ty Don..I will look it up. Good advice. If anyone else has company info regarding insurance, please post.

Thanks again Don

Insurance suggestions?
 

This past week I bought a new SONY DSR-400 and a bunch of stuff to go with it. So when I grab my bag and tripod to go our the door now, I'm toting about $15K worth of goodies.

I never worried about it much with the XL-1s, but I'm thinking I better get some kind of loss/damage insurance. My auto insurance covers it while the stuff's in the car, and my home-owner's insurance covers it here; but...

Any suggestions?

Charles, who is your auto and home insurance with? I'd be happy to get someone who would just cover my gear at home and in the car like that. Even coverage just for fire or theft would make me happy. Neither my homeowner's or auto policies will cover the equipment at all since it is used for business, and I haven't found anyone locally who does offer coverage for gear unless it is kept at a fixed location and never taken outside (kept in a studio).

Insurance
 

Dan:

In Colorado, you don't have to be a farmer to be a member of the Farm Bureau and have their (reasonably priced) insurance. So I do.

But I guess I should check with my agent, again. I don't remember business items being excluded. I lost my editing computer when lightning hit my house two years ago, and they took care of that immediately.

As far as auto insurance is concerned, I must be an industry poster boy. I'm 56, have been paying since I was 16, and I've never had a claim.

Charles,
I've found the same as Dan. Neither my HO or auto covers my gear EXCEPT my HO policy will cover it in my house if the house is destroyed etc.
All of my gear and my liability is taken care of by RVNuccio.com who are brokers and place their policies thru Firemens Fund Ins. Not that expensive and well worth it. I'd hate to find out my auto policy did not cover my gear when I'm filing a claim.
They might have covered your computer because it was a computer not necessairly an editing computer or they just didn't realize you used it for business. Most insurance company's don't or can't tell the difference between a computer and an computer used exclusively for editing.
Anyway thats a good idea checking with your agent and if he turns pale as a ghost or coughs alot or bursts out laughing at your inquiry (some of them will do all 3) try rvnuccio.com.

Be careful with that new beauty and have fun with it.
Don B

Whew... glad I asked
 

Thanks, Don.

You'd better talk to your agent; you might be in for a rude awakening. My homeowners policy provides coverage up to $5,000... BUT my agent said there was a very gray area if the equipment is used as part of a business. So last summer I had her research things and ended up with a "inland marine policy" (at least I think that's what it's called) which covered about $15,000 of my gear which was detailed in a list. This policy provided coverage while travelling outside of the US which was important for me.

I have my homeowners, auto and personal liability policies through State Farm FWIW. It was not particularly expensive - under $250/year IIRC. Talk to your agent and clearly explain what you use the equipment for, how much it cost and what sort of coverage you want. They can suggest the correct policy to cover all the bases.

Aren't these things covered when you get insurance for the shoot?

Well you also need LIABILITY insurance when you film, but that's a completely different issue from LOSS insurance. So you have a variety of bases to cover....

if you are using it to make $$ then as others have stated your home/renters insurance is not going to cover it .. you can ask your agent about pricing on a FLOATER policy to cover it and any liability insurance coverage... back in 2000 when i had my home insurance look into it they wanted 1800 to cover 20K in equipment ( 1000 deduct) and 1 mil liability package ... note that my insurance stated that if i use equipment to make or my intent is to make $$ it was/is NOT covered by home owners insuance at home or in auto...

today i have no intent to make $$ on my projects so i pay around 500 for a 20k equipment and few mil liabilty floater policy per year ...

Insurance
 

To rent equipment and to attain filming permits you need insurance. I'm curious to know where you guys go for insurance. Are there companies that specialize in business-related/production insurance? And can you purchase per-day insurance policies?

Nobody here has ever gotten insurance for a shoot?

I wouldn't do a shoot without insurance.
Unless... I'm working as a one man band with my own equipment.
But, even I require my clents to provide a certificate of insurance to cover my gear.

If I hire a crew, rent equipment, rent a stage, location etc... I have a minimum of (1 million) liability insurance to cover any loss. This is required by all equipment rental houses. I also provide workmans comp insurance in case a crew member is injured.

