Insurance Questions

[Pieter]

My Amica policy is similar in many respects; I believe it's somewhat standard. But some things to be aware of:

• damage due to flooding may not be covered
• the coverage limit for personal property not at the principle residence (for example, at a hotel) is lower

I like to take photos of the item and of it's serial number. I feel a photo is stronger evidence that you actually possessed the item. Particularly as so much of my equipment was purchased used and, when bought as a package, not itemized.

A less than scrupulous individual could obtain photos of serial numbers from ebay.

[HMG]

A less than scrupulous individual could obtain photos of serial numbers from ebay.

A less than scrupulous individual could falsify a receipt, especially from a defunct store on an item supposedly purchased many years ago. There's no end to what a less than scrupulous individual could do. As the rightful owner of the item, you just do what you can to stack the odds in your favor.

[Tin Can]

Remember when the 'smart' people engraved by scratch their SS # on everything

degrading value

with identity theft risk

[Bob Salomon]

Remember when the 'smart' people engraved by scratch their SS # on everything

degrading value

with identity theft risk

You wouldn’t want your social security number all over the place today. Your last name would be enough.

[Kevin Crisp]

In slight defense of the insurance industry, the amount of fraud they face from their policy holders (let alone third parties) is pretty significant. Right after joining the CA bar I was assigned to work on the MGM Fire Case. Some 85 deaths and lots of injury claims arising out of the huge casino fire. Over the course of a couple years, I participated in 50 or so depositions of survivors. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them had just had a winning night in the casino, meaning that when they fled their room they left piles of chips on the nightstand. Wow.. And how, I wondered, do these casinos stay in business? And so many Rolex watches lost for which there were no receipts...

Unfortunately, I had to make a burglary claim against my homeowners' policy for camera equipment around 1990. I had receipts for most of the things. For ones that I didn't, you could see the equipment being used on vacation in some of my wife's pictures. I used quoted prices from B&H for replacement costs. They did pay me for an F4 as they couldn't find a new F3HP. That's replacement cost in action. Better than arguing what a used F3HP was worth. The adjuster commented that he'd never had such a thorough documentation on a loss. That didn't stop him from sitting on it with no payments for 90 days, but once prodded he paid 100%. I was particularly disappointed that a local well known camera retailer (starts with S****y's) took in lots of my LF equipment without doing the required running of serial numbers. My 8X10 Zone VI camera was located at that store, thanks to the assistance of Zone VI. I called S****y's and they said they bought it with "lots of other stuff," (i.e., all my stuff) but when the police showed up to claim the camera, they claimed it was only that one thing that we knew about.

Hopefully, you will all never have to go through that. But the small amount of time it takes to be prepared for the possibility makes dealing with it relatively easy. Type up a serial number list of your stuff. Put it all on a table and take a couple photos of it. Save receipts, but if you don't have it, the list and photos will get it done. Don't exaggerate.

[BrianShaw]

Thanks very much, Kevin, for your educated and experienced information.

[Drew Wiley]

I did hundreds of theft-related equipment replacement insurance quotes per year, or turned them over to assistants. Full replacement value was always what was quoted. Most were over $20,000. But because there was such a variety of policies involved, what people actually received itself could vary - all the way from total replacement expense clear down to maybe 50%. Sometimes equipment depreciation was factored into the return by the insurance company, sometimes is wasn't. Sometimes they were nitpicky about original receipts, but often they weren't and just went with blanket coverage. Of course, these were mostly business policies and not homeowner insurance; but the principle is the same - read the fine print when you purchase insurance in the first place.

[Pieter]

In slight defense of the insurance industry, the amount of fraud they face from their policy holders (let alone third parties) is pretty significant. Right after joining the CA bar I was assigned to work on the MGM Fire Case. Some 85 deaths and lots of injury claims arising out of the huge casino fire. Over the course of a couple years, I participated in 50 or so depositions of survivors. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them had just had a winning night in the casino, meaning that when they fled their room they left piles of chips on the nightstand. Wow.. And how, I wondered, do these casinos stay in business? And so many Rolex watches lost for which there were no receipts...

