My Camera Gear Was Stolen - And i wasnt Insured :(

[Cre8tivepixels]

Hey,

Well my heart is dead today........i had two lenses and my second (body) stolen from my car late last night (yes i know i was stupid to leave it in there - the one time i have and it gets fricken stolen)......anyhow, who are you guys insured with and who should i ring about getting it insured?

Thanks for the help.......

Dan

[Kyle]

That sucks mate, horrible when that happens..!

AON have fantastic camera insurance. I'd be on the blower to Vesna asap to organize cover

[Cre8tivepixels]

That sucks mate, horrible when that happens..!

AON have fantastic camera insurance. I'd be on the blower to Vesna asap to organize cover

Hey mate do you have a website or contact detail?

Cheers
Dan

[jdear]

SUCKS!!!

+1 for AON... Ive got $15k equipment and $10 million P/L insurance with them.

what exactly was taken?

[gstark]

This must be contagious; my car was broken into last night too.

No cameras on board, but the CD/radio is gone, and I need a new side glass.

The side glass alone is $700.

Dash has been damaged a little, but not too bad, and the glove box no longer closes, so some repairs required there.

Just waiting to hear from O'briens as to when they can do the primary work. The rest seems fairly trivial.

As an observation, the wires from the radio were all neatly snipped, so the job appears to have been planned. And it seems that they may have used the car's interior light, as the switch was in the totally off position, which is not where I have it.

They also popped the bonnet, but I can't see any damage there.

Bloody sad ...

[Geoff]

Shit
Sorry to hear this Dan and Gary. Not good at all.

[Grev]

Wow sad to hear, is it a bad time in Sydney or just bad luck in general?

[Cre8tivepixels]

This must be contagious; my car was broken into last night too.

No cameras on board, but the CD/radio is gone, and I need a new side glass.

The side glass alone is $700.

Dash has been damaged a little, but not too bad, and the glove box no longer closes, so some repairs required there.

Just waiting to hear from O'briens as to when they can do the primary work. The rest seems fairly trivial.

As an observation, the wires from the radio were all neatly snipped, so the job appears to have been planned. And it seems that they may have used the car's interior light, as the switch was in the totally off position, which is not where I have it.

They also popped the bonnet, but I can't see any damage there.

Bloody sad ...

Popped the bonnet on mine too.......god i feel sick from this.......my FAV 80 - 200 2.8 Nikon plus macro 60mm another fav and the sharpest lens i had.....and my D70s , could have been worse....but still sux bigtime......

[wendellt]

sorry to hear that too

usually if you leave things in the car you should cover it with something that doesn't look too obvious

i feel for you i lost 1 camera body and 3 lenses in Italy but i was havign such a good time it didnt really hit me till i came back home and started contemplating the loss

[adam]

Sorry to hear about all your losses like that
Boo to thieves!!!!!!!!

[byrt_001]

ohhh nooo!

sorry to hear that dan, why did you not put it in the boot. Sometimes is easy to say, but I most of of the time i just open the boot and put everything in there.

but

on saturday, I was working on a big event where i need it to carry my all gear in the bag, lowepro super trekker. anyway I left it outside the all night and in the morning was a heavy rain. the 80-200 afsw was perfect... dry! why did i left it outside? I never carry big bags! I have pouches to my belt.

hope everything would work well? take care

christian

[Glen]

Dan and Gary, really sorry to hear that for both of you.

[Yi-P]

Dan and Gary... sorry to hear that...

Dan, did you know the serial numbers of the stuffs that are stolen? probably put it up on the net somewhere so says they are stolen items or something?

[Alex]

Sorry to hear about this, Dan and Gary.

Alex

[gooseberry]

Sad news indeed, sorry to hear that Dan and Gary.

[adam]

Your side glass is very costly! I'm assuming you drive a luxurious car!

[sirhc55]

Condolences Dan and Gary - at least the cars were not stolen.

I am assuming it was the SLK Gary - mine was broken into and what really pissed me off was the cost of replacing the lock on the unit between the seats. An $11 item cost over $1000 to replace as it was an integral part of the dash - go Mercedes

[Killakoala]

Terrible news for both of you.

But I always felt that it's not the damage or the loss that hurts the most, it's the feeling of having my space invaded by some scum.

If you ever find out who they are, I will be more than happy to be a part of the 'payback posse.'

