The importance of insurance!!!!

[Dprime]

Id just like to give a heads up to people who don't already have their camera gear insured, particularly for accidental damage.

So here's my story...
I was in Cairns for a weekend shooting a range of wakeboarding jobs for a magazine and some other clients. We had organised with the Cable waterski park up there to have a before opening hours shoot with some of the riders. So we all turn up and get things going, lights great and I'm getting some good shots. About half an hour into the shoot, a rider decides to come closer then usual to the tinny I was standing on, on his approach to a jump. Long story short, because he was closer to the boat then he should have been, his rope (which should of been travelling past well above my head, but because he was to close) hit me in the shoulder and then the head and made me loose my footing in the boat, and "ka-plonk", in goes my D2XS underwater. I was lucky enough to grab it just as it fully submerged so it was under for a matter of 1-2 seconds. Pulled it straight out, battery out, and under a toilet hand drier for about half an hour. I also had my camera bag sitting open in the boat, which was nicely sprayed by water from the rider as he rode past the tinny as well, which meant not only did I have a camera to dry, but a hole bag of flashes and lenses as well.

So after a day of drying out, I took the plunge and turned it back on, everything worked fine, buttons all fine, screen etc. Went to take a photo.. and nothing.. a ERROR message pops up on the LCD and now I have a paper weight D2XS. I did notice that a tiny stream of water had got in between the lens and the lens mount and had run into the prism when I was pulling it apart so I think some water must have come in through there and done some damage to the prism electronics or something.

So anyway, trip turns out to be a complete waste of time and money on my part, and I'm arriving home expecting to have a nice bill to pay Nikon repairs, or a completely new camera to order... When I find out that my camera which is on our house insurance, is also covered for accidental damage!

I still didn't think I had any hope of getting anywhere with the insurance because it was completely my fault. Anyway, sent it off to Nikon, got a quote for $3360 to repair it (basically every part which is inside the camera). The next day I hear back from my insurance and they tell me its all covered, they will replace my camera instead of repairing it and pay the $44 dollar repair quote from Nikon, and the best part is, they are replacing it with a D3!

I suspect we have been looked after because we have had the same insurance for over 30 years and never made a claim, but man, what a relief! now I just have to play the waiting game for my new camera.

SHORT NOTES: GET INSURANCE FOR YOUR GEAR!!!!

Brett

[JordanP]

Healthy reminder - thanks. That is amazing news about the home contents insurance outcome ... wow!! Who is the insurer? By the by how is your shoulder and head?

[kiwi]

I have mine insured via my contents policy at Suncorp (I'll give them a plug).

You do have to list each item over $1000 and it costs a little more, not too much. If item (eg a particular lens) is <$1000 you do not have to seperately list it but it IS still covered under general contents.

I have had a claim where I dropped my D2h and 80-200 and the lens snapped off the body. Not pretty.

Claim approved promptly and without fuss and I was only up for a $100 excess.

[Geoff]

Great news Darren, and a good reminder to all.
Excellent outcome, you must be happy!

[Dprime]

Healthy reminder - thanks. That is amazing news about the home contents insurance outcome ... wow!! Who is the insurer? By the by how is your shoulder and head?

I had a nice rope burn across the back of my head for a few days but other then that nothing to bad except for a damaged ego haha. My insurer is the Commonweath Bank home contents one.

One thing that surprised me as well was that I get to keep my D2XS to, So I was considering getting that fixed eventually after this is all finalised and using it as a second body. Does anyone know if there is anywere else that repairs Nikon? I didn't think there was but from the quote I got from Nikon I wouldn't mind a second opinion. From the feedback I received from the guy at the service desk, It sounded like all they did was look at the information given to them on it, i.e. water damage, and then they give me a quote for everything inside the camera to be replaced as a worse case scenario. For all I know it could just be a minor part that needs replacing and I could have a perfectly working camera for a few hundred.

