Insurance for photo stuff?

Since I sold my Oregon home and have not bought another here in CA yet, I have no homewoners insurance to cover my photo equipment, which is considerable by now. Makes me VERY nervous, since I take 3 big lenses and 2 bodies when i go out to shoot, and some stays in the car or RV.

Who do some of you use to insure your camera gear?
Are there alternatives to Nanpa?

thanks -

sandy r

You could (and probably should) carry renter's insurance which would of course cover all of your other possessions. I believe Geico, for one, offers it.

- Luke

I looked into this before a little before adding my equipment to my home owners policy. Here is an alternate option if you are a member of photo.net. http://photo.net/info/photo_insurance_specs.pdf

If you are not making any money from your photography a good option is a special articles policy. I used to have one with State Farm before ruining my hobby by making it a business. The premium was reasonable, something like $150 per year, obviously varies based on coverage. The nice thing is that there was no deductible and it even covered my own stupidity. I don't think your renters insurance would cover you dropping a camera in the river or leaving one on the roof of the car.

From what I understand most homeowners policies won't cover your equipment if you make any income from photography. I have my stuff covered under an Inland Marine Policy thru State Farm.

Mark,
How do you feel about the rates with State Farm? I have an inland marine policy through NANPA and feel that it is a bit high?

Renter's insurance is available from State Farm as well. I always carried it when I was in college...covered stolen bikes, etc. The economy is bad enough that theft and burglary are way up. I would get coverage asap.

Sandy, whatever insurance you get you need to make sure that it covers more than just stolen equipment. As Kurt touched on, there are too many mishaps (i.e. impact damage, travel damage, water damage) that can damage/destroy our equipment, so you need to make sure those occurrences are covered as well. I think "mishaps" probably happen more than theft. I have my insurance through NANPA. I'm not saying that's the best place to get insurance or the cheapest, but I do feel confident that my "mishaps" will be covered as well as theft.

I don't know about the other policies or how the price compares, but we're really delighted with the coverage we get through Professional Photographers of America. They get it through another company, but I don't recall who that is. Details are at the site I linked.

The policy covers repairs and replacement, wherever we go and whatever we do. Payment has always been quick, whether repair or loss. We get our liability insurance through them too, and in that case anyway, the rates are really competitive with other carriers we consulted, and better than most.

I know several professional photographers who use TCP. I may switch over there shortly, since State Farm decided they no longer want to cover my gear under a personal articles policy.

http://www.tcpinsurance.com/

Max

Thanks, everyone, for a lot of good info!

Sandy r

Just as a matter of information and comparison. Since I've mostly retired from the selling part of the photography business. (I only make about 10% of my income currently) I have insurance on my equipment through my home owners with Allstate. I'm paying 38.00 a year to cover against theft only. They will cover (5) items at a 5,000 maximum an item. This gives me some peace of mind when I'm traveling and leave some equipment in the car when hiking etc.