There’s nothing quite like coming back from a lovely walk in the woods and finding that your car windows are down and your camera, expensive lenses, credit cards, and phone have left the scene without you. I went from confusion, disbelief, shock, and then calm as I realized that everything missing, after all, was “just stuff.”
What a comfort it was to mentally tally my losses and weigh them against the expectation that it was all covered through my PPA insurance policy. If you’re a PPA member you probably know that one of the great benefits is $15K in free insurance coverage. PPA also offers the opportunity to purchase a paid plan, which I decided on after careful consideration. That turned out to be one of my best decisions ever, but as I went through the claim process, I found I had made some mistakes. Let me help you learn from them in five easy steps.
1. Consider your needs. PPA insurance is provided by Lockton Affinity. There are major differences in the ways they cover free and paid insurance claims. Know these differences and think carefully about how you use your gear and the risks to which you’ll expose it.
I traveled a lot last year and wanted my gear to be covered anywhere in the world, but I reasoned that I didn’t need every single thing I owned covered to that extent. The paid insurance requires that you provide serial numbers for items that have them. These are “scheduled items”. The more you insure, the more you pay. When I purchased the policy, I understood that non-scheduled losses would be covered by the general $15K in free insurance. Perhaps in many cases that would be true, but…
2. You should know and understand the allowances and exclusions. Ask lots of questions. When I began my claim, I believed the free insurance would apply if the police report stated the car was locked. As it turned out, it’s not enough that the car was locked. Our car was broken into electronically (apparently this is happening with greater frequency), and there must be visible evidence of forced entry for the free coverage. The paid coverage did not have that requirement.
What did this mean? It meant that the scheduled items were covered, but the somewhat shocking amount of miscellaneous gear in my bag wasn’t. The bag itself, tripod mounting plates, filter system, extra batteries, and two $500 type-A memory cards were a total loss. Additionally, I had just purchased a Sony 70-200 2.8 lens and had forgotten to add it to my paid policy. Which is lesson number 3…
3. Keep your policy up to date and keep all your information together. If you sell or add gear, immediately update your policy. For a claim you’ll need to provide proof of purchase and serial numbers, if applicable. Keep these in a file somewhere because in the time it takes to pull everything together you won’t have any gear. Also, be sure to file a police report immediately and itemize everything that’s missing because the insurance company will want to see it.
4. Think carefully about your threshold for loss. My non-scheduled losses were in the $4500 range, so a replacement Sony 70-200 lens is on hold for the foreseeable future. As I bemoaned this to the insurance representative, he suggested that for the future I add another $5K worth of coverage for all the miscellaneous stuff. What??? For some reason—maybe because at the time I was only thinking of dropping my camera into an Icelandic waterfall—I thought the paid insurance was specifically for items with serial numbers. I also reasoned that the smaller items would fall under the free plan. Can your business handle the loss if the policy doesn’t cover your specific situation? If not…
5. Paid insurance is worth it. I don’t want to pay home, health, or auto insurance but I do it without question every year. I now view gear coverage in the same realm. In spite of losing over $4500 I am able to replace my Sony A1 and two expensive lenses, a loss I wouldn’t have easily recovered from.
And a final note…. insurance is not an opportunity to upgrade all your gear on the cheap. With the paid insurance the company will look at the actual replacement cost of each item and then pay a depreciated value. They explained that if I provide receipts showing I bought identical items at full price they would send the rest of the money. As I understand it, the free insurance will only pay the depreciated value, which could be significant.
The dust hasn’t fully settled on my claim. I go back and forth between congratulating myself for purchasing the extra policy and feeling frustrated that in spite of all my initial questions I still wasn’t properly insured. I’m not an insurance expert and any mistakes here are mine, but I hope this helps you think about your own needs so you’re appropriately prepared if you find yourself in an unfortunate situation.