Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Medium Format / Film / Digital Backs – and Large Sensor Photography => Topic started by: spotmeter on January 11, 2014, 10:04:56 am
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My medium format digital back puts me way over the limit on the camera equipment rider on my homeowner's insurance policy with AAA.
I have been very happy with AAA. They paid immediately for the loss of an $8,000 camera years ago, but they won't budge on their limit ($65K).
When I purchased the new back, I (of course) upgraded my lenses and, due to an unfortunate equipment addiction, have at least $100,000 worth of equipment in my camera closet.
I need to find a company that will insure all my gear. Would like to find one with reasonable rates, but more importantly, a good record for covering losses. I am interested in replacement insurance.
Appreciate any recommendations from this group.
Thanks.
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My medium format digital back puts me way over the limit on the camera equipment rider on my homeowner's insurance policy with AAA.
I have been very happy with AAA. They paid immediately for the loss of an $8,000 camera years ago, but they won't budge on their limit ($65K).
When I purchased the new back, I (of course) upgraded my lenses and, due to an unfortunate equipment addiction, have at least $100,000 worth of equipment in my camera closet.
I need to find a company that will insure all my gear. Would like to find one with reasonable rates, but more importantly, a good record for covering losses. I am interested in replacement insurance.
Appreciate any recommendations from this group.
Thanks.
First question is are you a professional photographer or an hobbyist? I ask because what you have access to and what the insurance will cover could vary.
If you are an hobbyist, I would assume that you could have an umbrella added to your policy to cover additional losses, such as photography equipment. Most insurance companies should be able to handle this, however AAA may only be geared towards providing policies and accessing risks associated with domiciles and autos. You probably could have another company add an umbrella and keep the AAA coverage, but this would be more expensive that just changing insurance companies and having it covered by one entity. Plus, if you did have a loss, you would have to deal with two companies, instead of one. Not to mention, insurance is something you should shop around for every 3 years or so. Often, some insurance agencies will make changes to how they access risks and/or need to cover overall losses from bad year, forcing them to increase rates, whereas others do not.
I am a pro and I make my entire living from photography, have all of my equipment covered, and I often have to show proof of insurance before entering a building. Roughly we have $80K of equipment covered. Our commercial liability coverage is $4M yearly with $2M aggregate. We are owner/operators, have no employees and do not need workman's comp., but plan on getting it down the road. For this we pay $1350 per year. Our insurance company is The Hartford Group, and we went through an independent agent.
When I decided to purchase insurance, I went to an independent agent who represented about 20 insurance companies. He ran the numbers and got pricing from 6 companies, nixed two of them due to bad reps. The Hartford was the best choice.
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As I stated in my OP, I have a camera equipment rider on my AAA homeowners insurance..
This is the umbrella.
The umbrella is too small. They won't insure more than $65K.
What are the options for pros and 'hobbyists' ?
Does it make a difference in cost and quality of coverage?
Thanks.
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My insurance had to pay about 77'000USD, when I lost my gear, stolen from the car in Santa Monica, LA. But this is a Swiss Insurance Company. I have the Insurance for about 90"000USD, and they pay in every case (multi risk, around the world). rem
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What is the name of this Swiss insurance company?
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I often shoot in areas where some general liability rider is required. I added a $1 million dollar liability addition to my gear insurance to satisfy those places. Runs about $800 per year for the combo now.
I just went to some local independent insurance company and they ran three quotes through their system. All were within $200 of each other. I believe the underwriter is an outfit in Oregon. No idea as to how they pay out though since I haven't had any claims.
I did notice on the last renewal and payment the exclusion for "fungus damage" was added. Must be some fungus growing lenses or camera bodies that entered into the renewal. Maybe those floods Canon and Nikon went through a year or so ago have some bearing on that.
SG
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It's a German Broker, Aktivas, and they work in Switzerland with Helvetia Versicherungn.
http://www.kameraversicherung.ch
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I can't say where the best place is for camera insurance but for the last five or six years I have been using the following agent to insure my digital back:
Breena Davenport
Hill & Usher Insurance
3033 N 44th Street, Suite 300
Phoenix, AZ 85018
Toll Free Phone: 866-977-4725 ext 113
Direct Phone: 602-667-1813
Fax: 602-956-4418
It is not cheap but I felt for an item no bigger than two packs of cigarettes that cost more than my automobile it was worth it.
I have no financial or other interest in Hill and Usher.
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+1 for Hill & Usher. I'm a pro and they cover my gear ($50kish) and $1m liability policy for just under $1k/yr
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I'm in San Francisco and use these guys;
Tom C. Pickard & Co., Inc.
820 Pacific Coast Highway
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
Phone: (800) 726-3701
Fax: (310) 318-9840
No problems.