Official Insurance Thread

For anyone who is interested in the UK, i have just insured my 5D aqauatica housing strobes etc (Value £5K) for £135 with Towergate Camera Insurance -

http://www.towergatecamerasure.co.uk/products.aspx

Cheers

Tristan

I also looked for insurance...i'm from Belgium and couldn't find one.

Until i did. I founded this on a forum of regular photography.

It is actually an sport/hobby insurance. You can insure whatever you want. It covers it all: water damage, theft, damage, loss,....

If the equipment is not older than 1 year, they pay you back the full newprice. Older equipment gets calculated.

I'm sure everyone from Belgium/Holland can use it, for other country's you would ask.

I insured my equipment for 3500 €, i pay 116 €/year.

www.eak.be

Dive safe !

So what's the deal with DEPP now? Haven't been able to access any of their websites; not even the new one on "awry", which is ironic because something certainly seems to be.

If they're defunct or something, what would be the next choice for a guy like me in the Maldives? Most of the big companies seem to be country specific.

I have also done comparison quotes with DAN and State Farm and looks like State Farm is significantly cheaper.

I totally understand that it may affect your homeowners policy if you have multiple loses, but I dont plan to use the underwater gear enough to consider this being an issue at this time. What State Farm has as an advantage is they cover accidental loss or equpment being swept away, etc. They also do not have a deductible with the policy.

Can someone tell me why I should not go with State Farm, at least for the first year with only two dive vacations planned this year?

I am currently not a DAN member so to DAN's H20 equipment policy, I would need to apply $35 membership fee, so the difference in total is more then 50%

P.S. I think I had asked all the questions with State Farm and they do replacement value, is there anything else I should consider?

Anyone had to open a claim under State Farm on this forum?

I checked with State Farm, with whom I have home-owners and car insurance. They will write me an "all-peril" policy, zero deductible and covers ANYTHING from flooding to theft to forgetting it at the airport, and for $5K photo gear and $2K dive gear, it's about $110/year. The price per $ of gear covered is actually slightly higher for the dive gear than the photo gear, which surprised me. In other words, to cover $5K dive gear and $2K photo gear would cost a bit MORE than what I was quoted. Weird.

 

It's another case of a fixed cost per year, whether you take one or ten dive trips. And that leads to a clear conclusion: take more dive trips!

I have also done comparison quotes with DAN and State Farm and looks like State Farm is significantly cheaper.

I totally understand that it may affect your homeowners policy if you have multiple loses, but I dont plan to use the underwater gear enough to consider this being an issue at this time. What State Farm has as an advantage is they cover accidental loss or equpment being swept away, etc. They also do not have a deductible with the policy.

Can someone tell me why I should not go with State Farm, at least for the first year with only two dive vacations planned this year?

 

I am currently not a DAN member so to DAN's H20 equipment policy, I would need to apply $35 membership fee, so the difference in total is more then 50%

 

P.S. I think I had asked all the questions with State Farm and they do replacement value, is there anything else I should consider?

Anyone had to open a claim under State Farm on this forum?

I opened a state farm policy but have never had claim so far. Since its a separate policy, claims would have no effect on my homeowners insurance coverage. It was cost competitive. The policy claims to cover any loss for essentially any reason.

I have had great success with State farm in the past 25 yrs of coverage for car and home but not used the dive equip. claim yet.

Dave

Hey guys and gals,

Sorry to bump this thread up, but I have been looking for information about insuring my gear, and this thread came up.

Its a little old, i realize that- but I hope someone can help me out with information.

I checked out the DEPP link from the first page, and couldnt access it.

A quick search of the thread turns up similar results and raises a question, has DEPP gone under?

I did a little more checking and found this site- http://www.awryinc.com/depp/mainmenu.aspx

Im not really convinced its legit. The website looks pretty hokey to be from an insurance company.

Whats the score? Can anyone shed some light on DEPP?

Thanks!

Am I nuts for trusting the Allstate agent who says that flooding a camera is not a grounds for exclusion for photographic equipment that is listed as "all perils scheduled property" on a homeowners/condo-owners/or renters' policy?

The rates seem to be about 1.5% of the purchase price per year. Allstate replaced other scheduled property for me in the past quickly and with no surprises other than scheduled property is reimbursed at the purchase price (not the replacement value, as with unscheduled property). And, yes, with Allstate I had a check in my hand in less than 3 weeks from the time the other scheduled property was damaged. Allstate was INCREDIBLY easy to work with.

(Cannot say the same for another company that had a rural name and a red logo... They were sleazy.)

Here is DEPP's mainpage:

http://www.awryinc.com/index.html

Their communication is not the best; however, I have little choice for insurance in Canada that covers any use that may make 1 cent per year, unless I am willing to pay over $1000, and that doesn't cover my scuba gear. I recommend emailing them or faxing them, as it seems to work the best.

Cheers,

Marli

Let me pose a question...

What happens old equipment with either policy. I have a Fuji S2 in a Subal w/ SB105's...

I realize they prob could find a S2, but since it does analog TTL if they couldnt replace it my SB105's would be worthless. And if they cant find a Subal housing???

Lots of if's, but I am curious how that would be handled, since my equipment is pretty much a package deal

Scott

Not sure whether to post this here or in its own thread.

Need advice prior to making a claim on my DAN flood insurance.

