Company wants to rent my Z1U...
 

Hi,

A company I do some web work for would like to rent my Z1U for a two-week shoot in Africa.

They say they have insurance to cover it if it's damaged.

What do I charge, and how to I make sure they DO have my camera insured?

I was thinking of asking for a check for $4,700 (B&H's current price) that I would deposit into my account and would refund once they return my Z1U in working order.

Any advice?

Thanks,

Jim

Ask for a copy of their certificate of insurance for rental equipment with an amount more than the value of the gear. And check with the insurer to make sure the policy is in force if you don't trust them. AND make sure it is valid for overseas.

the worst thing that can happen is not they break the camera (then you would get a new one), it is they bring it back, still working, but full of dust , sand and scratch. what would you do ? is it your only one camera ?
That is why i never lend equipment. After all if they are a company, they can probably get a serious camera at a shop.
Or lend it for almost the price of a new one, you would be surprised on how many companies cannot purchase stuff but are able to rent at even twice the price of the purchase price.

I would certainly be suspicious since they want to rent your gear rather than go with an established rental house ... why would they do that? Not that that means anything negative about you, rather it should make you wonder why they're taking an unconventional approach, what are they not telling you that you really need to know before putting your gear at risk? Call me paranoid but in some cases people who AREN'T paranoid simply don't have enough information.

Jim,
Hopefully they want to borrow "your" camera because they've seen some great footage you've done for them.

I'd steer them towards a rental house, even offer to set it up so you can answer any tech questions.

If you really want to do it, check that their insurance will cover rented equipment in africa. And specifically for the region they're going. Several areas are going to be classified as "war regions" or whatever the insurance term is and I don't think any insurance would apply there.

And as someone else pointed out, these cameras really aren't all that expensive. Two weeks from a rental place is probably close to the purchase price.

Plus, you can't book any work for the two weeks that it's gone. Actually three to four weeks, considering the pro cleaning etc.

Why don't you tell them you'll be happy to rent them the gear IF they hire you as the camera operator to go along with it. That not at all unusual - when the operator is expected to also provide the equipment (such as a location sound mixer usually does) the employer both pays the fee for the op and a rental for his equipment from him.

Everyone above is throwing pearls at you. If this "equipment" is your business, and your business isn;t leasing equipment, then steer them elsewhere and charge them for consulting on the equipment rental if you handle the transaction for them.

Africa is a long way away if there is a customs issue.

I never hire equipment to inexperienced people, only operators that work for me on other jobs. I always insist on insurance.

I would either suggest they hire me and the camera as a package, or charge the full cost of a new camera as a rental. I'd then simply buy a new camera - they take my old one to Africa and I have a new one. If it comes back in reasonable condition, I then have 2 cameras to use or let one go on eBay...

Whether this is workable is, I guess, up to the client ;-)

I wouldn't recommend renting your camera to them either. It doesn't matter if they do have insurance, you still have to go through alot of paperwork and downtime if something happens to your camera. The recovery process may not be as smooth as you might think.