Unfortunately, I had to make a burglary claim against my homeowners' policy for camera equipment around 1990. I had receipts for most of the things. For ones that I didn't, you could see the equipment being used on vacation in some of my wife's pictures. I used quoted prices from B&H for replacement costs. They did pay me for an F4 as they couldn't find a new F3HP. That's replacement cost in action. Better than arguing what a used F3HP was worth. The adjuster commented that he'd never had such a thorough documentation on a loss. That didn't stop him from sitting on it with no payments for 90 days, but once prodded he paid 100%. I was particularly disappointed that a local well known camera retailer (starts with S****y's) took in lots of my LF equipment without doing the required running of serial numbers. My 8X10 Zone VI camera was located at that store, thanks to the assistance of Zone VI. I called S****y's and they said they bought it with "lots of other stuff," (i.e., all my stuff) but when the police showed up to claim the camera, they claimed it was only that one thing that we knew about.

Hopefully, you will all never have to go through that. But the small amount of time it takes to be prepared for the possibility makes dealing with it relatively easy. Type of a serial number list of your stuff. Put it all on a table and take a couple photos of it. Save receipts, but if you don't have it, the list and photos will get it done. Don't exaggerate.

Some camera manufacturers have you register your equipment with them. Today, with that being online and accessible, I would think that might be an ideal way to prove ownership.

[Drew Wiley]

Not necessarily, Pieter. With many manufacturers there's a time limit before the record gets expunged, often as brief as just the warranty period itself, which is really the only reason some allegedly retain registration info. Or if the company changes hands or its manner of data storage, there it goes. Nobody wants to store paper records anymore, or go through the hassle and expense of transferring them to digital files, or waste time having their own customer service agents looking them up. Only the very most reputable companies do that, and those are about as common as an Ivory Billed Woodpecker.
More often it occurs in relation to a protected distributorship who wants to make certain they're not dealing with a gray market equivalent if a question or claim arises.

[Alan Klein]

In slight defense of the insurance industry, the amount of fraud they face from their policy holders (let alone third parties) is pretty significant. Right after joining the CA bar I was assigned to work on the MGM Fire Case. Some 85 deaths and lots of injury claims arising out of the huge casino fire. Over the course of a couple years, I participated in 50 or so depositions of survivors. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them had just had a winning night in the casino, meaning that when they fled their room they left piles of chips on the nightstand. Wow.. And how, I wondered, do these casinos stay in business? And so many Rolex watches lost for which there were no receipts...

Unfortunately, I had to make a burglary claim against my homeowners' policy for camera equipment around 1990. I had receipts for most of the things. For ones that I didn't, you could see the equipment being used on vacation in some of my wife's pictures. I used quoted prices from B&H for replacement costs. They did pay me for an F4 as they couldn't find a new F3HP. That's replacement cost in action. Better than arguing what a used F3HP was worth. The adjuster commented that he'd never had such a thorough documentation on a loss. That didn't stop him from sitting on it with no payments for 90 days, but once prodded he paid 100%. I was particularly disappointed that a local well known camera retailer (starts with S****y's) took in lots of my LF equipment without doing the required running of serial numbers. My 8X10 Zone VI camera was located at that store, thanks to the assistance of Zone VI. I called S****y's and they said they bought it with "lots of other stuff," (i.e., all my stuff) but when the police showed up to claim the camera, they claimed it was only that one thing that we knew about.

Hopefully, you will all never have to go through that. But the small amount of time it takes to be prepared for the possibility makes dealing with it relatively easy. Type up a serial number list of your stuff. Put it all on a table and take a couple photos of it. Save receipts, but if you don't have it, the list and photos will get it done. Don't exaggerate.

You just reminded me that I haven't seen my Leica around for a while.