[gstark]

Adam,

A Mercedes SLK.

So, Chris, yes.

The rest of the damage is really quite minor, and apart from the radio, probably just requires two hours in the workshop plus some parts. The glass is estmated as a three hour task, but I don't know if that includes the tinting film.

Steve ... yes ... and there seems to be a lot more of this shit happenning of late: a couple of weeks ago, Michael's car (Leigh's younger brother) was broken into and the radio stolen.

And the room where their band rehearses ... been broken into once, with some loss of gear, and a then a second attempt at a break-in about a month later.

And some residents here are having their cars, in the supposedly secure parking lot, broken into and vandalised.

[Matt. K]

If you're going to leave expensive camera gear in your car....buy a Volvo 240. Nobody, BUT NOBODY ever breaks into them. Even crooks have some pride. I used to park my Volvo 240 near Redfern railway station and catch the train into the city. One evning I came back and almost every car had a side window shattered...except mine. I'm guessing the glass was too tough or the moran was particular about his image. On another occasion I forgot to lock it at the same location. No probs. You could probably pick up a 240 for less than the cost of your camera insurence.

[jamesw]

that sucks guys

fyi they typically pop the bonnet to shut the alarm siren up. used to be a bit of a backyard grease monkey when i was a teen...

[petermmc]

Sorry to hear of your losses.

I realise it is easy to be wise after the event but I was talking to the Station Master of Unanderra Station (Wollongong) about the breakins at the station car park. He also parks his car there. His advice was as follows:

Leave the glove box open and the centre console open and empty. Take out the glove box light so that you dont run down your battery. He had his car broken into 3 times before he tried this and has not had one break in since.

I realise also that if you have expensive gear on a seat that none of this will make any difference but it may be of use to someone out there. Also, thiefs are apparently looking for the suction circles that GPS navigators leave on the front windscreen and breaking in in the hope they may snag one hidden in the glove box. Clean those circles.

All the best

Peter McNamara

[Louie]

Commiserations.

I'm only starting on my lens collecting journey, would be heartbreaking to have them so rudely taken away.

Elena

[xorl]

Ouch, sorry to hear about this .

I had my camera gear stolen (D200, 18-70, 50/1.4, 105, SB800,..) when I was in Sydney at the end of last year. I've been planning to write up the saga (breakin, pawn store, cops, court, insurance,..) for everyone, but haven't got around to it. Short story: I mostly got everything back with some out of pocket costs - even the photos! (*phew* ).

I've also had my car broken into twice over the last year. Grrr.

[Cre8tivepixels]

thanks all........a little retail therapy has helped, just got the Nikon 70-200 VR 2.8 and the Tokina 12-24 f4 (which i have been told by a few sites is better than the Sigma - which i found out also got stolen - and better than the Nikon version even.....so i am rapt now

Dan

[Geoff]

Where did u get it from Dan?

[Cre8tivepixels]

d-d discount photography......great business, never had an issue......

WOW i am impresse4d by the 70-200 wholy hell.......and for that fact the 12-24mm much sharper than my sigma version

Dan

[Kyle]

70-200 > 80-200 in every way Dan...

Can't believe you didnt have one!

[Geoff]

Dan - you won't be sorry with the 70-200 purchase.

I gotta say, that's the fastest replacement I've ever seen after a theft!

[Cre8tivepixels]

Dan - you won't be sorry with the 70-200 purchase.

I gotta say, that's the fastest replacement I've ever seen after a theft!

lol it was as good as any a reason to 'go for it'

[jethro]

Hi Dan sorry to hear about your loss!. get the 70-200 its a smoker. Iv'e had one for nearly 2 years and!
Jethro

[BT*ist]

Sorry to hear that, Dan.... but I'm glad you're coping with a new, improved purchase!

Sorry to hear about your troubles as well, Gary. Not sure what to say... people can be b8stards, and hopefully they'll be caught.

[rookie2]

bad luck Dan but glad you got on with life pretty quickly

Ahhh good old retail therapy..and we thought it was just our better halves who used that theory!!

Glad you had the $$ to be able to replace so quickly.

