Camera Insurance

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I have a policy through Hill & Usher. They were recommended to me years ago and I have had great luck. They do replace for full value should you need to replace. They cover computers and other misc stuff also. I think my policy has about 40k of equipment and it's $750 for the year.
 
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Amy said:
I have a policy through Hill & Usher. They were recommended to me years ago and I have had great luck. They do replace for full value should you need to replace. They cover computers and other misc stuff also. I think my policy has about 40k of equipment and it's $750 for the year.
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Amy, this that for professional photographers or do they cover Amateurs as well?
 
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Need to differentiate between professional and hobby use of camera gear. I have been using Hill & Usher for the equipment I use for income but they will not cover it when being used on a personal non-income related outting. My cameras were covered at a wedding but not when doing underwater photography.

I have a special rider on my homeowner's policy and I need to provide photocopies of all items of value to have them covered. I always pay for full replacement coverage as otherwise the loss of a 3 year old piece of gear is going to have no "value" per the policy and I would get nothing. My current policy costs me roughly 2% of the value of the equipment each year.

I view the insurance as protecting me from the loss of equipment from fire or theft at my house. While traveling my concern is not having a trip spoiled with the loss of my kit. Getting the lens or camera replaced when I get back into the states is not much consolation. I also realized after a hard case was misrouted in Brazil that some items are more readily replaced than others. My Gura Gear backpacks are not replaceable though my cameras and lenses (except for the still scarce 500mm PF) could be replaced in a matter of days.

I travel with a hard case (Pelican Air 1615) into which I put extra clothing and it gets checked for the flight and once in country I take out the clothes and duffel bag and use the hard case with regular combination locks (not the TSA ones that are easily broken) and use it as my room safe for laptops and camera gear that I leave in the room.
 
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DRwyoming said:
I can only speak for the camera insurance I carry, but it works like this:

- You declare a total value for all unlisted items which are those under $500 each. That could total up to a lot of cash but you don't need to list out individual items
- You can also insure a list of declared items that are over $500 each and for those you provide: make, model, serial number and declared value and they sometimes want a photo of the listed gear.

You total up both lists to come up with the total coverage value.

The insurance premium you pay is based on the total coverage value declared.

So it's really up to you whether you declare full replacement value or current used market replacement value on the expensive items. I could for instance declare my 600mm f/4 G lens at Nikon retail price based on old ads but I'd also pay more in premiums. Personally I declare value for these older items based on what it would realistically cost me to replace them today, not their original sales prices. That keeps the premiums reasonable and if I'm unfortunate enough to have one stolen or have a bad accident that destroys the lens I can reasonably expect to replace it.
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What is the company you purchased your insurance from?
 
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will139 said:
Does anyone have any experience with USAA covering camera equipment? I think I'm covered at home with renters insurance but not so sure when traveling in a car.
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As I reported earlier in this thread I have USAA insurance for my camera equipment and did have one claim for about $1200 when I dropped a camera with attached lens. My claim was handled very well. In general USAA is a very good company and is top rated in Consumer Reports for auto insurance.

Bill
 
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