Camera insurance (Via home contents isurance)

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nx4737

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Wasn't sure where to post this so sorry if it's in the wrong place.

My photography gear is pretty basic in comparison to many here, it consists of a Fujifilm X-T100 and two lenses, the value is probably around £1200 in total.

I've never insured it, but I've always had "out and about" insurance on my buildings and contents insurance which in theory, covers it, but I've never really looked into it in much detail.

My home insurance is up for renewal and I've emailed Nationwide to ask for some clarity on out and about insurance as it's a little vague in describing what is and isn't covered, excess etc...

My question is, have any of you ever had to claim for camera gear lost through damage or theft while out and claimed on contents insurance, if so, was it straight forward and what damage did it do to future premiums?

Thanks.
 
Yes, about 7 years ago I left a camera and lens in a hotel lobby, I was rushing to get to the airport.

When I arrived home e-mailed the hotel, no luck.

Claimed on my house insurance at the time £600.00, it was paid within three days.
 
I have just renewed the house (contents and buildings) insurance, and I noticed that they all wanted bikes and laptops specified, and the one I went with, any single item valued at over £1000. The only camera item I specified was one lens. On all specified items you could chose for it to be insured in the home or out as well.
I also saw warnings on more than one site of the percentages rule, which used to be very commonly played but I hadn't seen it mentioned for quite a while
 
My problem with house contents insurance is when you claim, in that when the next renewal comes round, and you decide to shop around, you have to declare that claim, and suddenly either less companies are interested or the premium goes up. But for average domestic kit like the OP described, it is probably fine
 
lindsay said:
My problem with house contents insurance is when you claim, in that when the next renewal comes round, and you decide to shop around, you have to declare that claim, and suddenly either less companies are interested or the premium goes up. But for average domestic kit like the OP described, it is probably fine
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I had a claim for water damage in the kitchen in 2017, total cost about 4k, and my premiums went up by 40p a month on next renewal.
Carried on declaring it until the time was up, and it didn't seem to affect premium quotes whether I put it in or not.

My only complaint was that they sent a totally useless company from Melton Mowbray to do the job, and despite having them back twice, it was never finished of, and the quality of workmanship was appalling, The claims company never got it sorted out, and I never signed the job off as complete.

I do know people who have put in quite a few claims, and their premiums went up quote a bit, so maybe they are looking for frequent claimers to increase premiums on.

I would also agree that professionals with a lot of kit should get specialised insurance.
 
There does appear to be quite a wide range of cover when you have things like cameras covered on home insurance, so do need to check the 'fine print'.
Individual item limits, cover when unattended (particularly when in a car - often only covered if out of sight in a locked boot), etc.
As with all insurance, they can be fussy regarding proof of ownership of the items you are claiming for, making it harder to claim for that lens you got via the classifieds here, for example.
 
My contents insurance covers my camera equipment both in and out of the home, with a new for old policy. I had to specify any items that cost more than £2000 to replace (i.e. not necessarily what I paid for it) and provide them with serial numbers, proof of ownership and a photograph of the item.

Fortunately, I've not used the policy in anger but when I dropped my D750 and had a problem with focussing the insurer was happy to pay for the repair and asked me to get a quote. In the end I didn't make a claim as the cost of the repair (by Nikon) was only a few Pounds more than the excess on the policy.
 
I think it would be good for the OP to get more opinions from people that have had to use the insurance in anger rather than people that haven’t!!!!!

I don’t have any experience of using my home insurance to claim for my photography equipment (although it is all specified) but in 2017 I did have my car stollen of my drive during the night (it’s now garaged every night!)

At the time, my golf clubs were in the boot, out of sight. They were a set of (expensive for the time - 1.2k) callaway clubs the majority of which was bought in 2002.

I claimed for them on my house insurance.

My insurer - legal and general not only covered that £1,200 for the lost clubs but paid me extra to be able to buy a new for old set. I.e what cost £1,200 in 2002 they paid out more than 2k to cover the replacement cost. I can’t remember the exact figure something tells me it was more than 2.5k…. I did have to provide proof of purchase via a bank statement though.

So… my experience with legal and general is a good one but I am not sure it all insurance companies are equil in that regard and if any are like car insurance companies, I’m sure they will try to squirm their way out of anything at any excuse. Hence more real world examples would be useful to the OP!
 
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Faldrax said:
making it harder to claim for that lens you got via the classifieds here, for example.
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Not sure that is really going to be a problem, a 'paper trail' exists.
 
Thanks for all the responses, all, I've had a reply back from Nationwide outlining what is and isn't covered.

Hopefully I'll never need to use it but since I need contents insurance anyway, it's a no brainer.
 
I blissfully thought my home insurance covered my camera gear

then it was destroyed when my tripod was blown over

only then did I find out that whilst cameras were specifically included in my all risks policy, as soon as I took them out of the house they were not

silly me - I should have realised that they would assume that cameras were only ever used in the house

:-(
 
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