Equipment Insurance ?

I am thinking of insuring my equipment as it seems cheaper than I thought. I know my household insurance gives me some cover but i want something more extensive for an amateur. I found E&L insurance for 2.5K cover for about £6 per month. I notice it doesn't cover losing items. Is this usual - I am a bit concerned about leaving a lens or something in a hide.

hmmmm this doesnt sound so good from a and l

Excess
The excess is the amount you pay towards a claim. It is 7.5% of the insured loss with a minimum of £150 for all sections except Public Liability where it is £250. For theft from vehicles/certain public areas the excess becomes 12.5% of the insured loss with a minimum of £250 for all sections. The excess is double for overseas claims.

Think you will find house insurance will be better, worth finding out???

I think if you check the T&Cs of your household policy it's likely to be more "extensive" than the E&L insurance - cover away from home, reasonable excess etc. I've had a quick look at the dedicated camera insurance but it didn't seem great value

Simon

Camera insurance is for pro's and those who cant manage without the inconvenience of no camera. Dedicated insurance would more than likely cover you for hire costs until your own equipment is repaired or replaced, cover via houshold policies will probably not cover for equipment hire, you just have to wait till the insurers sort out your claim.

I have cover for £4000 under my house insurance, I got them to specify on the policy that it is for photographic equipment, it is covered for accidental damage both in and away from the home, theft from home, locked car, robbery (mugging) and incompetance of the policyholder (loss:lol

The big disadvantage of insuring through household policies is the excess and subsequent higher premiums which can often make smaller claims a little pointless.

Like many flat-renters I don't have household insurance, so went for cover from Glover and Howe. I didn't insure the entire value of my kit as I doubt I would ever take it all out with me. It costs about £3.25 per month.

I have camera insurance, from a Dutch company. Several €€€€ of guitars take up all the valuables section of my household insurance. Plus the T&C are pretty stingy.

My insurance also covers theft from cars, even if not locked in the boot, from hotel rooms when left unattended, from your camera bag while you are concentrating on taking a photo, and, most importantly, loss or damage from checked baggage when flying. Should there be another security scare and hand baggage allowances are again reduced, or if I have to check some gear due to other restrictions, I know my gear is covered if I am flying.
Obviously it also covers theft and fire and other damage at home too.

Hi.

My house contents covers me for loss, damage or theft, even from a car. Without looking I think it is up to £2000.00 for any one item. This is standard at no extra cost.
(RIAS) insurance, you do have to be over 50 years old though, so it's, old gits insurance.

Take care.

I don't wish to say anything libellous, but before insuring with E&L I would look here:

link

I have found other companies to be of a very good standard. E&L are cheap for a reason.

Double check your policy wording. Most insist that you must insure all of your equipment or none of it is covered.

I am just about to That is useful thanks, I am just about to renew my policy with G&H and I only insure the stuff I actually carry about all the time, eg I don't insure my old Kx, Tamron adaptall or the Pentax non-a fast 50 etc. I need to update in light of the recent purchase so I will ask them tomorrow. As you specify the serial and the value of each item, I don't think you can just insure a sum of £1000 and claim whatever you have with you. I have it because I dropped a Pentax 12-24 in the river and got £200 (maximum for single item) back on travel insurance just as the price hike to £850 occurred! Had I dropped the body and the lens in the river it still would have been £200. I pay about £75 for £2500 worth of cover. A couple of lenses, a body and tripod add up pretty quick!

Thanks for the advice. I have previously made a claim on my house insurance when I dropped my camera on the kitchen floor. It wasn't clear (AXA) exactly what was covered but I think I need their personal items cover as well to be covered when travelling etc. Incidentally, you do have to be careful when only partially covering equipment or you may find you will only be paid out in proportion to the total value you had, unless each item is insured individually.

I have started to use protectmybubble.com really simple & upfront, was actually recommended by virginmobile who said they where better than their own insurance...

I just tried their quote system out ... and stopped at the K5 + DA*300+15Ltd. It had already reached 18 GBP so by the time I've insured all my lenses and cameras I would be looking at well over 50-60 GBP per month, at least !

Hmm that is a lot of kit you have there froggy

I use JLT Photoguard http://www.jltonline.co.uk/photo.asp

As a (rank, or at least a lot of the time!) amateur, it just cost me about £190 on-line to insure about £3000 worth of equipment including my netbook (up from under £2k for last year because of the K5 and the Sigma 100-300!).
Good point = No excess (was slight extra premium)
Bad points = loss from cars in some circumstances
Questionable points = don't know how good they are at paying out claims!

Various types of semi-pro and pro insurance also available