I'm looking for advice on gear insurance, preferably all-risk cover, something that will cover all the eventualities that household contents insurance doesn't, like unattended tents and contents, and items in trailer or roofbox. Would be nice to find a policy where the excess is proportional to the claim value, so you don't have to pay a £50 excess on, say, a £60 claim.
I recently (following theft of a lot of UNinsured gear) sorted similar out on my house insurance (Norwich Union).
I'm paying £4 extra a month for: £2000 worth of goods left in a locked car/trailer etc, and £500 worth left unattended in a tent. The camping equipment bit was the lowest level they offer - since my tent is cheap and I don't have a fancy down bag, this is enough for me.
My excess is £60 BUT realistically, I don't leave SINGLE items lying around. And if someone were going to steal, it would be ALL my climbing kit, or SEVERAL items from a tent (or the tent itself as well!)
Don't underestimate the value of your things - one small rucksack stolen from my car set me back about £400 recently.
I'd have a chat with your home insurance providers, and see what they can suggest :)
I had a feeling you would be the first to reply - I read about your incident a few days ago, after doing a websearch for "Burnt Post" (I go in there occasionally). Hope you're on the way to being sorted with gear - looks like the world and his dog all want to give you their kit!
I've got my home insurer on the case now - I already had cover for £2000 personal posessions away from home but trailer/roofbox contents, and unattended tents with contents were not covered, according to the small print.
No, not "all risks" specifically. The camping section falls under "camping goods" and they said on the phone that I'd be expected to leave valuables (and other sports gear, like my climbing kit) in a locked car on site, unless wild camping, but all "reasonable" things left in the tent (clothes, mat, bag, tent, cooking things etc, etc) were covered.
I could have paid even more to cover a higher value, and do all-risks, but I thought about what I actually do, and I'm pretty happy with how things are at the moment. The only thing that isn't covered is if, while climbing, my pack is stolen from the base of a crag. But I'm not sure anyone would cover that for a reasonably low cost, since in general, "sporting goods" are NOT covered if it can be argued that they were "in use" at the time.
In general I'm happy with the new arrangements though, and have replaced nearly all the stolen kit - the car insurers should pay £100 towards it, which will help!
Curious as to why you were websearching for the Burnt Post!
It's always generally cheaper to stick things onto your contents insurance, than to have a separate policy, I've got 5 bikes worth in excess of £3,000 insured for £80 on mine.
The trouble with having your gear insured under your home contents is claims/NCD - do you want your home insurance to go up because you claim for, say, having an axe nicked from your tent?
BTW, Websearch for Burnt Post due to recent local incident involving some kids, some fireworks and a postbox.
No, but it's the same with all insurance - if you may need to claim, you weigh up the cost vs the rise in insurance.
The recent incident I had meant £1200 ish combined damage to car and stolen goods. So the £70-ish extra a year I have been given as an estimated rise in insurance is worth it. Had I just had an axe stolen, and no damage to a car, I wouldn't have claimed.
I don't think house insurance works the same way as motor insurance though, with regards to no claims bonuses etc. Maybe someone else knows more?
I get NCD from my buildings & home contents insurer - about £30 per claim-free year - so at present if I make any claim for gear it would cost £50 XS + approx £90 loss of NCD + hassle when getting quotes for renewal, so probably worth a separate policy, I reckon.
quite unlike motor insurance although some now do have, what i consider "dodgy", some no claims nonsense. diversification of household insurance now considers factors like age, occupation etc so as to target specific markets - bit like lower car premiums for women, over 50's.
£2,000 all risks in addition to the contents doesn't sound very high but this amount would probably be ok if you are single.
camping equipment and the like has always been considered, and always will be, a "special" case. getting it added to your contents insurance is a good move and is worth the money.
excesses exist to prevent small claims (claims cost a lot to administer which would rapidll push up premiums is the world and his wife start claiming £40 all over the place) and to eliminate/combat what is called "moral risk". e.g. want a new carpet. open window, place tin of paint on window sill. oops! that nasty wind just blew the window shut and knocked the paint over the carpet. covered under contents....not necessarily. but it is covered under "storm" - use the term "proximate cause" i.e. the wind was the direct cause of the incident. see! moral risk. or put another way, lying gits trying to get something for nothing.