Flooded my strobe. Looks like the policy has a $250 deductible, so even if they pay the full value I had my strobe insured at ($600), I'll only get $350.

And Ikelite will probably repair the strobe for something less than that, so I'll get Ike's repair cost minus 250, which might not be that much.

Which is a round about way of asking two questions:

1. Have you ever had these guys (Senn Dunn Marsh and Roland, LLP, apparently) give you any hassle with regard to paying any amount other than the dollar amount you insured the flooded equipment for (minus the deductible)? (i.e., making you determine the repair value, paying you the street value instead of the insured value, etc, which they technically can do under the policy terms).

2. Have you ever had a claim impact your ability to get and/or price of future insurance?

Interested to know the answers to these questions before I make my claim.

Thanks!

Susan

Hi there,

So nobody knows of any other decent companies that will insure camera gear in Canada???

Thanks

Kelly

In 10 years we have had 2 claims, both paid off without any hassles. And no change to next year's prices.

Bill

Bumping this thread as I need insurance, I'm based in the UK.

I've worked out that the potential value of equipment that could be in the water at anyone time could top £11,000. This value is based on new prices of DSLR Camera, Lens, Housing, Port, Strobes, Ancilliaries such as cables, filters, arms etc then add regulator, computer, dive suit and BCD.

I am already insured with Westfield for dive travel insurance and have been for a few years now, they provide really good cover, but I've not yet had to claim. So naturally I looked at their equipment cover which is good cover again but the premium will be around £800/year !!! One aspect that they do not seem to cover is flooding through manufacturers fault, i.e. a seal goes, they will cover you for flooding through impact though! I spoke to them and explained that most floodings are probably either through user error or a faulty seal ! So I would need to hit it on a rock to make a legitimate claim!

So I am looking around - any ideas?

Just a head's up that DEPP is changing their coverage, and not in a good way. Deductibles are going up, and here is the bad part: Coverage on commercial carriers (boat,plane, train, what have you))will be limited as of September 1st

"to an aggregate maximum amount of USD $1,000 per trip."

I am going to have to look at other options...

Cheers,

Marli

I'm not a DEPP fan.

In my experience, before I canceled my policy with them, they were often disorganized. They were, for example, unable to resolve billing inaccuracies and refund credit in a timely manner... to name the most recent.

They only time DEPP ever responded in a timely way was when it was a matter that is going to make them money.

I'm still waiting a credit that they owe me from at least six weeks ago.

I'd steer clear of DEPP.

Has anyone been having problems with getting their insurance renewed? I live in California and I've had a supplementary insurance policy on my homeowners insurance for 15 years. This year the company "discovered" my website and decided that I'm running a business and working as a professional photographer and therefore cannot have a rider policy to cover my camera gear or UW housing and so on. This is based on my website, nothing else such as evidence that I have a business or a business license, or declare taxable photographic income (I don't). I don't even have a shopping cart on my site. It's like a two-faced compliment - nice photos, must be a pro, sorry we can't cover you.

I explained that my total income from photography over the past three years is less than $400 (selling prints to some friends and one publication), not even enough for a decent new lens, but they didn't seem to care. Currently they are reviewing the decision but I don't expect much. Anyone else having this sort of problem? I'm trying to figure out where else to get insurance to cover all my gear for topside travel, theft at home and accedental water drowning - any current recommendations? Looks like DEPP is falling out of favor.

I'd think that most companies wouldn't cover pros without a much higher premium and deductable than for the rest of us. However, if the criteria is no longer whether you are earning a living as professional but that you have some decent quality images on a website we are probably all hosed.

Best.

Rinjani

I am also looking for new insurance options. I'm in the US (California).

I've been a DEPP member for about 10 years and the one claim I had about four years ago was handled very well. However, I'm also concerned about the limitation to $1000 aggegrate for airline/commercial carrier loss. This simply won't work for many of us with housings that are well over $3000 to start (not to mention other gear).

I've had a dialog with the president of DEPP and he certainly understands where we are coming from, however he claims that airline claims are increasing so rapidly that they have to get them under control or make other drastic changes in the future. Limiting airline losses to $1000 was his way to counter an across the board rate increase of 35-45% that he didn't feel he could sell to his customer base.

The president of DEPP is Deane Lehrmitt (DWL@IPGInsurance.net). If anyone is interested, Mr Lehrmitt has given me permission to post the contents of our email exchange. He is also open to comments from customers or others about the reasons for the policy changes. I am giving Mr Lehrmitt the Wetpixel forum url so that he can follow any discussion here.

I have no affiliation with other than having been a customer for about 10 years, as I mentioned above.

Thanks for any comments.

John

I would highly consider H2O Insurance through DAN. They have very reasonable premiums. Deductibles are based on the damage, and a check is cut quite rapidly. Our customers have had much better service with them over DEPP in the recent years.

I would highly consider H2O Insurance through DAN. They have very reasonable premiums. Deductibles are based on the damage, and a check is cut quite rapidly. Our customers have had much better service with them over DEPP in the recent years.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Rinjani

I think it's insane to put a rider on your homeowner's policy for something that is likely to be damaged, lost, or stolen. Are you really going to risk having your homeowner's insurance terminated for making a claim on a flooded camera?

Separate insurance is definitely the way to go.