Since 1988, keeping records after moving to Scotland, I have paid
insurances companies about £70,000 in car, business and equipment, house
and domestic insurance premiums. I have claimed something around £10000
in the same period (nearly all on car damage and only once paid for by
myself - other incidents being claimed from the other party), and
several important claims have been refused. I finally changed my office
and house cover from Norwich Union and Guardian Select after my offices
(first floor) suffered a loo cistern which spontaneously cracked apart
in the night, flooding through the floor and bringing down two layers of
ceilings in the house (ground foor). Cover was refused because an
insured party owning two properties separately covered cannot claim
against themselves! The entire property is now ensured for half the
price by AXA, in one piece, to avoid any such weaseling out of cover.

I now cover only essential items (things which I could not replace
without going bankrupt, or liabilities I could not meet). If I had a
Hasselblad H3D I'd insure it. Canon EOS 1Ds MkII kit, maybe. Sub-£1000
DSLRs and lenses generally worth £200-500 each, no way. The things you
MUST insure against are third part or public liabilities and legal
action. Those can cost you millions - your life and everything which
goes with it. There's very little photo gear you can't find a
replacement for at modest cost, and my view is to see any losses as
their traded-in value - get a better model instead!

I'm already about £10,000 up on NOT paying out insurance for such things
since the above incident and while I have not put this money away in a
fund separately, when I accidentally broke a DSLR during cleaning (not
insured) I just paid £600 for another body without worrying.

The car thing is complex. We have an insurance scheme for the former
Minolta Club run by Glover & Howe of Colchester, and it covers concealed
equipment in a locked car but not overnight. My home and contents
insurance was the only one which covered an incident in Amsterdam
fifteen years ago - our Peugeot had a 'ski hatch' in the rear seat
despite being a saloon, and we left some gear in the boot overnight, and
were observed. Most of the stuff could not be reached through the small
hatch but someone broke into the car, opened the armrest hole into the
boot, and got one camera bag by its strap removing a portable computer
and some accessories. My camera-business insurance refused cover but the
household cover paid up.

David

If you have a good domestic contents policy it will have, or have the
option to have, an all-risks section. IME many companies limit this to
about 20% of the total cover but don't require you to specify items
with an individual value of less than either £1000 or £1500.

Certainly I have not seen any limitations imposed in respect of
security. When we were insured with Royal and Sun Alliance as
underwriters for HSBC and thieves got into my car and stole two
cameras when we were on holiday in Belgium the question of security
was never mentioned - and that was a Vectra estate.

Glover & Howe ... http://www.gloverhowe.co.uk/ ... OK for the insured
equipment to be in the rear of an estate car if placed under a top cover and
out of view
--
Simon