Posted by Scott Borger on March 9, 2006 at 6:40 PM
I keep hearing stories about people who had their camera gear stolen and had no insurance. In the midst of a day and age where natural disasters are frequent, thieves are plentiful, and CNP members will consider being "broke" for the sake of owning a 5D...
How to protect yourself from financial loss
1. Get an insurance policy for your camera gear (they are really cheap, and deductibles can be very low to no deductible). Be sure to update the insurance company item list and your own personal list when you buy something expensive. All it takes is a phone call. Also, be sure to know the coverage of your insurance (Interstate? International? National?) Don’t just listen to your insurance agent, read the agreement. All that matters is what’s in print.
2. Keep an itemized inventory of your gear, and keep your receipts. An excel spreadsheet with item, retailer, order #, price, serial #, and date of purchase is best. If your stuff gets jacked and you don’t have proof of purchase, good luck telling your story to the insurance company. Besides, such a list can be convenient for taxes.
When traveling within “dangerous” cultures and/or places
1. Cover any thing (black electric tape?) that screams “CANON or NIKON.” This includes those nifty neckstraps. Non name brand cameras have terrible resale values.
2. Keep your gear under control, bring only what you need. Don’t put on a show by dangling 3 cameras from your neck.
3. Be alert. If someone can pickpocket you, they can probably open your backpack without you knowing it.
4. Oh, and did I say, get an insurance policy. If you get jumped, you won’t have to risk your life to save your camera. Your camera can be replaced, you can’t.
Don’t be stupid
1. Don’t not have an insurance policy of some sort.
2. Don’t EVER leave your camera gear in your automobile (while away from vehicle). Recreation area parking lots, trailheads…are great places to have your stuff stolen…no surveillance, no people.
3. Print out your inventory list in case they take your computer too.
If your camera does get stolen:
1. File a police report (most insurance companies need this)
2. Check ebay and local pawn shops for recovery (having a serial # is essential).
3. File an insurance claim (if advantageous) within the allotted time period.
4. If you find your stuff at a pawn shop, do not let it leave your physical presence (possession of stolen property). Do not ask to see a serial #. Take a look for yourself (don’t let on what you are doing- they could run it out the back door before the cops show up). Call the police immediately and wait by your gear.
As an aside to this, most of the time all you need to do is make sure the camera and equipment is mentioned in your household contents and it will be covered by your standard homeowner's, even if it's stolen while on the road somewhere. But if it's a lot of really expensive stuff and/or a significant source of income, then yes, a separate camera rider would be a good idea.
Great topic Scott. Does anyone have any insight into getting something more than just a homeowners policy for your gear? I currently have my camera insured on a household policy + rider for any damage. However, when I first took out the poilcy they explicitly said the gear could not be for "Professional or Commercial" use. At the time it was no problem because I only pursued photography as a hobby. I remember looking into pro/commercial insurance at the time and it was something rediculous - on the order of $500 per year or something!
Now I have created an LLC, claim it on my taxes etc. It is time for me to step up to the plate, as I don't want to be left holding the bag if something happens. The thing that burns me is I can't stomach paying $500 per year when I don't even clear my film costs for the year from my photo sales.
What have some of you done? Do I just have a screwey insurance company? (The Hartford) Can anyone give a ballpark figure for cost if they have a commercial policy? Heck, do I really NEED a commercial policy?
My homeowners insurance is with USAA. As far as they are concerned, if I have ever sold a single photo for any amount of money, then my camera gear is "for professional use" and is not covered by my homeowners policy.
Several years ago, I looked into a separate policy and was quoted about $300/year to cover $4000 of equipment. Sounded expensive to me.
I'd be interested to hear of less expensive options, if they're out there.
Posted by Les Barstow on March 9, 2006 at 10:28 PM
NANPA rate is $350 for something like $15,000 worth of gear ($2.30/$100, minumum premium $350), $250 deductable. The insurance covers rentals as well as computer equipment used for processing. See http://www.nanpa.org/insurance.html for more details.
For pros, it's a great deal. For "just starting out" it's still a hefty investment.
Posted by Arthur Lund on March 9, 2006 at 11:59 PM
I look around a lot to find something better than my homeowners, and at the time
NANPA was the next best thing.
Art L.
Posted by Brent Murphy on March 10, 2006 at 10:50 AM
Homeowner's is probably not a great idea, since you will probably have a pretty hefty deductible, and if you make a claim, your rates will go up. Maybe not a huge deal if you get a large amount of stuff stolen, but it will be useless if something small gets stolen.
