a kango hammer or a plasma cutter)

webmastadj

@Pistnbroke ha!! That should do it!! I am more concerned about when the camera is not at the house though...

PB_PM

Lever locks really aren't that special, a good lock picker would be through both of those in less than 5 minutes. Of course the average house robber isn't very likely to have the skill, so it's reasonably good insurance without a doubt.

Accidental damage is likely a far greater risk than theft, statistically speaking anyway. That is unless you leave your camera gear sitting out in a parked car, in that scenario all bets are off.

Pistnbroke

Been broken into twice ..when you advertise on the web you are vulnerable . Smart water seems to put them off though in this case it was an ex-neighbour looking for a Christmas present for his wife . In UK they let the minor criminals out at Christmas to reduce staffing in prisons !!