CANADIAN INSURANCE?

I am wondering how many CANADIAN members have insurance for their gear and also if any in Edmonton or Alberta have it?

Can anyone recommend a good insurer? Have you ever had a claim? Details? How about rates?

I have been looking at the retail value of my gear in Canadian dollars and its nuts. Like $1800 bucks for my 100-400L!?!

Please help. I bet that people have asked this question before, but I would like to ask posters specific questions. Thanks.

Move to America and get State Farm, they are pretty good.(not trying to offend, I just have no other advice to offer) How is it up there? My best friend is from Canada. His parents are up there visiting right now. He will be up there in a few weeks. I bet its nice up there. Some day I will get up that way and take some pictures.

Chris my wife called today and I'm covered through our home insurance

Find yourself an insurance broker and they will hunt down the best rates and coverage for you. I go through Morris McKenzie in Montreal even though I live in Alberta. Not sure if they have an office here, I started with them when I lived there.

Do you have house insurance. What about a special rider to that policy.

I use State Farm. They have my vehicles and home insurance. They have both non-pro and pro coverage. Costs are quite reasonable.

Check with your home/auto insurer to see if they have a separate policy.

Note to those who count upon the home insurance to cover everything (high end lens and bodies), be careful of the riders that may be contained in the policy: Limits of coverage, deductables, accidental coverage, etc..

Everytime I add to my gear, I get to go see my agent (agent used to be my sister-in-law, good person) Been there too often recently

Which reminds me that I haven't added my cam stuff to my policy - keep forgetting.

hrm... I just got off the phone w/ state farm... for camera equip they told me that it covers the accidental loss/theft/vandalism but not accidental damages such as camera falling into a lake. Can anyone from Alberta (specifically Edmonton) recommend a good broker that would be able to find me a good policy? My friend just got info from Meloche Monnex and they offer the complete coverage including accidental damages. However Meloche Monnex is only offered to selected groups which I am not part of... Can anyone suggest any alternatives? So far allstate and state farm have told me that accidental damages are not covered w/ their policies.

State Farm in Canada isn't the ideal insurer for camera gear from what I've seen. I have mine through a local company and I'm unsure as to the larger underwriter.

even a broker i called says they can't find a company that covers accidental dmgs :\

My gear is covered under my home owner's policy...even if I'm on vacation etc. However, my deductible for my home insurance is $1000, so I added a rider to the policy which gives me a lower deductible for my gear. I just had to give them a detailed list of my gear with replacement value. It adds a bit to the cost of the policy but it's worth it.

I use Meloch Monex.

mrclark321 wrote in post #3233532
Chris my wife called today and I'm covered through our home insurance

do not, i repeat, do not count on your home owners insurance. what you want is a rider or a seprate policy that will cover your gear no matter what happens. a home owners insurance will only cover you for certain things in certain conditions. i got a rider on mine that covers me for EVERYTHING (water, theft, breaks, you name it) and it only cost me $200 a year.

blonde wrote in post #3333056
do not, i repeat, do not count on your home owners insurance. what you want is a rider or a seprate policy that will cover your gear no matter what happens. a home owners insurance will only cover you for certain things in certain conditions. i got a rider on mine that covers me for EVERYTHING (water, theft, breaks, you name it) and it only cost me $200 a year.

Exactly. You must have it seperate.

I have the same thing on my house insuance policy. A Seperate No Fault rider to cover the equipment, so long as it's not used for comercial use. There are local companies that will cover comercial use as well.

--Evan

I use State Farm (separate policy) and it does have all peril coverage and full replacement value (including dropping stuff into the lake ).