Hey - thought I'd share this with my fellow photographers on NPN in case my situation might alert you to a subtle nuance on insurance coverage on your gear (although this only applies to a pretty specific type of coverage I guess).
Last night my wife and I had a date in Waterton Lakes National Park (just 25mins from our home), snooping for animals followed by a nice dinner at one of the lodges there. I managed to find two cooperative young whitetail bucks who were feeling the onset of the rut and putting on quite a show at just 60-80yds, although I wasn't able to get out of the truck to get a better (lower) camera angle. So when we got home I was anxious to show Jenaya a bit of what she missed!
After showing her a selection of images on the back of the camera, I carefully placed the camera and lens down in its home in our "gear room"...and my smart phone dropped out of my hoodie pocket. It made a lot more noise than I expected, but there was a little nick on the corner of the phone when I picked it up. I hadn't bothered to turn the light on in the room, but the phone was fine and I didn't give it another thought and went to bed without a care.
Well, this morning I went to get the cards out of the camera to upload my pictures and was just shocked by what I saw. Apparently out of a few square foot of space my phone COULD have fallen into, it "chose" to fall corner-first into the 2sq in of space occupied by the top LCD panel of my D7000, and absolutely shattered it.
OUCH!!!
Honestly, other than remembering not to trust hoodie pockets in the future, I'm not sure there was much I can learn from this...just one of those wild things that happen sometimes.
However, there might be a lesson in this for some of you who have insurance linked to your homeowner's policy, so read on if that's you...
I talked to my insurance agent today and learned that while covered, it would affect my preferred rate for my home insurance (and cancel my replacement value coverage ON MY HOME of all things!!)...all my gear is covered under a separate schedule with its own premiums without a deductible based on value, but it is LINKED to my home coverage. When we added this coverage due to the growing amount/value of my gear along with Jenaya's and our other kids, we were told it would cover ANYTHING that happened to any of our gear, and because there was no deductible, we shouldn't be worried about using it to cover anything that might happen to our equipment whatsoever.
Well, to use the coverage to take care of the $200-or-slightly-more repair bill, I'd lose hundreds in homeowners premiums plus the devastating loss of replacement value on our property! Double-ouch! NANPA's insurance option is only available for US residents (I'm in Canada), so I have my agent looking into my options to separate this for the future.
Anyway, I'm still in shock from damaging my gear for the only the second time in decades of shooting, and for this little wrinkle that signficantly changes my feeling of comfort on "being covered!"
I'm guessing there's not a lot of you who have similar coverage, but just in case I thought I'd mention it rather than have you learn the consequences might be a little more than what you understood when you took the policy out!
That's an invaluable insight about homeowner policies John. Eek!
Posted by Eva McDermott on October 23, 2012 at 12:32 AM
After my photography laptop was stolen from our car on moving day from Massachusets to New Hampshire I learned my lesson on home insurance of camera equipment. The insurance company typed my name on the computer and saw I had a photo website and was a moderator here on NPN. While not a pro photographer, I had to prove 100 ways I was not including submitting tax returns, statements from my actual employer etc. before receiving the insurance claim. Lesson learned. I now have camera insurance with NANPA. More expensive but at least piece of mind especially when I travel abroad. Most home insurance policies (as others from photo.net) don't cover travel out of the country at least here in the US. NANPA does. I travel every year to Canada and more recently to Scotland so I want to know I am covered.
Laws governing insurance policies in Canada may be different from those of the USA and other countries. I think the take-away from John's dilemma is that we who have equipment or personal property riders on our homeowner's or renter's policies should carefully examine any policy, and ask pointed questions of the broker before buying it.
Honestly, if I dropped my camera and bricked it, I would not claim the loss to my insurance company. The company would see me as higher risk and either raise my premium, or worse, cancel the policy. Neither of these would be a good thing.
It would be different matter if some miscreant walked off with my stuff, or heaven forbid, I have a loss to due to a fire or earthquake, then I would certainly claim the casualty loss because it wasn't my fault.
The bottom line is, if you have a policy in force, or are considering buying one, RTFP.
Discussion
5 repliesLast night my wife and I had a date in Waterton Lakes National Park (just 25mins from our home), snooping for animals followed by a nice dinner at one of the lodges there. I managed to find two cooperative young whitetail bucks who were feeling the onset of the rut and putting on quite a show at just 60-80yds, although I wasn't able to get out of the truck to get a better (lower) camera angle. So when we got home I was anxious to show Jenaya a bit of what she missed!
After showing her a selection of images on the back of the camera, I carefully placed the camera and lens down in its home in our "gear room"...and my smart phone dropped out of my hoodie pocket. It made a lot more noise than I expected, but there was a little nick on the corner of the phone when I picked it up. I hadn't bothered to turn the light on in the room, but the phone was fine and I didn't give it another thought and went to bed without a care.
Well, this morning I went to get the cards out of the camera to upload my pictures and was just shocked by what I saw. Apparently out of a few square foot of space my phone COULD have fallen into, it "chose" to fall corner-first into the 2sq in of space occupied by the top LCD panel of my D7000, and absolutely shattered it.
OUCH!!!
Honestly, other than remembering not to trust hoodie pockets in the future, I'm not sure there was much I can learn from this...just one of those wild things that happen sometimes.
However, there might be a lesson in this for some of you who have insurance linked to your homeowner's policy, so read on if that's you...
I talked to my insurance agent today and learned that while covered, it would affect my preferred rate for my home insurance (and cancel my replacement value coverage ON MY HOME of all things!!)...all my gear is covered under a separate schedule with its own premiums without a deductible based on value, but it is LINKED to my home coverage. When we added this coverage due to the growing amount/value of my gear along with Jenaya's and our other kids, we were told it would cover ANYTHING that happened to any of our gear, and because there was no deductible, we shouldn't be worried about using it to cover anything that might happen to our equipment whatsoever.
Well, to use the coverage to take care of the $200-or-slightly-more repair bill, I'd lose hundreds in homeowners premiums plus the devastating loss of replacement value on our property! Double-ouch! NANPA's insurance option is only available for US residents (I'm in Canada), so I have my agent looking into my options to separate this for the future.
Anyway, I'm still in shock from damaging my gear for the only the second time in decades of shooting, and for this little wrinkle that signficantly changes my feeling of comfort on "being covered!"
I'm guessing there's not a lot of you who have similar coverage, but just in case I thought I'd mention it rather than have you learn the consequences might be a little more than what you understood when you took the policy out!
Honestly, if I dropped my camera and bricked it, I would not claim the loss to my insurance company. The company would see me as higher risk and either raise my premium, or worse, cancel the policy. Neither of these would be a good thing.
It would be different matter if some miscreant walked off with my stuff, or heaven forbid, I have a loss to due to a fire or earthquake, then I would certainly claim the casualty loss because it wasn't my fault.
The bottom line is, if you have a policy in force, or are considering buying one, RTFP.
--P
Sorry for the loss, but I’m glad it’s only a screen that led to this awakening.
Sandy