Just insured my camera gear......

I also got quoted $82 a year for 4K in gear from State Farm (though it covers anything, really... personal article protection policy).

And this is with an agent I have been dealing with for close to 25 years (family has been with SF with other agents for generations)! So perhaps premiums do change per area...

Awesome. Calling right after work. Turns out there is an agent literally walking distance from my house. Ill probably stop by on the way home today. Interested in talking to them about life insurance too...

Aldwyn wrote in post #4878305
I also got quoted $82 a year for 4K in gear from State Farm (though it covers anything, really... personal article protection policy).

And this is with an agent I have been dealing with for close to 25 years (family has been with SF with other agents for generations)! So perhaps premiums do change per area...

My state farmer told they do change per area. Mostly crime and bad neighbourhoods affect the premiums.

Mike

I just had all my gear cover by my Amica homeowners policy on a separate rider for $25.00 a year for $5000.00 worth of coverage...no deductable and is basically covered against everything. Way better than getting a MAC warrenty.

Just called my local State Farm agent (found out who it was from the website) and discussed with her what my options were. From what she told me they could offer me two types of insurance on camera equipment, non-professional (if you will never make a penny off anything camera related) and professional (if you make money with your camera). Both covered accidental damage, theft, loss, and anything else I could think of to ask about. Both also covered me worldwide if I ever traveled. Both had zero deductible and both were under a personal articles policy. All they wanted was a list and serial numbers and for me to go in and sign some paperwork. The only difference between the two was the price and thankfully that wasnt nearly as bad as I was thinking it was going to be.

Price ended up being quoted as:
$1.25/$100 insured/year for non-professional insurance
$1.82/$100 insured/year for professional insurance

I ended up doing a $15k professional plan at $273/year. WAY less than I thought it would be for insurance on so much. So Im happy, thanks for the heads up everyone.

Grr... well I gathered all the receipts after taking off work early. Headed over there with ALL of my gear in hand. Lo and behold, they made copies of the receipts and that was it. Remind me to blackmail my SF agent in the near future as payback. (Did a little public records search, and the agent himself has more traffic citations than my entire family combined... how ironic...)

Anyway, $106 later, I'm covered for $5600 worth of gear now. They made it pretty clear that they all but assume fraud on these types of policies at the corporate level, so SOME kind of investigation is almost guaranteed, especially if it's a large claim. And if there is ANY claim for people like us on these policies, I'd say it's quite likely to be large considering how much money can be invested in the smallest of camera bags these days. They couldn't even give an estimate of the time from a claim being filed to the time when they pay out. Regardless, short of outright lying on their part (and I should hope State Farm isn't into that kinda thing) any wait for such a claim is still WAY better than a bag full of gear getting stolen and having to either take the full loss by not having any insurance at all, or having to claim it on renter's/homeowner's which is depreciated value and would run those rates up.

Oh, they also said in no uncertain terms that if a large claim were ever made on this policy that that's pretty much the end of the policy from then on out, and that it would NOT be re-issued... ever, by them or anyone else. In other words, this is pretty much a one time deal of a security blanket, so leaving the bag in plain view in the back seat of a parked car is still gonna be painful (and in that situation would end up being claimed against both the auto insurance and the personal articles policy, so a bit of a double whammy for that particular instance, hehe.)

thoreau wrote in post #4881177
Grr... well I gathered all the receipts after taking off work early. Headed over there with ALL of my gear in hand. Lo and behold, they made copies of the receipts and that was it. Remind me to blackmail my SF agent in the near future as payback. (Did a little public records search, and the agent himself has more traffic citations than my entire family combined... how ironic...)

Anyway, $106 later, I'm covered for $5600 worth of gear now. They made it pretty clear that they all but assume fraud on these types of policies at the corporate level, so SOME kind of investigation is almost guaranteed, especially if it's a large claim. And if there is ANY claim for people like us on these policies, I'd say it's quite likely to be large considering how much money can be invested in the smallest of camera bags these days. They couldn't even give an estimate of the time from a claim being filed to the time when they pay out. Regardless, short of outright lying on their part (and I should hope State Farm isn't into that kinda thing) any wait for such a claim is still WAY better than a bag full of gear getting stolen and having to either take the full loss by not having any insurance at all, or having to claim it on renter's/homeowner's which is depreciated value and would run those rates up.

Oh, they also said in no uncertain terms that if a large claim were ever made on this policy that that's pretty much the end of the policy from then on out, and that it would NOT be re-issued... ever, by them or anyone else. In other words, this is pretty much a one time deal of a security blanket, so leaving the bag in plain view in the back seat of a parked car is still gonna be painful (and in that situation would end up being claimed against both the auto insurance and the personal articles policy, so a bit of a double whammy for that particular instance, hehe.)

WHat?!?!? one time deal? that sucks

How it generally works is that after you make a claim, your rate goes up and sometimes it goes up so much that you can't afford the insurance anymore. Or they just decline to let you renew your policy the next year. That's why I feel a bit better having the Personal Articles Policy with an entirely different insurance company than my actual homeowner's policy. There is a central database that insurance companies report into showing how many claims you've made:

http://www.iso.com …sk=view&id=855&​Itemid=565

Different companies obviously have different underwriting criteria though. And it'll depend on the amount of the claim, how long you've had the policy, etc. As usual with insurance stuff, the overall answer is "it depends".

