What I learned about insurance in the last 24 hours (international and rentals)

MomaZunk

I wanted to share this because I was surprised to learn about international
and rental equipment coverage, especially right before an overseas trip.

First, if you do not have insurance, WHY NOT?

If you are not making ANY money on your photography, you can get a
policy attached to your homeowners policy to cover $10k for under
$100/yr. My insurance company policy also covered international travel.
There are also renter's policy's out there for non-homeowners.

For those that make a few or more bucks here and there…
I almost purchased some decent sounding pro photography insurance by
Hartford through USAA for replacement cost without having to update an
equipment list. Then I found out:
1. It only covered gear in the US/Canada, or US territories, and
2. Did not cover rented equipment.

USAA then said they could offer a policy underwritten by a different company but:
1. The equipment would need to be itemized,
2. It only covered depreciated values and not replacement values.
3. It did not cover checked gear, only stuff that was carried onto a plane, and
4. It did not cover rented gear.

Hmmm….

My first thought was I would just use my homeowners since this was just
travel overseas, and not related to my normal business(that I started this
year BTW). I even spoke to the insurance agent, and they said as long as
it was for travel and not related to business, then it would be covered with
homeowners. This sounded like too gray of an area to feel comfortable. I
heard of people not getting coverage because they sold some images
online. Perhaps urban legend, but I decided to go look around.

After some web surfing, I ended up with Hill and Usher which is
recommended by NAPP, and has been mentioned in a couple of dgrin and
TPA threads.


They too use Hartford to undersign the policy, but they cater to the
media/photography business. I was also able to get the policy in place in
24 hours. The policy includes the errors and omissions, general liability,
computer, and business property p;us other stuff for under $700/year with
$13k of coverage to include following:

1. I have to list my equipment with the current replacement cost,
2. Rented equipment is covered,
3. Gear can be checked, and
4. I got a second international policy to cover my gear outside of North America.


Sigh...I am now ready to get on the plane Saturday.

Ray Dauphinais

Thank you, timely for me. USAA's failure to provide or facilitate your insurance coverage is a bit surprising.

MomaZunk wrote: »

I wanted to share this because I was surprised to learn about international
and rental equipment coverage, especially right before an overseas trip.

First, if you do not have insurance, WHY NOT?

If you are not making ANY money on your photography, you can get a
policy attached to your homeowners policy to cover $10k for under
$100/yr. My insurance company policy also covered international travel.
There are also renter's policy's out there for non-homeowners.

For those that make a few or more bucks here and there…
I almost purchased some decent sounding pro photography insurance by
Hartford through USAA for replacement cost without having to update an
equipment list. Then I found out:
1. It only covered gear in the US/Canada, or US territories, and
2. Did not cover rented equipment.

USAA then said they could offer a policy underwritten by a different company but:
1. The equipment would need to be itemized,
2. It only covered depreciated values and not replacement values.
3. It did not cover checked gear, only stuff that was carried onto a plane, and
4. It did not cover rented gear.

Hmmm….

My first thought was I would just use my homeowners since this was just
travel overseas, and not related to my normal business(that I started this
year BTW). I even spoke to the insurance agent, and they said as long as
it was for travel and not related to business, then it would be covered with
homeowners. This sounded like too gray of an area to feel comfortable. I
heard of people not getting coverage because they sold some images
online. Perhaps urban legend, but I decided to go look around.

After some web surfing, I ended up with Hill and Usher which is
recommended by NAPP, and has been mentioned in a couple of dgrin and
TPA threads.


They too use Hartford to undersign the policy, but they cater to the
media/photography business. I was also able to get the policy in place in
24 hours. The policy includes the errors and omissions, general liability,
computer, and business property p;us other stuff for under $700/year with
$13k of coverage to include following:

1. I have to list my equipment with the current replacement cost,
2. Rented equipment is covered,
3. Gear can be checked, and
4. I got a second international policy to cover my gear outside of North America.


Sigh...I am now ready to get on the plane Saturday.

wildviper

I am also looking for insurance. I went to Hill and Usher's site and got a bit concerned with their lack of site updates. The homepage has references to march 2010 / 2009 and so on! Maybe nothing to be concerned about perhaps....