Looking for insurance company NOT for a pro photog?

The PPA has nice insurance and it's included with the membership - you only need to opt in. That's probably the only reason I joined.

+1 on State Farm. I have a Personal Valuable Property policy and I got a slight discount because they have my house, cars, life, etc.

iirc mine was around $10 - $12 per $1000 insured, no deductible, covers everything accidental / theft / lost. They asked for item description, serial numbers and receipts (if I had one). The only uncovered exceptions are the standard war zone, riots, civil unrest, mayhem, etc.

i just had my gears insured together with renters insurance with American Family Insurance...so far I havent claim anything for damages...anyone who experienced negative about this insurance company?

Allstate just quoted me $33/yr. on up to $15K for non-professional coverage (meaning no liability).

raysabz wrote in post #16243070
i just had my gears insured together with renters insurance with American Family Insurance...so far I havent claim anything for damages...anyone who experienced negative about this insurance company?

I have used American Family Insurance in Colorado several years ago and had two separate occasions of 'oops'. They took care of each one quickly. The first case was an overnight replacement of the camera while the second was within a week.

I just went through my local state farm office this past Friday and got a quote. This was for the personal article insurance and I am NOT insured in anyway by them. There MIGHT be discounts by the sounds of it if you DO have your home and autos through them. They quoted 1.69 per 100 for "hobby" photographers and 2.39 per 100 for "Pro" photographers. (If you make money with your camera) I am going to shop it a bit more even though I now many rates are fixed since my agent did not know a lot about the coverage. She was going by the State Farm sheet and reading off the benefits.

I would like to know how insurance companies reimburse a total lost/ stolen gear. Companies go by the depreciated value or by the replacement value?

reefvilla wrote in post #16241095
Ok.... That I will look into. If I can keep it separate that will work great.

AND YES.... I'M ANAL and PARANOID!

Nothing wrong with that. I also added a Personal Articles Coverage policy to cover all of my camera equipment. Costs me 30$/year for my little 2200$ worth of gear, but it is a stand alone policy independant of my renters, car, and home electronic policies.

I've been with state farm for years and have been hit twice by others and never have my rates gone up.

edit: to jason118: my policy with state farm is to pay full replacement cost up to purchase price of the item (800$ camera will be paid out up to 800$ for its replacement, etc) You have to ask your carrier for the details.

So as far as reimbursement goes, on something like the Canon 500mm f4L. What would they do about replacing it? I paid around $5k for it new, then the new prices went up to $7.5k and now I'm assuming you can't get a new one since the mkII's are out. And the mkII's are about double the price of what I paid for a new mkI?


I currently have renter's insurance on my gear since I sold my house in January of this year and have been living with my family. The company I had my house and car insurance with, didn't have a personal articles insurance so I only had a rider at the time. When I sold the house, they put me on renter's insurance plan and added the camera to it.

Depends on the plan, but my plan will replace when possible with new or updated. In your case with the 500mm, they said they would cut me check for the cost of the lens and tax when I bought it originally.

curious about the low rates that StateFarm offers. i have personal items policy as part of my homeowners policy with allstate. not sure how much just that portion added to my policy, but my annual cost is about $420 (nyc)

i think i called SF once, and was told that they dont offer it without having other insurance through them... couldve been just that broker, not sure. any experiences from NYC shooters?

I have State Farm Personal Property insurance with no other insurance/services through them. My insurance is about $10 per 1000. I had to call a second agent when I initially wanted to sign up as the first automatically said they don't insure in my zip code. Second agent was kind enough to double check and sure enough, no problems.

Hey sorry if this was already answered,but I was wondering since i was looking into state farm as well how they appraised your gear. Ive bought mostly all my gear used, so i dont have any receipts for anything. My gear totals around $3000. Do i need receipts to get insurance? Thanks

pdrober2 wrote in post #16301656
Depends on the plan, but my plan will replace when possible with new or updated. In your case with the 500mm, they said they would cut me check for the cost of the lens and tax when I bought it originally.

Well that would suck if anything ever happened to it. Couldn't afford a new one and don't know how fast I could find a used replacement.

oscardog wrote in post #16302232
Hey sorry if this was already answered,but I was wondering since i was looking into state farm as well how they appraised your gear. Ive bought mostly all my gear used, so i dont have any receipts for anything. My gear totals around $3000. Do i need receipts to get insurance? Thanks

likely you will need to prvide proof of value. what i did was call B&H and explain the situation - they just gave me an estimate of all of my gear (i think it was their used price), and that was enough to satisfy the requirement for the insurance co