Insuring Photographic Equipment

HampshireIan
HampshireIan Posts: 34 Forumite
First Anniversary First Post
in Insurance & life assurance
Good evening all,

I did try and scroll back through the pages but most threads seem to be about house or car insurance.

So, I have approx £5k worth of photographic equipment. Most of it newly acquired, so i'm now thinking about insurance.

Has anyone on here got experience of insuring camera equipment? I'm interested in giving specific value to lens or expensive items, new for old, insurance when outside of the house (very important)?

Anyone use specific type of insurance companies or through home insurance as named items?

Anyone had to claim through any of these and a) how did you get on, and b) did it go smoothly?

Thanks very much in advance for your help

Comments

  • Blibble
    Blibble Posts: 503 Forumite
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    Specify the items on your contents policy if the brand new replacement value is in excess of the unspecified single article limit stated in your policy. This would be more cost effective than a separate insurance.

    Can you confirm if the items are business or personal use?
  • HampshireIan
    HampshireIan Posts: 34 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    Thanks for that, yup, I think specifying will be the way. I've read various about good and bad experiences so I guess until you have to claim, you just don't know.

    Better to hear others experiences though

    All gear is just for a personal hobby
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,637 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    Home Insurance generally pays claims on a "New for Old" basis where as Travel Insurance pays claims on an "Indemnity" basis eg they deduct wear and tear.

    Covering under your Home Insurance will normally be cheaper and offer an enhanced level of claims payment
  • Reardoa
    Reardoa Posts: 155 Forumite
    If you have something a bit niche that's outside the norm for an insurer they aren't keen. Try Versatile Insurance. They have a scheme for photography equipment.
  • Blibble
    Blibble Posts: 503 Forumite
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    Reardoa wrote: »
    If you have something a bit niche that's outside the norm for an insurer they aren't keen. Try Versatile Insurance. They have a scheme for photography equipment.

    Never heard this one before. Define "a bit niche"? I've never known an underwriter say "you know what bud, why would you want to insure that?". Photography equipment is a fairly common thing to insure anyway!
  • Nebulous2
    Nebulous2 Posts: 5,105 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Blibble wrote: »
    Never heard this one before. Define "a bit niche"? I've never known an underwriter say "you know what bud, why would you want to insure that?". Photography equipment is a fairly common thing to insure anyway!

    It would be 'Sorry we can't / wont insure that.'

    I don't know about photography equipment. I don't insure mine.

    However bikes are an issue. Many household insurers wont go over £1000 for a bike. Some of them did - M & S used to be recommended on cycling forums, but have scaled back.

    £1k may seem like a huge amount of money for a bicycle to a non-cyclist, but for a lot of serious cyclists it would be seen as entry-level. That would be niche....
  • Blibble
    Blibble Posts: 503 Forumite
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    Nebulous2 wrote: »
    It would be 'Sorry we can't / wont insure that.'

    I don't know about photography equipment. I don't insure mine.

    However bikes are an issue. Many household insurers wont go over £1000 for a bike. Some of them did - M & S used to be recommended on cycling forums, but have scaled back.

    £1k may seem like a huge amount of money for a bicycle to a non-cyclist, but for a lot of serious cyclists it would be seen as entry-level. That would be niche....

    I'm surprised to hear that you've struggled specifying a pedal cycle for over £1000 - I've seen it done with various underwriters up to 5k / 6k fairly regularly.

    Usually you can specify most things for a price, depending on the specific underwriter. By "won't go over £1000 for a bike", do you mean this as the unspecified value of the cycle?
  • BooJewels
    BooJewels Posts: 2,850 Forumite
    First Anniversary Photogenic First Post Name Dropper
    If your photography gear is for personal use, then as others have said, your home contents will likely be best - if the value of individual components is high, then you might need to specify them and ensure that your total cover reflects the acquisition of this new gear.

    If you use it for any sort of professional or semi-professional use, then specialist cover might be more appropriate and useful. I did this for several years as the contents insurer wouldn't cover any sort of professional or business use of my gear.

    I used a third party insurer called Photoguard. This covers additional aspects of photography - like covering your gear in your car, when out and about, hire of replacement gear if it's lost and you have a shoot scheduled, public liability (necessary for some types of work) etc.

    When I stopped using my camera gear for professional work, I sold much of it off, thereby reducing the overall value of my stuff and went back to cover under my home policy, as no item was over the single item limit and I only use it for pleasure now.

    I never made a claim with Photoguard, but always found them cheerful and efficient when I added gear and needed to make changes etc.
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