Coffee999 wrote in post #4875761
Of course taking inventory of your entire home takes time initially, but once you have the majority of it done, keeping up with it is very easy and time friendly.

One bit of advice offered by many consumer advocates is that once per year, you go thru your home with a video camera and video tape everything. Store the video tape in a safe location, perhaps off-site. /Dan

gnrlmike wrote in post #4879487
My state farmer told they do change per area. Mostly crime and bad neighbourhoods affect the premiums.

Mike

That's very interesting that your agent admitted that. The practice is called redlining and it is illegal in most, if not all, U.S. states. /Dan

thoreau wrote in post #4881177
Grr... well I gathered all the receipts after taking off work early. Headed over there with ALL of my gear in hand. Lo and behold, they made copies of the receipts and that was it. Remind me to blackmail my SF agent in the near future as payback. (Did a little public records search, and the agent himself has more traffic citations than my entire family combined... how ironic...)

Anyway, $106 later, I'm covered for $5600 worth of gear now. They made it pretty clear that they all but assume fraud on these types of policies at the corporate level, so SOME kind of investigation is almost guaranteed, especially if it's a large claim. And if there is ANY claim for people like us on these policies, I'd say it's quite likely to be large considering how much money can be invested in the smallest of camera bags these days. They couldn't even give an estimate of the time from a claim being filed to the time when they pay out. Regardless, short of outright lying on their part (and I should hope State Farm isn't into that kinda thing) any wait for such a claim is still WAY better than a bag full of gear getting stolen and having to either take the full loss by not having any insurance at all, or having to claim it on renter's/homeowner's which is depreciated value and would run those rates up.

Oh, they also said in no uncertain terms that if a large claim were ever made on this policy that that's pretty much the end of the policy from then on out, and that it would NOT be re-issued... ever, by them or anyone else. In other words, this is pretty much a one time deal of a security blanket, so leaving the bag in plain view in the back seat of a parked car is still gonna be painful (and in that situation would end up being claimed against both the auto insurance and the personal articles policy, so a bit of a double whammy for that particular instance, hehe.)

Actually, the practice of dropping customers after a claim is now getting to be pretty well standard in the insurance industry, at least in the U.S. And it's not just limited to camera insurance, either. You can even be dropped for filing an auto insurance claim.

That's why consumer advocates such as Clark Howard recommend you have high deductibles on insurance. The reasoning is this: if you have a small claim, you don't file it. You recover out of your own pocket because if you do file a claim, you may be dropped. And if you are planning on handling the small losses yourself, why not have a high deductible and save on your insurance.

Also know, it's not as easy as simply going to a new insurer. If you ever get canceled by an insurer, your name goes into a universal pool. Other insurers may refuse to pick up your insurance. /Dan

CannedHeat wrote in post #4882171
Actually, the practice of dropping customers after a claim is now getting to be pretty well standard in the insurance industry, at least in the U.S. And it's not just limited to camera insurance, either. You can even be dropped for filing an auto insurance claim.

That's why consumer advocates such as Clark Howard recommend you have high deductibles on insurance. The reasoning is this: if you have a small claim, you don't file it. You recover out of your own pocket because if you do file a claim, you may be dropped. And if you are planning on handling the small losses yourself, why not have a high deductible and save on your insurance.

Also know, it's not as easy as simply going to a new insurer. If you ever get canceled by an insurer, your name goes into a universal pool. Other insurers may refuse to pick up your insurance. /Dan

Good thing auto insurance isn't required by law... I'm going to call my insurance and ask them about the if you make a claim it will be assumed it was fraud and if you file a claim we will cancel you. If they are going to assume I am a criminal I will give my money to someone else.

CannedHeat wrote in post #4882150
That's very interesting that your agent admitted that. The practice is called redlining and it is illegal in most, if not all, U.S. states. /Dan

I'm not a lawyer, but if that's the case, then someone should tell the rest of State Farm the same thing. *IDENTICAL* Auto insurance coverage for me in Phoenix, AZ was nearly 3x the cost as it was when I lived in Harrisburg, PA.

So say your out taking pics one day and on the way home you stop by a grocery store or dept. store...whatever.... and while your there your car gets broken into and they steal all the stuff inside AS Well as your camera bag. The insurance company thinks this is your fault?

Let me get this straight, you pay them to insure your gear and if you happen to have a claim against the insurance policy that You bought from them they drop you or cancel you and then you have a bad "name" when you go to get insurance anywhere else...? This sounds illegal!? How can they cancel/drop you when the whole reason you gave them your money was TO cover a loss....?

So if I have my car insurance and homeowners insurance with them also, will they drop that at the same time? I'll go get my $40 back and tell them to stik it!

Reeforbust, yeah it does sound illegal but we are dealing with insurance companies. It's also legal for them to discriminate based on age/gender so...

I would imagine that dropping someone completely and black listing them is a rare occurrence. I know I have paid them thousands of dollars and only made one claim for ~$300. I wold hope they would give me the benefit of the doubt if I made a claim.