and, repeating again. get insured. get insured for the correct sum insured. don't penny pinch because you get what you pay for. with "peripheral" covers (e.g. all risks, camping) correct sum insured is important as then, if you have a claim, the company won't automatically assume that all your other values are understated too and start looking at any other claim you may make with much closer attention and possibly introduce the concept of "average" to you.
voluntary insurance is only expensive if you never have a claim, but then, if you never have a claim why have voluntary insurance. (liability car insurance is compulsory)
cara, you have done the right thing for all the right reasons and have obviously carefully considered what sort of cover you actually want/need. well done (not patronising at all here). others read, take note and follow example.
OK, OK, I consider myself well and truly lectured!
So the insurer says "Well, Mr. Bearded Git, we will insure your kit. How much is your new tent worth?"
Now, what's the answer? Choose from the following list:
Manufacturer's RRP Normal catalogue price Normal web price Best discount price on the day What I paid for it without haggled discount What I paid for it with haggled discount
Falling all the way down down Hell Gate (Gable) was more fun than this insurance lark.
Parky - £2000 is fine I think. Camping equipment is worth approx £400, climbing kit £7-800, odds and sodds £100ish, rucksacks £120, and that leaves over £500 for clothes and anything I have forgotten.
In general, I never have that much stuff in the car, or away from home at one time anyway :)
I had skimped on insurance before - taken the cheaper options, not added in any "away from home" cover, etc, etc but never again!
1. Some kids set fire to the mail by putting lit fireworks in a postbox I'd just posted in, so I wanted to see if anybody knew about how to check if my item was affected.
2. so if I paid £350 in a 1-off sale for a tent RRP £500 (unrepeatable deal), my insurers would pay out, say, £300, so I'm them £200 shy of a replacement, not the £50 you would expect... hmmmm
3. Not insured against effects of gravity exceeding effects of friction. Undamaged, amazingly.
I thought you insured goods for the value of a replacment. So, regardless of what you paid for your £500 tent, it would theoretically cost you £500 to replace it.(?)
Insurance scenario 1 Our replacement camera when one was stolen was (after the receipt that they insisted on checking first) replaced by the new equivalent model in terms of spec. Hence the new camera wasn't anything like the value of what we had spent originally, even though the lost camera was only 6 months old. We got vouchers for Jessops to the value of today's price, NOT the value of our loss. You don't get back what you paid.
Insurance scenario 2 I was burgled 11 years ago. The TV an the VCR was only about one year old (I had receipts again) and I was insured as 'replace as new'. I was offered a replacement chosen by them if the exact replacement was no longer current, delivered by their associate supplier. When I asked if I could have the money to choose my own, the answer was (figures made up) "we buy at trade prices. Your £400 TV is only costing us £200 so you'll only get £200 and you won't get a new TV of the same spec for that. Take it or leave it"
The VCR they supplied was worse than my one which had a really easy programming sequence and intuitive remote.
I didn't skimp on any insurance aspects but they do like to pay out as little as possible.
jj - you have been indemnified i.e. put in the same position after the loss as you were before it. a new camera. the actual cost of it is irrelevant.
cara - nice but do you also include clothes, pink panther like jewels, credit cards, keys and all the other junk that we carry around without realising it.
Hi, This thread has prompted a question which I'm hoping someone out there might answer:
I have an annual BMC insurance policy and I'm wondering how it stacks up on the gear insurance element - that isn't really the reason I have it but it does include Personal Belongings up to £1500. There are some conditions I'm aware of, the main ones are: - depending when the loss or theft occurs you need to get a carrier's report or a police report within 24 hours - Valuables must be on your person or locked away - No cover for personal belongings left in a car overnight, or any other time if not in the boot or out of sight. - "you must take proper care of your belongings and act as if you did not have this insurance policy"
So, subject to all that, if my kit got taken from a campsite or a wild camp (so I've nowhere secure to leave anything but I would carry my wallet and camera with me at all times), would they pay out? Given the nature of the policy and the market they're targeting I'd hope so, but after all it's still an insurance company! Anyone got any first-hand experience?
