Home contents insurance on items without receipts

Brian2510

Hello.
I've got some camera gear to insure, but two of the items were bought ten years ago and one seven years ago and I've lost the receipts after two house moves. What can I do if I don't have receipts? Insurance companies seem a lot stricter about this than they used to be.
Thanks for any advice.

McKneff

Take photographs at least proving possession. 

Brian2510

McKneff said:

Take photographs at least proving possession. 

Thanks I hope that will be enough, along with the serial numbers.

TELLIT01

Check with the insurer.  Your situation will be a common one.

Sandtree

Remembering that home insurance covers every single teaspoon and pair of socks in your home... how many people do you think still have all the receipts?

Photographs of the kit is useful - particularly if its a photo capturing you/your home etc at the same time (we can all go down the local camera shop and take a shot of a £10,000 lens and claim its ours - that is if any local camera shops exist any more). Ideally you'd also have a photo or two of you with the kit in an unstaged setting, ie you on holiday using the camera rather than photos done at home for insurance purposes.

Never seen it used but another possible evidence source would be the Exif data, the properties of any JPGs etc before editing should give the details of the camera and lens used and so again if you can show use of this lens over the period of time you have owned it then it could be more evidence that it was yours.

Don't over think these things too much though, obviously everything can be edited, faked etc (including receipts) and insurers are used to making investigations and validating evidence. If the matter goes to the FOS it would be for the insurer to prove why your evidence was insufficient/doctored not for you to prove that it is genuine.

davidmcn

Brian2510 said:

What can I do if I don't have receipts? Insurance companies seem a lot stricter about this than they used to be.

Do you mean there are actually conditions in the policies requiring you to produce receipts, or just anecdotes of claims being refused because of a lack of receipts?

As above, some evidence that you did actually possess the items would be helpful. Even receipts after all don't prove you still owned the items at the point you make a claim.

olgadapolga

The last time I made a claim on my bicycle/contents insurance, the insurance company just asked for photos of the damaged items (I'd been hit by a car whilst out cycling, the bike was a write-off) and a link to a comparable item currently for sale. I had receipts for the bike and my spectacles but the insurance company refused to accept these as they said that the items may have gone up in price between the original purchase date and replacement date and they didn't want me to be worse off as a result (I was, but only by the £50 excess which was a lot better than for the amount of the whole claim). I had new for old insurance though and of course, it probably depends on the different insurance companies as to what their own policies are. I know that my husband's camera equipment is also covered on the house insurance so it might depend on what type of insurance you're planning to get.