This insurance is very expensive, But I just roll it into the cost of the production. The cost is based on your production budget.
I purchase it on a job by job basis.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Stephen! Which company do you use for your insurance? I found a ton of companies on Google who specialize in production insurance... some of them look legit and some don't.

Thanks again for the info.

Google is a good place to start in finding an agent in your area.

The big underwriter is Lloyds of London. But really expensive.

The Chapman Group LLC is in the Dallas area. I use them when I can.
They may be able to give you the name of an agent in the DC/Baltimore area.

tom@chapmangroup.com

If you're going to do a lot of production throughout the year you might consider an annual policy. It might save you some money vs. a policy on a job by job basis. In the past I have been tagged with an anti-terrism rider when I shoot in NYC. I don't know if that's still true or not. It may be true for the DC area as well.

Take the time to shop around. It will save you some bucks.
Good luck.

I give up, what's that for? In case an anti-terrorism squad shoots you by accident?

It's just another way for the insurance companies to make more money.

I was asked if I would be shooting in Manhattan or the NYC mtropolitan area.
I said I was shooting all over the area including Manhattan, New Jersey & Westchester County.
The agent told me that on the days I would be in the NYC metropolitan area I would have to pay an added "fee" because of the threat of terrorism in the area. This was 3 years after 9/11.

I called a producer friend in NYC and she told me this was just an added cost of doing business in NYC post 9/11.

I guess it doesn't fall under the "Act of God" catagory.

Thanks. So its not added coverage, just added cost (because they can).

Marshall Entertainment Insurance in Orlando, reasonable rates for most any production.

If you are doing a big crew shoot in Florida, you need to have insurance, no doubt. But insurance companies in general blow!

It is added coverage... in the event of a terrorist attack.
That you have to pay for. (not justified IMO)
Or... you won't get production insurance shooting in NYC.
As was my experience 08/05.

prevention against theft? insurance?
 

Hi, I bought a $1500 camera, and probably 1000-1500 worth of accessories.

I got robbed recently and lost $1500 of various electronics (although none of my video equipment for some reason).

I have renter's insurance, so I had some coverage. But if I'm out on a shoot somewhere, I don't know whether renter's insurance would apply.

I'm still an independent (i.e, not making any money), but that could conceivably change. it won't be a primary income source. Still, theft of video equipment on the road could really devastate me.

How do you handle the security question? What precautions can I take? What sort of insurance options are available? What shooting situations tend to be the most fraught with danger?

Off the top of my head, my solution would be to make sure I don't shoot alone, but always have someone with me. And leave things in the trunk as much as I can. (But if someone breaks into my car/trunk? Is that typically covered by renter's insurance)?

Robert Nagle

There have been multiple threads about this which will come up when you do a search.

In general, (and this is how I covered myself), you can get a rider for certain items from your insurance provider that is part of your homeowners or even renters insurance. The insurance company will already have a value for the equipment or an equivalent providing you have proof of ownership. Obviously, you pay an extra fee on top of your premium for these items.

The other issue to research is whether it is commercial or non-commercial. These riders are meant to cover the average homeowner who wants to protect their laptop or personal camera equipment, not someone who uses it as their primary source of income.

As for security, by all means shoot with a trusted partner. No security system in the world can protect something that isn't watched.

Yeah, the only real answer to your question is "talk to your insurance agent." I did and they researched it; in my case they said equipment would not be covered if it was being used for business purposes, and my homeowners policy maxxed out at $5,000 anyway.

Give your agent all your info and ask them to recommend the proper policy. In my case I think I'm paying about $200 annually to cover $15,000 worth of equipment. In previous threads others have reported even better deals. In my case, I wanted to be sure I was covered when traveling out of the US so that might have been a factor in the cost.

Boyd,

That seems like a good rate. Who are you insured with? BTW, I believe it's best to pay for full replacement value insurance rather than depreciated value since it's likely new gear you'll be buying if stuff is stolen.

