Insuring my camera for a trip to Africa

[Mr Obertshaw]

I'm off to Malawi in a couple of weeks and want to take my DSLR and my dad is lending me some of his lenses. I'm looking at travel insurance policies and they all seem to have a single item value limit of £150 or there about.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to any policies that might cover this? Google seems to suggest putting it on the home insurance, but that's a no go for me as It's not my home and the policy holder wont play ball.

I cant afford to replace the equipment if it gets nicked, however it would be a shame to miss out on some fantastic photo opportunities.

[crmcatee]

Isn't it already covered under the house insurance; admittingly you say that the owner isn't playing ball but that does mean if there was a fire at the house you've lost everything including your camera; would they pay up or would they presume that you've got your own insurance.


Check the single item limit under the electronics / away from home use would be my recommendation but that assumes the owner would play ball.

There are specialist camera insurance companies out there - but since we don't know what value you're putting on the items it doesn't really help. £500, £2,500, £5,000 ?

[Mr Obertshaw]

Thanks. I'll speak to the homeowner tomorrow, I know some of my belongings such as my bike etc are covered as I listed them when they set up the policy, however I am borrowing the lenses from my dad so I don't have them here at this time. I'm taking a Canon 17-40 f4 l, Canon 50mm 1.4 and a canon 70-200 f2.8, my body is a Canon 20d but I'm not worried about the cost of replacing that.

Is it possible that my dads home insurance would cover the lenses even if I have them?

[tog]

Glover and Howe specialise in photo insurance. There are plenty of other companies, but they have always been good in my experience.

http://www.gloverhowe.com/

[Gold]

I use photoguard and had no problems making a claim.

http://www.photoguard.co.uk/

[DIW35]

Most home owners will have a building and contents policy rolled in to one. That covers items that get stolen/lost/broken or whatever, but it also covers the actual building should it get destroyed by fire or earthquake.

As a tenant, you should have your own contents policy. Obviously, not being the owner, you wouldn't need the buildings part. With your own policy, you can specify certain items for all risk cover, which provides insurance on those items whilst they are away from home, but will also often cover them for accidental damage as well as theft/loss. All risk often has a single item limit. I think mine is £4000, so covers all my current cameras and lenses. Not sure what I will do if I ever buy a 1D X, but I'll cross that bridge should I ever get to it.

[havoc]

I looked into this a few years ago when I started getting a fair bit of kit and going long-haul to odd places.
- Travel insurance is worthless for camera kit.
- Home insurance often IS pretty good, but it's not always perfect
- ...so I've been with Glover & Howe for 3-4 years now. Made a claim this year and they were pretty good.

One comment - I think they only do annual policies and you could be looking at £70-100 depending on level of cover required.