Why is insurance so friggin' expensive?

I got my renewal bill yesterday. $458.00! It's a commercial inland marine policy. I pay about the same amount for two cars! And the cars have greater liability!

I don't understand why a simple fire/theft/loss policy on a few cameras has to be so much. Is is just because it's commercial?

If somebody has a lower-cost alternative or company, please post it.

Yikes.. Mine is about $10 per $1000 coverage yearly. How much equipment are you insuring?

Around 19K. So by your formula, I should be paying $190. I'm thinking of dropping two cameras because I will be selling them (30D and converted 20D).

Is your policy commercial and if yes, with who?

CannedHeat wrote in post #10088031
Around 19K. So by your formula, I should be paying $190. I'm thinking of dropping two cameras because I will be selling them (30D and converted 20D).

Is your policy commercial and if yes, with who?

Not commercial, I have a rider on my homeowners policy. It's with State Farm.

Its high cos people keep dropping or stealing cameras

The only people who will never lose money are insurance companies and lawyers !

neil_r wrote in post #10088084
Its high cos people keep dropping or stealing cameras

The only people who will never lose money are insurance companies and lawyers !

And thieves... Wait... Nevermind... I see that you already listed thieves twice.

gjl711 wrote in post #10088102
And thieves... Wait... Nevermind... I see that you already listed thieves twice.

Rimshot

From the insurance company's POV, there's a MUCH bigger chance something will happen to your gear if you're using it commercially vs. just shooting squirrels in the park on Sundays.

I think $500/year sounds about right for $20,000 worth of stuff. That's "cheaper" than Best Buy's "Product Replacement Warranty" they try to hawk you

Be sure you have your gear properly valued. They're only gonna give you current market value, so you're overpaying if you over value it (that's the way USAA works).

and USAA won't pay you if you undervalue it.

OP - commercial use is more expensive than non-commercial. they assume that you are going to put a lot more wear on your gear and have a much greater chance of damaging/losing it.

something as simple as someone knocking over a light stand at a prom or the bus boy walking off with your bag at the wedding, etc.

I just went to State farm and have mine insured. The personal valuable article policy. They will pay out the amount you insured. So I took the list of price of current sales price on BHphoto.com. It is not depreciated value that they pay you over time. Individual item over 5000 needs bill of sales (for you guys with big lens and big cameras).

the price for non-professional is $1.30 for every $100 or $13 for every 1000. So stuff in my signature comes out to be about 70 bucks a year.

price for professional is $2.30 for every $100 or $23 for every 1000.

Keep in mind it does not cover mechanical failure, wear and tear or natural degradation. If stolen or lost, my agent told me to best have police report if I can even if I travel out of country. Best to have some kind of official document. And a bunch of other stuff, better to talk to an agent to get the details than from me.

Just a summary of what I got.

rogazilla wrote in post #10088837
price for professional is $2.30 for every $100 or $23 for every 1000.

... which would be $460 for 20K which is in the same ballpark.

CosmoKid wrote in post #10088741
and USAA won't pay you if you undervalue it.

I'm not sure what you're saying. I was told to have the gear appraised periodically, or if new, have a receipt. I assume if I declare value of a lens at $800, file a claim, fair market is established at $900, they cover $800 less deductible.

exactly. they told me to make sure i know of price increases. just in case a lens price goes up and they need to replace t they will only pay you the declared value. a lot of people just list their prices when they get their policy and forget to adjust it when their 70-200 2.8 IS goes from $1650 to $1900.

How do you insure discontinued items like the 5D? Do you insure it for the current price for a used one on a site like keh.com or do you insure it for the price of a new 5DmkII and pay the extra premium?