insurance advice

chrismoore

Hi, I was only able to located one other thread on this so if I'm missing one please point me in the right direction...
I now feel like I've amassed a small fortune in camera gear and need to get it insured (I feel like its the only thing in my life that's not insured in some way or another). The other thread I saw recommended Hill and Usher, but on their site they are for professionals and require business information, etc. I am not a professional.
In this month's Outdoor Photography they made mention of Rand Insurance, which requires membership in NANPA. Their application form quotes a yearly rate of 0.0230 x $equip value, which seems in line with what I've heard from others. Looks like the coverage terms are about the same, most places do not cover "mysterious loss."
Is there a popular choice for coverage that someone can recommend?
Thanks

holzphoto

if photography is just a hobby and not a career, then check into getting a rider on your homeowners/renter's.

if it is a career, shop around...the people who give my homeowners gave me the best deal on my business insurance.

chrismoore

holzphoto wrote:

if photography is just a hobby and not a career, then check into getting a rider on your homeowners/renter's.

if it is a career, shop around...the people who give my homeowners gave me the best deal on my business insurance.

I'm going to get a quote from them just to see. It was mentioned in this post that the policy would clearly be only for personal use, and lets say I go shoot a little league game and sell the pics for $1, they would say it was not personal use. Or I'm afraid they may look at my site and see I sell photos and say well its a business. I deal with insurance companies on a daily basis and when it comes to paying a several thousand dollar claim they will do anything to get out of it. That's why I was leaning towards a dedicated policy for my gear and am hoping others may be able to give me some suggestions to look into.

Dano

Check with State Farm under there "Personal Articles" policy.

TxTortoise

chrismoore wrote:

I deal with insurance companies on a daily basis and when it comes to paying a several thousand dollar claim they will do anything to get out of it. That's why I was leaning towards a dedicated policy for my gear and am hoping others may be able to give me some suggestions to look into.

Chris, the only way to mitigate the risk you've identified is with a commercial policy, of which the most important component is the liability coverage, then the protection for your gear. Just provide Hill & Usher or any other agent a reasonable profit oriented business scenario as a sole proprietor, e.g., $5K income/year, and they'll get Traveler's or Hartford to cover you. $1M Liability/$15K in gear...figure $500-700. A personal articles floater for non-commercial use will be around $100-150 from your HO policy agent. And if you're going to sell photos, at least try and price them like you have to pay business expenses so you don't kill the rest of us by giving the store away. ;-)

If you haven't already, go to Sportsshooter.com and do a search on the message board for 'insurance' and you'll get more alternatives, but any commercial agent can quote you the coverage. I'd normally say start with your HO agent like State Farm, Farmers or USAA, but that opens the door to them asking questions and documenting that you may be performing business activities....which could be problematic, as you noted, if you have a personal claim downstream.

Hope this helps a bit...

chrismoore

TxTortoise wrote:

Hope this helps a bit...

Helps a lot! Thanks for taking the time to reply... will definitely look into the liability/gear combo.
Cheers,