I finally settled my recent insurance claim after 6 weeks or so..a little out of pocket and I still havent replaced my 17 -55 f2.8 (I did move up to a D200 from my trusty D70S tho)

happy shooting with your new toys (I hope you have them fully insured now)

not quite so lucky Gary - commiserations!

cheers

R2

[ozimax]

Sorry to hear about the misfortune fellas, commiserations. I happened to me earlier in the year, in Coffs Hbr. Happens all the time.

Why don't we bring back public floggings? Might be worth a try whenever one of these "people" (word used lightly) is caught.

I think I will heed the advice from now on and leave glove box open.

Cheers,

Ozi.

[PiroStitch]

sorry to hear about your unfortunate situations gary and dan. Hopefully you will be able to track down the culprits and justice will be served.

[Cre8tivepixels]

Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts.......looking forward to posting some new images with my shiny new gear

[Cre8tivepixels]

Would ya believe i got a call from the police today and i 'more than likely' will get my stuff back, a pawn shop in the city brought it "then sold it" (they are dodgy and have done it before)...sold 3ks worth of gear for , wait for it, $250.00 .....they have arrested someone over the matter......and by law both the pawn shop and the guy that brought the gear will HAVE to return the goods....


So a good ending i hope......

Cheers
Dan

[Laurie]

excellent news Dan.

Hopefully your equipment is in the same condition you remember it

[losfp]

wow, someone must have thought they scored the bargain of a lifetime!!!

Hopefully you get it all back in good shape dan, good to hear!

[xorl]

Would ya believe i got a call from the police today and i 'more than likely' will get my stuff back, a pawn shop in the city brought it "then sold it" (they are dodgy and have done it before)...sold 3ks worth of gear for , wait for it, $250.00 .....they have arrested someone over the matter......and by law both the pawn shop and the guy that brought the gear will HAVE to return the goods...

That does sound like good news.

In my case, I was told that the owner of the goods (the insurance company due to my policy) would have to buy the goods back from the pawn shop since they purchased them "in good faith". Alternatively they would have to get a court order. Choosing to sell $5k of camera gear for ~$600 doesn't sound like good faith to me.. Hmm.

My insurance company decided against recovering the gear due to the expenses involved and just wore the cost. Luckily I did manage to get my images back..

Edit: didn't -> did

[Ivanerrol]

So, how did the police find it? - by luck?

[adam]

They sold your 3k worth of gear for 250?? :O what a bargain :O

At least you're getting it back!

[blackD200]

wow... awesome outcome after all.
now you have a 70-200 + 12-24 with backup 80-200 + the sigma =)
or the backup could potentially add to the funding of the D300..

awesome news mate...

[Eugene-K]

What a great ending!!!
Just for the future, especially when your equipment is not insured:
99% that a thief is not a photographer and will try to sell it for any price. In most cases E-bay and local newspaper is the best choice for him. So, it's good idea to check both for stolen items. Using this method my friend found his stolen computer 2 years ago.

[jberth1]

What a great ending!!!
Just for the future, especially when your equipment is not insured:
99% that a thief is not a photographer and will try to sell it for any price. In most cases E-bay and local newspaper is the best choice for him. So, it's good idea to check both for stolen items. Using this method my friend found his stolen computer 2 years ago.

pawn stores all the time for me...........

a few years back we had bought a house and were in the process of doing it up a bit prior to renting it out, so we weren't living in it and it was mt except for all my tools and gardening stuff in the garage......sure enough, some goon forces the garage door and makes off with all my gear, including a 6 day old Stihl whipper snipper......

I waited the mandatory 14 days waiting period (the time a pawn shop is supposed to legally keep something 'out the back' prior to offering it for sale), before doing the rounds of my local pawn shops to see if they had it.

Sure enough - first place I go into has my shiny new whipper snipper sitting on the shelf for sale. The thief who stole it used a real photo ID to sell it, and hence was easily nabbed by the feds, arrested, and convicted.
Too easy !

Good to hear that your story will most likely have a happy ending as well !

Cheers

Justin

[Gripboy]

Sounds like it will all work out for you, Dan.
One thing to remember, if you purchased the gear with a credit card, you may be able to lodge a claim with your CC company.
Amex was cover the cost of repairing my 5 year old Nikon CoolPix. Not because I bought the camera with them, but because I happened to be overseas at the time it broke, and I purchased the airline tickets with the Amex.
For that reason alone, it's worth investigating what 'extras' your Credit cards may offer when deciding how to purchase your equipment.