Today we want to talk about whether it makes sense to insure your camera.
Much of photography has moved to our phones and many of us are happy with just that. So, if you fall into this category, this article is probably not for you. At KoverNow we recommend thinking about getting protection for your camera if you truly enjoy using it and photography is something that defines the way you look at the world. And the reason why we think this is important is because if photography is “part of you” you would want to make sure that you can continue your passion – no matter what.
Which takes us to the economic considerations of insurance and whether this makes sense for you specifically. The simple answer is it all depends on your risk capacity. If, in the worst case loss or damage to your camera body or lenses is nothing more than a nuisance to you because your financial flexibility allows you to replace your equipment without breaking into a sweat, you are probably happy to assume this risk yourself. Conversely, if you needed to exercise some financial discipline and save towards acquiring your equipment you may want to consider sharing that risk with an underwriter.
So, let’s say you decided to share this risk (for a premium) with someone else how should you go about it?
At KoverNow we think that an all-risk cover is what you want to look for embedded into a flexible policy schedule. Let’s take this in turn. An all-risk cover is one where the contract covers any risk that is not specifically omitted. Flexibility is something that we deem important for two reasons. Location and adjustments to your equipment. Singapore is a fantastic place for many reasons, including the low crime rate. If you travel with your equipment this is not necessarily the case. Which brings us to our second point, flexibility. You may want to choose protection only for the periods that you are travelling. That’s why at KoverNow our policies run for a month and can be cancelled at any given point in time.
Next, let’s spend a minute on the premium for your cover. We are strong believers in transparency and want you to understand exactly what you get when parting with your money. That’s why we maintain databases of cameras and lenses so we can always know how much your equipment is currently worth. You benefit from this work in the background via a monthly adjustment of your premium, reflecting the current value of your camera. You can always see an immediately executable premium on our app – whether you are insured or not. Let’s make this concrete. As we write this article, we see that one of our founders has insured his 7 year old Leica MP body together with a 35 mm Summicon lens for S$ 6.85 per month. Not so bad, right?
Let’s briefly touch on home contents and its limitations. Typically, home contents insurance does not cover valuables like cameras, or it caps the value. Also, most of us who are into photography like to find new things in the viewfinder, so we are excited to leave the house, which is where home contents cover definitely does not work. As an additional thought – wearing our economist hats – if you are a tenant and do have home contents cover, you may want to think about re-directing your premium towards your property, rather than your landlord’s.
To summarize, insuring your cameras makes sense when the purchase or replacement of the equipment required some financial discipline in the past or would put stress on your current cash flow if you had to replace it.
If you do decide to get covered, look for a flexible all-risk policy to reflect your usage and travel patterns.
Focus matters and framing matters in photography and in protecting your equipment. At KoverNow we have the tools so you can focus on what fuels your passion.