I have all my gear covered thru RVNuccio (a broker) who places policys with Firemens Fund. Including a million in liability covering about 30k in gear my rate is about $400 per year. I asked my HO policy agent whom I've been with for 25 years (covers cars also) and they wouldn't touch the gear either as a rider or a business, so I went to another insurance company but they were kind of high and wanted all of my insurance so after a few years with them I went to Nuccio. So far so good, of course I haven't filed a claim but I feel pretty good sinces it's with Firemens Fund.

RVNuccio.com

Don B

I went to my State Farm agent since I already had auto, homeowners and liability policies through them. But honestly, I didn't even shop around so you might be able to do better.

Rental Insurance
 

Hi Everyone,

I have a question. I'm thinking about going through a rental company to acquire equipment for a short I'll be doing. The question I have is in regards to insurance. Do rental companies typically offer their own policy if you don't have an external service? How much would they charge on say . . . a $700 order? Thanks!

Matthew Overstreet

Hey Matthew.

Some rental companies offer their own independent insurance coverage, but not all. The cost will vary depending on the cost of your rental, and the peroid of you rental. I would guess it would be in the neighbor hood of $100 for a week.

Just to give you an idea of the cost, I rented $2200 worth of equipment in Los Angeles for a week, and the cost for insurance was $200.00. not to bad.

Hope this helps.
Cody Mielke
http://www.guerillarentals.com

It does indeed depend upon the rental house. The place I rent from will allow non-insurance holders to either purchase coverage from them, or if the amount of rental is low enough they will charge a deposit to your credit card which is immediately refunded upon return. The also give me a discount since the rental fee is prepaid on the credit card.

If you're just doing a one weekend short and shooting mini-dv you can probably go this route. I think the cut off is like 5000 or so.

I've actually worked with several rental companies that handle it this way. One you basically had to do a credit app with them.

There are ways around paying for the insurance though. If you are at all concerned about loss, theft or significant damage you should go with the insurance.

It's glad to hear that it doesn't cost THAT much. I just wanted a rough estimate that I could put on my budget outline. Thank you.

Equipment Insurance
 

Hello,

Being a new owner of the HD100, I am looking for insurance for my camera package.

So far I've found a company called RV Nuccio & Associates. They are in LA and they are registered with the California Insurance Comission. They seem legit but has anyone had to file a claim with them?

Are there any better or cheaper insurance companies for my gear?


Thanks.
Scott

See the following:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=60744
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=59436

Scott,

I know you are insuring a HD100, but I moved this to "Taking Care of Business," because equipment insurance applies to everything.

insurance
 

How do you insure your equipments, the camera, the steadicam...?

I read my renter insurance contract, and apparently they only insure 10% of my properties when they are not at my place.
So I'm trying to see if I could get a insurance at a reasonable price.

Any advices?

Thanks,
Best Regards,
Quoc

Some use a company like State Farm others like myself use a broker like RVNuccio who places policys thru Firemans Fund and gives me $1 million is liability and covers ALL of my gear that I take out on jobs for a nominal fee per year.

Search around you'll find some good and some not so good deals out there.

Don

Wranglers!!!!!!!! maybe you can move this to a place where it would get more play-I thinks we be in the wrong place ;-)

Don

Hi Quoc, I moved your thread to our business forum where insurance has been discussed frequently do a search here for more info. Another thing to consider, your homeowners/renters insurance probably won't cover any equipment used for business purposes... talk to an agent for the full story.

Thank you for the info.

Best Regards,
Quoc

Insurance?
 

What is the best way to get your camera insured against damage/disaster? I bought the extended warranty, but my work involves a lot of scenarios where my camera may be more exposed than I'd like.

I'm looking into starting a small production company and going with small business insurance, but I haven't heard anything back from my friend about that, and I'd liek to make sure the camera is insured in the meantime.

Hi Jason,

This discussion would be a better fit in our business forum since it has nothing to do with the brand of camera. Have a look at the following for starters:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=60744
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=59436
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=53920
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=10475

Small business insurance as a Rider on Renter's insurance?
 

We are currently renting a home, and I'm using one room as an office. The property manager has no problem with it, but insists I have some sort of insurance. I can't figure out why, as I don't have clients in, and won't be doing any shoots on the property.

So, what kind of policy should I look for in Florida? Any ideas?