Camera Insurance

[wgerrard]

what you want insurers to give you your money back if you've had no claims? 😕

Well, if they did they'd still get to keep the profit they'd made from other people's money.

More seriously, I'm just highlighting that the foundation of insurance is the principle that spreading risk among many insureds -- few of whom will ever file a claim -- allows coverage to be affordable to those insureds while also allowing the insurance company to retain a profit. Insurance is very definitely not based on a bet between a company and a single insured. It's impossible to know if I will wreck my car tomorrow. But, it's not difficult to produce an accurate estimate of the number of crashes that will occur among, say, a population of 10 million drivers.

Insurance companies know more about this than anyone else and have staffs of statisticians and math wonks running the numbers. You can be sure that any insurance company will stop selling a particular line if they believe claims will rise to a level threatening profitability.

What I and others object to is the practice of actively looking for reasons to nullify insurance after an otherwise legitimate claim has been filed. If I buy a policy, pay premium for years, if not decades, and then file a claim, the insurance company should not be allowed to cancel me based on some hitherto undiscovered fault. The law should restrict such cancellation to a short time period after policy activation.

 

[JohnTF]

[[john, i'm not accusing you of insurance fraud, because if the insurer accepts the terms of the contract, then they should pay your claims.

but if you are filing claims on a fairly regular basis , then don't be surprised that you get bounced from insurer to insurer. although you think you've helped the insurer make money, you really haven't, because you're not accounting for the insurer's expenses, their profit margin and they still need to have a "contribution" from your premium to cover the pooling of monies for lack of a better word, "severe" claims like fire, home, car accidents.[/quote]

I do not think you understand my post, the first company stopped offering inland insurance policies in general, To Anyone.

My cameras had unclaimed damage.

Merely passing that damage along to the new company, I felt was unethical.

A computer at the second company evidently noted I had several claims - with the previous company just prior to their policy-, put me into a slot, and spit out a cancellation, or rather a non - renewal after a year, with no explanation asked.


No problems since.


Depending on your use of your equipment, you may represent a higher risk, though the concept of insurance is shared risk.

During the 25 years I have had coverage the rates have gone up, but I refuse to accept the blame, and no, I did not use AIG. ;-)

This type of insurance is not only a catastrophe insurance, it is All Risk, and covers damage of any kind for any reason other than act of war, nuclear detonations, or deliberate misuse.

Regards, John

 

[pete63uk]

In Mexico many hotels are writing down the taxi numbers, and room numbers-- and there was one nice guy who tracked down a lady who left her purse in a taxi on the way to a restaurant in Vallarta last winter-- still, not an experiment I care to perform.

It is very easy to walk away from something as travel can be stressful enough, especially today.

Sorry you lost your bag, am surprised a normal home owner's policy covered it without a hit through your deductible, assume you had to back it up with a police report?

There is another odd out, that some policies exempt items found to be missing in annual inventories?

Regards, John

Yea, police report, hotel report, sale receipts for EVERYTHING, which I was surprised I still had. Total was around £600. I have had this policy since 1997 and I still pay the same monthly fee now as I did in the first month. The policy includes breakdown cover, travel insurance etc.

It's the C&G home owners policy. Expensive at around £70 a month, but you need to be properly insured to be properly covered. Otherwise you end up with part payment or get out clauses etc. That covers all my family, anywhere in the world, all home contents and the house itself. They'll even rebuild it if they have to, it says so in the leaflet, 🙂

 

[JohnTF]

Yea, police report, hotel report, sale receipts for EVERYTHING, which I was surprised I still had. Total was around £600. I have had this policy since 1997 and I still pay the same monthly fee now as I did in the first month. The policy includes breakdown cover, travel insurance etc.

It's the C&G home owners policy. Expensive at around £70 a month, but you need to be properly insured to be properly covered. Otherwise you end up with part payment or get out clauses etc. That covers all my family, anywhere in the world, all home contents and the house itself. They'll even rebuild it if they have to, it says so in the leaflet, 🙂

Sounds a fair deal, I would keep giving them my business.

I am not going to generally bash the insurance industry, though it might be easy to do so, but it is very hard to find out how the guys will stand up when you need them. I had some minor claims with other people's companies which went poorly. They now routinely solicit my business, and I feel if they fight when they know they are wrong, they will not support me in the clutch, -- one gave a hard time to one of their own executives parked in their regional office garage.

Assume word of mouth helps -- and hurts.

I suggested to a friend at a camera shop that they offer a one year "free" all risk policy via an insurance company to all camera purchases during the holiday season-- figured it would cost them 1%-- and the company could offer an extension.

No go.

Nice to see you had a positive experience.

Regards, John

 

[raid]

I have a State Farm personal articles insurance. It covers the equipment for full replacement value for any reasons at all. The main difference from having such an insurance and including the equipment in the home owner's insurance policy is the fact that outside the home, equipment is covered very little by the home owner's insurance. In one case, if the camera was inside a locked car, and the car was broken into, then it is still covered by the home owner's insurance.

 

[JohnTF]

I have a State Farm personal articles insurance. It covers the equipment for full replacement value for any reasons at all. The main difference from having such an insurance and including the equipment in the home owner's insurance policy is the fact that outside the home, equipment is covered very little by the home owner's insurance. In one case, if the camera was inside a locked car, and the car was broken into, then it is still covered by the home owner's insurance.

There is a lot of fine print, I think my laptop is covered, if it is in the trunk? I would prefer not to leave anything visible in a car that looks like a laptop, cell phone, or camera-- when possible.

John