For example, my bike and a couple pairs of snowshoes were stolen out of my garage last year. Total value was probably $1,100 - $1,200, something like that. Turns out my homeowners insurance has a $1,000 deductible, so making a claim would have been almost pointless.
When I was able to do the show in the restaurant down the street, I decided I needed to get some type of liability (in case one of my photos fell off the wall and cracked someone's head open) as well as property insurance (in case my photos were stolen from the restaurant). I tried to get some kind of "personal articles" policy like you would get for jewelry or something, since it would be a very inexpensive policy, but because the pictures were for sale, they were considered business items, and couldn't be covered under a personal policy.
I ended up getting a small business-in-the-home policy, which got me liability and property coverage (both the hanging artwork as well as my computer and camera equipment). What I didn't think of at the time (I was in a hurry, and bought the insurance the day before hanging up my show), was trying to figure out the dollar value of all my slides. Not sure how to insure myself against the loss of my images, just the loss of my equipment. Anyway, I think the policy cost me about $250 from State Farm. Can't remember the exact amout of coverages and deductibles, but it was reasonable.
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on March 10, 2006 at 11:23 AM
A State Farm rider specifically listing your photo equipment is reasonable ~$1.00/$1,000. NO deductable. Includes accidental damage in addition to theft. And my agent states that claims will NOT affect your homeowner policy rates. If you start having too many claims, they would just not renew your rider. I don't know if you could get a policy without having State Farm homeowner's insurnace. And this is NOT for business.
I use Marsh through PPA - its really reasonable too!
Here's a story that happened about a year ago:
A fellow wildlife photog friend of mine went to Calif to visit his son. The family went to a museum where no cameras, no phones... were allowed - which they weren't aware of. So his son took all of their gear and put it all into the trunck of their car. They didn't know they were being watched!
Sure enough, when they returned from touring the museum, the trunk had been opened and all of the gear was gone! I just bet that these crooks watch these ''no cameras allowed' places all the time!
Gear included:
10D, Rebel (2), EOS3, 300 F2.8 L, 100-400 L IS, 100 2.8 Macro, 50 1.8, 550ex, 420ex, 2X, 1.4X, closeups, tripods, heads, gimbal, and much more including several P&S.
OH MY! Please keep insurance!
Kathy
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on March 10, 2006 at 2:15 PM
Rich, I talked to my State Farm agent (who is also a personal friend) about their definition of "buisness". They are certainly not as restrictive as USAA. If your photography as an avocation and you sell an occassional picture, no problem. If you are claiming tax deductions for your photography, you have obviously crossed the line. The agents have some discretion on issuing the policy. If you have any doubts about where the boundary is, just explain your situation and they will make a ruling. The State Farm agent commented that USAA must have an incredibly good investigation team to enforce their policies.
Posted by Scott Buckel on March 10, 2006 at 2:27 PM
I am one of those that have rider on my homeowners insurance for all of my camera gear. It was less than the NANPA insurance a few years ago. I have unfortunately had to file a couple of claims but my rates have not changed. I had to repair the 600mm f4 on two occasions which were not small claims.
As far as the insurance company was concerned, they will not coverthe gear if the majority of your income comes from something other than photography they will cover it on a home owner rider.
I can not image not having some sort of coverage for my gear. The nice thing about the NANPA insurance is that it also has a liability coverage as well that covers things like Brent M mentioned.
Posted by Scott Borger on March 10, 2006 at 5:42 PM
State Farm Insurance offers a policy for 225 a year, up to 10k coverage, with a 1k deductible...or 250/yr with a $500 deductible (much better deal). This is worldwide coverage, but does not include camera failure, or breakage of anything (these are "warranty items"). This is issued as "business" status, so it is a separate policy from all else, and covers business assets.
Discussion
12 repliesHow to protect yourself from financial loss
1. Get an insurance policy for your camera gear (they are really cheap, and deductibles can be very low to no deductible). Be sure to update the insurance company item list and your own personal list when you buy something expensive. All it takes is a phone call. Also, be sure to know the coverage of your insurance (Interstate? International? National?) Don’t just listen to your insurance agent, read the agreement. All that matters is what’s in print.
