Insurance Loss Adjusters Visit? Camera kit.

[devs]

Hi guys I was wondering if anyone has had one of these before and could give me some tips on what to expect?

I had some expensive camera gear stolen + a tomtom while I was on holiday a couple of weeks ago. ;(

I've got a police report and have raised it with my home insurance company as that the only real cover that I had.

They are sending out a Loss Adjuster tomorrow and my only real concern is that I buy the bulk of my camera gear 2nd hand via forums etc and only have a few receipts as such. I do have most of the original packaging and wondered how useful this is without receipts?



I've never made a claim in my life before so any help would be great.

Thanks,

Devs.

[eddiewood]

Originally Posted by devs

Hi guys I was wondering if anyone has had one of these before and could give me some tips on what to expect?

I had some expensive camera gear stolen + a tomtom while I was on holiday a couple of weeks ago. ;(

I've got a police report and have raised it with my home insurance company as that the only real cover that I had.

They are sending out a Loss Adjuster tomorrow and my only real concern is that I buy the bulk of my camera gear 2nd hand via forums etc and only have a few receipts as such. I do have most of the original packaging and wondered how useful this is without receipts?



I've never made a claim in my life before so any help would be great.

Thanks,

Devs.

I made a claim for various items stolen during a break-in just by using the manuals as proof, no receipts at all! Got new for old.

[devs]

That's good news! Did they not ask where and when you bought them and what you paid?

[shotokan101]

If you have new for old cover then proof of ownership of the items will be more important than receipts - if it's not new for old then you will need to be sure to argue for a realistic replacement value based on current second habd prices.

If you choose to allow them to replace with "equivalent" models then make sure that you are happy with the features and be wary of the "betterment" excess they will try to apply.

Jim

[eddiewood]

Originally Posted by devs

That's good news! Did they not ask where and when you bought them and what you paid?

It's going back a few years, I don't remember being quizzed about it. I presented the manuals to the guy and he accepted them. I guessed the amount of CDs stolen and he was happy with that too. I'd actually lost the manual for my VCR and sent off to Panasonic for it, only cost a couple of quid! I don't recall having a single receipt for anything, I was young and binned stuff like that back then (not anymore!).

One of the items was a scientific calculator, I managed to find a website selling them for £110 and used that as an estimate of replacement cost. Got the cash too!

I was dreading it, but it was all mundane and routine.

[Nimby]

My insurance company took me at my word over the phone but beat me down by a £100 over new for old because digital camera prices had fallen in the interim!

I lost out by ~£100 on a one year old £300 camera + leather case and memory card.

It was far more expensive for Panasonic and AVF though. I bought a new camera, moved into Digital Photo General Chat and have halved their share prices overnight.

You should have seen the damage I caused over in Subwoofers. I made grown men weep.

[shotokan101]

Originally Posted by Nimby

My insurance company took me at my word over the phone but beat me down by a £100 over new for old because digital camera prices had fallen in the interim!

I lost out by ~£100 on a one year old £300 camera + leather case and memory card.

It was far more expensive for Panasonic and AVF though. I bought a new camera, moved into Digital Photo General Chat and have halved their share prices overnight.

You should have seen the damage I caused over in Subwoofers. I made grown men weep.

Yes but look what you've done for the Sale of Arc Lighting

Jim

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Nimby

My insurance company took me at my word over the phone but beat me down by a £100 over new for old because digital camera prices had fallen in the interim!

I lost out by ~£100 on a one year old £300 camera + leather case and memory card.

It was far more expensive for Panasonic and AVF though. I bought a new camera, moved into Digital Photo General Chat and have halved their share prices overnight.

You should have seen the damage I caused over in Subwoofers. I made grown men weep.

that is why people have been known to claim for stuff they did not have , not that i am condoning the practice of course !!! , i try to keep all manuals and boxes if i can , the only box i dont currently have is for a 42" toshiba lcd , wouldnt go through the loft hatch

[Pirate!!]

Once upon a time I had a camcorder. It got broke. The LA came round and took deets. "That model aint made no more" he said, "so we're going to replace it with model 'X'".

"Holy Cow"! (well more like "For Sake") . . . thinking the worse. Turns out I got the all-singing-all-dancing version of the day as a replacement. Don't be put off . . these guys are here to make a judgement and you could well be the beneficiary of circumstance.

You pay your premiums, these guys are not stupid. If you falsify a claim, they'll know. If genuine, they'll do the business. Be positive. If you can show them anything relative to the goods (eBay invoices etc), it'll be a help . . . even images of the items stolen.

It's worth 10 minutes of anyones time to take shots of anything of value for the record (including the serial number(s)).

[TonyH]

Originally Posted by Pirate!!

Once upon a time I had a camcorder. It got broke. The LS came round and took deets. "That model aint made no more" he said, "so we're going to replace it with model 'X'".

"Holy Cow"! (well more like "For Sake" . . . thinking the worse. Turns out I got the all-singing-all-dancing version of the day as a replacement. Don't be put off . . these guys are here to make a judgement and you could well be the beneficiary of circumstance.

You pay your premiums, these guys are not stupid. If you falsify a claim, they'll know. If genuine, they'll do the business. Be positive. If you can show them anything relative to the goods (eBay invoices etc), it'll be a help . . . even images of the items stolen.

It's worth 10 minutes of anyones time to take shots of anything of value for the record (including the serial number(s)).

Tonyh slopes off to pull some nice pictures of minolta G lenses of ian hobdays auctions

only kidding folks

[dancingmatt]

I accidentally broke a 350D and 70-300mm lens which I'd bought together from eBay over 2 years ago. They were covered under our home contents insurance. I rang up to claim, told them what they were (speaking to someone who didn't specifically know photography), they asked me for an estimated cost and then offered me £100 less than that there and then. I went away, did research that they asked which basically consisted of going into shops and asking them for the best replacement. Sent various printed quotes for 450D plus a similar Canon lens to them and got £300 more than they offered me over the phone. I don't even have to buy it from one of those quotes. Must admit, I expected they'd replace it through a supplier they had an arrangement with, or I'd have to send them receipts of what I bought. But then I've never claimed for anything.