Are your digital photos insured?

[Nigel G]

If your computer was stolen or lost in a fire would your digital images be insured under your household contents policy? As they are probably irreplaceable anyway is insuring them actually worthwhile - probably not.

However having just received my renewal quote I was surprised to see one of the amendments to my policy is that digital music, video and photos are now covered to a maximum of £2,500 as standard. So if if you can't replace the photos you might be able to buy a new lens to help you start over as a bit of a consolation.

I asked on BF who people recommended for insurance about a year ago and got very little response so I did my own research and came up with "Hiscox".

One of the main attractions was that they covered theft from an unattended vehicle to £2.5K were as most companies only cover £1k. In addition "new for old" is standard as is "all risks" and "Worldwide" cover, nor did I have to list higher value items individually. Oh yes - and I saved £200 per annum on what I had been paying to a high street company.

I had to make a claim this summer on the buildings element of the policy and the claims service was friendly, hassle-free and infact superb - including them phoning me the day after I sent the final bill to confim that I would be happy if they made payment by direct transfer in order to get it cleared in my account within 2 days !!

If you fancy checking them out for a comparrison with your own insurer a quote service and full policy details are available here

PS: I promise I have no link with this company - I'm just a very satisfied customer.

[John]

Thanks Nigel my policy is due for renewal in January. I have looked at the policy and obtained a quote. It looks good to me I am seriously considering going ahead.

John

[nirofo]

I have a large slide library, over 60,000 slides taken over many years, some if not all are irreplaceable. A few years ago I sent a batch of 20 slides off to a publisher, (I'd sent slides to this publisher many times previously), they went missing, never recovered. After waiting for the Post Office to declare they were lost, (not their fault??), I did a quick total estimate of the value of the slides, (20 x £50 = £1000) and put in a claim to my insurance company, this was an all risks photographic policy incidentally. I waited approx 3 weeks without hearing anything and then decided to contact them, the response was your claim has been assessed invalid. The reasoning behind this was that because the slides had never been published before it was impossible to set a figure on their value other than the replacement cost of materials, (same old get out). I argued with them for several months with no effect, eventually I had to get the Bureau of Freelance Photographers involved in my claim, (I was a member then), they contacted the insurance company on my behalf and eventually they agreed to pay me £300 plus 20 new films. A long way from the true value of the slides, but at least I got something back. The moral of this story is, even if you think your insurance policy covers you in the event of lost material, it doesn't necessarily mean that you are covered, make sure you get it in writing exactly what you are insured for.

nirofo.