2. Keep an itemized inventory of your gear, and keep your receipts. An excel spreadsheet with item, retailer, order #, price, serial #, and date of purchase is best. If your stuff gets jacked and you don’t have proof of purchase, good luck telling your story to the insurance company. Besides, such a list can be convenient for taxes.
When traveling within “dangerous” cultures and/or places
1. Cover any thing (black electric tape?) that screams “CANON or NIKON.” This includes those nifty neckstraps. Non name brand cameras have terrible resale values.
2. Keep your gear under control, bring only what you need. Don’t put on a show by dangling 3 cameras from your neck.
3. Be alert. If someone can pickpocket you, they can probably open your backpack without you knowing it.
4. Oh, and did I say, get an insurance policy. If you get jumped, you won’t have to risk your life to save your camera. Your camera can be replaced, you can’t.
Don’t be stupid
1. Don’t not have an insurance policy of some sort.
2. Don’t EVER leave your camera gear in your automobile (while away from vehicle). Recreation area parking lots, trailheads…are great places to have your stuff stolen…no surveillance, no people.
3. Print out your inventory list in case they take your computer too.
If your camera does get stolen:
1. File a police report (most insurance companies need this)
2. Check ebay and local pawn shops for recovery (having a serial # is essential).
3. File an insurance claim (if advantageous) within the allotted time period.
4. If you find your stuff at a pawn shop, do not let it leave your physical presence (possession of stolen property). Do not ask to see a serial #. Take a look for yourself (don’t let on what you are doing- they could run it out the back door before the cops show up). Call the police immediately and wait by your gear.
Now I have created an LLC, claim it on my taxes etc. It is time for me to step up to the plate, as I don't want to be left holding the bag if something happens. The thing that burns me is I can't stomach paying $500 per year when I don't even clear my film costs for the year from my photo sales.
What have some of you done? Do I just have a screwey insurance company? (The Hartford) Can anyone give a ballpark figure for cost if they have a commercial policy? Heck, do I really NEED a commercial policy?
Thanks for the advice...
Several years ago, I looked into a separate policy and was quoted about $300/year to cover $4000 of equipment. Sounded expensive to me.
I'd be interested to hear of less expensive options, if they're out there.
For pros, it's a great deal. For "just starting out" it's still a hefty investment.
NANPA was the next best thing.
Art L.
For example, my bike and a couple pairs of snowshoes were stolen out of my garage last year. Total value was probably $1,100 - $1,200, something like that. Turns out my homeowners insurance has a $1,000 deductible, so making a claim would have been almost pointless.
When I was able to do the show in the restaurant down the street, I decided I needed to get some type of liability (in case one of my photos fell off the wall and cracked someone's head open) as well as property insurance (in case my photos were stolen from the restaurant). I tried to get some kind of "personal articles" policy like you would get for jewelry or something, since it would be a very inexpensive policy, but because the pictures were for sale, they were considered business items, and couldn't be covered under a personal policy.
I ended up getting a small business-in-the-home policy, which got me liability and property coverage (both the hanging artwork as well as my computer and camera equipment). What I didn't think of at the time (I was in a hurry, and bought the insurance the day before hanging up my show), was trying to figure out the dollar value of all my slides. Not sure how to insure myself against the loss of my images, just the loss of my equipment. Anyway, I think the policy cost me about $250 from State Farm. Can't remember the exact amout of coverages and deductibles, but it was reasonable.
Brent, that business-in-home idea looks like something I should seriously consider.
Thanks, everyone.
Here's a story that happened about a year ago:
A fellow wildlife photog friend of mine went to Calif to visit his son. The family went to a museum where no cameras, no phones... were allowed - which they weren't aware of. So his son took all of their gear and put it all into the trunck of their car. They didn't know they were being watched!
Sure enough, when they returned from touring the museum, the trunk had been opened and all of the gear was gone! I just bet that these crooks watch these ''no cameras allowed' places all the time!
Gear included:
10D, Rebel (2), EOS3, 300 F2.8 L, 100-400 L IS, 100 2.8 Macro, 50 1.8, 550ex, 420ex, 2X, 1.4X, closeups, tripods, heads, gimbal, and much more including several P&S.
OH MY! Please keep insurance!
Kathy
As far as the insurance company was concerned, they will not coverthe gear if the majority of your income comes from something other than photography they will cover it on a home owner rider.
I can not image not having some sort of coverage for my gear. The nice thing about the NANPA insurance is that it also has a liability coverage as well that covers things like Brent M mentioned.