Insurance for Rented Gear? Please help, leaving for Cayman in August.

Hello all,

Lots of dilemmas, but a primary one is how to get insurance for rental gear. I am normally a "land-only" photographer, but would like to try some uw photography when we go to the Caymans for 8 days in August. Only get to dive once a year or so, so it doesn't make too much sense to buy at this point (considering that a dslr these days is EOL in about 3 years.) Thought about just renting from the dive shop, but they want $250/dive for a D2x rig. So looked at renting from reefphoto and Ryan Cannon. Price is right except that they don't offer insurance... so not sure I'm comfortable taking $8k out of the country without some kind of coverage.

Bottom line: anybody have advice for "covering" rented UW gear?

Tom Packard insurance supposedly covers rentals, but it's going to be about $750 to insure for the year through them vs about $250 to insure through State Farm... but State Farm doesn't do rentals.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

You can probably cover it using the insurance offered through DAN. The premium is about 3% and you can cover up to $25k. You've gotta be a DAN member to do it.

http://www.diversalertnetwork.com/danservices/equipment.asp

How would this work? Can you insure something directly that is not yours? All my camera stuff is covered on a personal articles rider on my homeowners policy. To add new gear I have to present a copy of sales receipt & SN#. Just seems like the store doing the renting should provide coverage as an option - like renting a car.

... we go to the Caymans for 8 days in August...

When and where are you going? I'm shooting around the east end of Grand Cayman in the middle of August.

Tim

When and where are you going? I'm shooting around the east end of Grand Cayman in the middle of August.

 

Tim

 

I'll be down from 8/18 to 8/26. We're going to seven mile beach (not my first choice but I'm going with family who have small children who want nice sandy beaches.) We haven't decided where all we're diving yet. Do you recommend the east end over places closer to SMB? If I do get some gear rented/bought would you mind a tag-a-long or just me stopping by to make sure I'm setting up my gear correctly?

Thanks.

--Ryan

How would this work? Can you insure something directly that is not yours? All my camera stuff is covered on a personal articles rider on my homeowners policy. To add new gear I have to present a copy of sales receipt & SN#. Just seems like the store doing the renting should provide coverage as an option - like renting a car.

Yeah, I haven't had much luck. http://www.tcpinsurance.com/ will cover rental gear but it also comes with a lot of business focused insurance that I just don't need. So not sure it is worth paying an extra $500 in premiums just so I can rent some gear for the week. At this point I'm leaning toward buying some gear, then reselling when I get back and considering the difference as a "rental."