STICKY:  Are you insured?

As a hobbyist, I just picked up a property damage rider with State Farm. For my equipment over $200, my gear is running up to $5000 in value. I suddenly feel more secure standing on the edge of a pier or cliff than I did a month ago.

Great advice Kenny,

Thankfully nothing like this has happened during any of my jobs. Definitely looking into insurance options!

As a business owner/partner of a small IT consulting firm, we have tons of insurance but the one that costs the most is "Errors and Omissions" insurance, aka, Professional Liability insurance.

I just started looking into photography insurance and was given a quote of $500 for general liability, which I think is high for my part time endeavors, and an additional $400 for Professional Liability (errors and omissions) insurance.

For general liability and equipment coverage, I'm going to join PPA I think. But does any here also have Professional Liability insurance?

Never Mind, the PPA Q&A section answered my question:

Why would I need the Indemnification Trust if I carry my own liability insurance?

A: General or Business Liability insurance covers you for incidents like accidents, property damage, and possibly certain types of theft or loss. Liability insurance is commonly referred to as "slip and fall" insurance. However, the Indemnification Trust protects you from accusations of photographer's negligence or occurrences that are perceived to be within your control as a professional.

If you were to compare the Trust to a traditional insurance policy, it would be equivalent to Professional Liability or "Errors and Omissions" insurance. These policies often come with high premiums and deductibles as risks are presumed to be higher. The Trust is an affordable, non-insurance alternative to these policies.

So the net, net is, I still need Business or General liability insurance, and the PPA's Indemnification Trust covers errors and omissions.

Oldschool1948 wrote in post #15859357
Never Mind, the PPA Q&A section answered my question:

Why would I need the Indemnification Trust if I carry my own liability insurance?

A: General or Business Liability insurance covers you for incidents like accidents, property damage, and possibly certain types of theft or loss. Liability insurance is commonly referred to as "slip and fall" insurance. However, the Indemnification Trust protects you from accusations of photographer's negligence or occurrences that are perceived to be within your control as a professional.

If you were to compare the Trust to a traditional insurance policy, it would be equivalent to Professional Liability or "Errors and Omissions" insurance. These policies often come with high premiums and deductibles as risks are presumed to be higher. The Trust is an affordable, non-insurance alternative to these policies.

So the net, net is, I still need Business or General liability insurance, and the PPA's Indemnification Trust covers errors and omissions.

I value Indemnity Trust even as a portrait photographer; I consider it madness to do weddings without it.

RDKirk wrote in post #15859951
I value Indemnity Trust even as a portrait photographer; I consider it madness to do weddings without it.

I agree, and through PPA it is a lot cheaper that other quotes that I've gotten.

The way I would look at it, if you have a regular day job and don't sign contracts and make anything worth claiming as income then its going to be really difficult for anyone to call it a business...its just a hobby even if you collect a few bucks to cover some expenses between friends. But, once you have third parties involved where its not just a favor between friends you better be prepared. My home insurance, covers individual items up to $2000 each, for example, my camera and lens are covered for $2000 camera+ $2000 lens for a total of $4000. They said, any mysterious loss is not covered...in other words, you put you camera down, turn around and its gone, its not covered....they will need a police report to do the claim. In other words, make sure you see someone run off with it or secure it so they would have to break something to get it. If I were doing anything to earn income, I would get the proper insurance (by the way, make sure your car insurance also covers business use if you drive to locations), but my home owner's one at least takes the sting out. ...If I do something stupid...then I'm probably SOL unless I can show it was an accident and there will still be a $500 deductible... its not there to cover any small loss, only the major one.

In WV it doesn't matter if you collect 1 cent, ANY MONEY collected from a hobby makes it a business and you need a business license, even if it is a penny.

agl99 wrote in post #15880276
The way I would look at it, if you have a regular day job and don't sign contracts and make anything worth claiming as income then its going to be really difficult for anyone to call it a business...its just a hobby even if you collect a few bucks to cover some expenses between friends. But, once you have third parties involved where its not just a favor between friends you better be prepared. My home insurance, covers individual items up to $2000 each, for example, my camera and lens are covered for $2000 camera+ $2000 lens for a total of $4000. They said, any mysterious loss is not covered...in other words, you put you camera down, turn around and its gone, its not covered....they will need a police report to do the claim. In other words, make sure you see someone run off with it or secure it so they would have to break something to get it. If I were doing anything to earn income, I would get the proper insurance (by the way, make sure your car insurance also covers business use if you drive to locations), but my home owner's one at least takes the sting out. ...If I do something stupid...then I'm probably SOL unless I can show it was an accident and there will still be a $500 deductible... its not there to cover any small loss, only the major one.

A friend of mine has the insurance thru PPA and he had 3 of his most expensive Nikon flashes stolen last year at a wedding. PPA told him that sure he can make a claim but they would raise the rates for next time and he should really wait until he needed to make a bigger claim than for just 3 flashes.

I never understood why insurance companies raise rates after you make a claim. That is the reason you bought insurance.

silvex wrote in post #15914448
I never understood why insurance companies raise rates after you make a claim. That is the reason you bought insurance.

Because you changed the odds. Insurance is a game of statistics, and you changed the odds by making a claim.

The purpose of insurance is to protect against catastrophes--career extinction events. The statistical odds are that you won't have a real catastrophe more than a couple of times in your life, but when you make a claim, you're claiming to have had one of those catastrophes.

Ok, so I have a question re: insurance (that I will ask Tom Pickard as well since I am setting up a policy with them)...

If I have 1DMKII's that are insured, and someone lifts them, what is the replacement? Am I paying a premium because the only in series replacement is $6500 body alone? Or would they opt for a 5dMKIII? Just want to know in advance and see what people's experience has been with this sort of issue..

We use PPA's upgraded insurance. It has been absolutely seemless is both claims we have made. One for a 1 D MK4 and a 70-200 2.8 and a 1D3 and a 24-105. Both claims paid the replacement value minus $100 deductible...
Bottom line....if you have pro equipment and do any paid jobs you can't be without insurance...

C5inTemecula wrote in post #16286169
Ok, so I have a question re: insurance (that I will ask Tom Pickard as well since I am setting up a policy with them)...

If I have 1DMKII's that are insured, and someone lifts them, what is the replacement? Am I paying a premium because the only in series replacement is $6500 body alone? Or would they opt for a 5dMKIII? Just want to know in advance and see what people's experience has been with this sort of issue..

That's the difference between a policy that is cash value versus equipment replacement. You don't want a policy that will only pay you what the lost equipment was worth at the time of the loss. You want a policy that will replace your old equipment with equivalent current models.

Of course, the equipment replacement policy will be more expensive or may have stricter stipulations. In some cases, even if a new model is on the shelf, the company can replace your equipment with the identical older model if they can find one new (often the company will procure the replacement for you, if they can do so at a lower wholesale cost).

agl99 wrote in post #15880276
...My home insurance, covers individual items up to $2000 each, for example, my camera and lens are covered for $2000 camera+ $2000 lens for a total of $4000...

I would not use my homeowners policy for camera equipment claims; you'd want to reserve that for something really serious. That claim goes against that policy and can affect your renewal rates or ability to renew. You are better off getting a stand alone policy with no deductible. I self insure up to $500, meaning I won't file a claim for items under $500.

Has anyone here ever checked their CLUE report; it tells the insurance world and others that use such information about all of your claims.