Hi all,
I'm looking into getting insurance for all the various electrical stuff we NEED 😉 when we travel next year... The general travel insurances I've looked at cover separate articles but with a pretty strict single article limit.
If someone steals my bag they're going to get away with about £2500 worth of kit (DSLR + Lenses, P&S camera, laptop, netbook and 2 iPods) so no insurance isn't really an option.
So does anyone know any cover which will cover all this but won't cost the earth? I'm struggling....
Cheers,
Mike
Reply to this Hello Mike
I cannot really help you insurance in the UK (I'm in Australia) but I can give you some suggestions on how I found a good insurer in Australia.
Like you, I first worked out the cost of my items and then went looking for insurance providers with the highest level of luggage coverage - I found one which not only had a coverage of $10,000 (for a single traveller), but more importantly, the limit of camera items and its accessories was a cap of $4,000 - which would cover my equipment.
Note that this $4,000 limit only applied to the camera and lenses, so items such as my netbook and MP3 are covered separately and is not subject to the cap. You will need to look past the budget or backpacker cover and pay a bit more to get a premium that does cover all of your electronic goodies. Airlines sometimes offer insurance, but they tend to be overpriced with poor level limits.
If finding a policy with a high limit fails, it is possible in Australia to purchase extra cover for 'specified items' - but this is not cheap. Many providers do offer them, but it is usually cheaper to go with the higher limit method of insurance rather than the specified items method.
You probably know most if not all of this anyway, but thought to leave a suggestion nevertheless. If you do find an insurer please post it here as I'm sure there are others who would benefit. One final thing, when looking for an insurer, try to find who the underwriter is, as the stronger the underwriter, the more secure your policy.
Reply to this Thanks for the info Shane,
I have looked at higher levels of insurance but none which seemed to offer what you found... I'll definitely keep looking though. Even if costs a couple of hundred pounds more a year it will be worth it as I've had some really silly quotes back to insure the items separately. i.e. £35 a month!!!! 😞
Reply to this What sort of period are you looking to insure for?
£35 a month for extra cover is ridiculous!
Reply to this Hi Mike, When I started travelling I rang Churchill, who cover my house and contents. I was covered under my existing policy for up to 60 days for my camera, laptop etc. After that I would need to sort out some specialist insurance. I've seen various companies with prices between £10-£15 for up to £2,500 of cover. I didn't have to search to hard, Google yielded several results.Try http://www.eandl.co.uk/leisure-and-lifestyle/camera-insurance for starters. My other suggestion is to find a high street insurance broker. There was one in my town in the UK and he was able to talk through my needs and arrange appropriate cover.
HTH
Reply to this Hi,
Camera insurance isn't the problem, you can get that quite easily. I checked out that link, but it was unclear what is deemed 'photographic equipment' so I gave them a call. One of my laptops would be covered with the camera as long as I ensure I use it to view the photos I took, but one wouldn't and the iPod's wouldn't either. It also only covers for a single 90 day period abroad, and as we would be travelling for 2 years+, it's not suitable.
Currently it's all covered (at home and away) by my house insurance but we'll be renting the house out so won't have any contents insurance when we leave.
The further I explore the different policies I'm also coming across some really ridiculous exclusions. Some won't cover any equipment over 2 years old, one wouldn't cover a laptop over 6 months old???
I suppose we've only got ourselves to blame for buying £250 iPods.. 😊
I'll look into a high street broker though, otherwise I may have to take out several policies with various companies just to ensure everything is covered without it costing the earth!
Mike.
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