[stubbsy]

I have mine explicitly insured as a separate item on my GIO (also owned by Suncorp) home contents policy - this covers it in AU and NZ plus for 30 days anwhere else in the world, but costs extra premium. That said the real test of any insurance is what happens when you make a claim so please keep us updated on what happens

[adam]

wonderful!
So a D3 coming your way now! That's really good!! :D

[kiwi]

Great news Darren, and a good reminder to all.
Excellent outcome, you must be happy!

sort of, lens written off but body took two months to get fixed - no cam - no fun

[Reschsmooth]

That sounds like a potentially great result and good on the insurance company. However, being a bit of a compliance freak, I would suggest care is taken to confirm whether the policy includes your gear whilst used for commercial purposes. I would imagine that most home contents policies exclude this use, however, it is up to them to confirm how the item was used when it was damaged.

[Matt. K]

A good news insurance story!!!......c'mon. is it April fools day or sumthin?

[Dprime]

withdrawn...

[shakey]

Pretty simple..
If your home policy precludes commercial use then your claim is fraudulent.

[Dipstix Pix]

I've been with Aon Insurance for pretty much 12 years. In the mid-90s I was walking backwards with my old EOS 1n and 400f2.8 lining up a shot when I went down a rabbit hole. The camera came down with so much force that it turned the motordrive 90 degrees to the bottom of the body - wrote the drive off and tore up the bottom of the body - completely covered. That 400 got dropped out of a Qantas jet at Sydney airport. They tore the handle straight off and the box must have dropped some 20 feet. The lens wasn't too good - big repair bill and mended box. No Qantas didn't want to know about it but the insurance company paid out no worries.

Last year I had a body, short zoom and 580 flash in an overhead locker in another Qantas jet. As we had landed someone behind me pulled that camera bag out of the way to get their own stuff out and he yanked it so hard that the strap on the bag stretched allowing the flash to fall. I got the bag out a minute later and didn't realise anything was wrong. I got my luggage and went to the rent a wreck and then realised that the bag seemed light. I soon twigged and ran back to the baggage desk. They sent me to the gate but nothing was handed in and the plane was going back out. Someone had obviously picked it up later and hadn't said anything. Aon paid it out less a $100 excess. Can't complain at all. I'd proudly recommend them - http://www.aon.com.au

[Dprime]

So final update, the D3 arrived today.

Had a few dramas along the way with the insurance company changing their minds 2 weeks later and wanting to repair the D2xs instead of replacing it. Mind you, this was a week after we had picked up the D2XS from Nikon and brought it home under the impression (and a direct quote) "you can use your old camera for scrap for all we care" from the insurance company. But in the end a few things went between Nikon and them and I think Nikon basically told them to write it off because we can't guarantee it being fixed for the $3500.00 quote. And then there was the courier.. But at the end of the day everything worked out well.

I would like to say, and I know Nikon use to take alot of criticism for their service in the past, but their service and help was %110 percent through this. We were on the phone to them every second day asking them to fax things here and there for us and everything was done that very second we asked. I was very impressed with how helpful they were with everything.

Case closed



Oh, side note, Does anyone know why the D2XS battery wont work on the D3? They are both identical in model number and shape, but the D3 wont switch on with the D2XS battery, I would of though if it had the same model number it was compatible, Very impressed with the D3 so far.

Brett

[surenj]

Great to hear a good outcome of any insurance story...!

[who]

The battery isn't stuffed itself from the swim?

Otherwise can't say, never had more than a D200.

Time for me to increase my insurance cover $..... more camera toys.....

[Jeff]

Great story and timely reminder

Thanks
Jeff

[Dprime]

The battery isn't stuffed itself from the swim?

Otherwise can't say, never had more than a D200.

Time for me to increase my insurance cover $..... more camera toys.....

Well the D2XS still works fine in terms of switching on and all the buttons etc, it just doesn't take photos! so I didn't think the battery was damaged from the water.

[ozboyerp]

Agree,

I had my D2X and AFS lens stolen, I finally got the D3 and the rest

But it toke 3 months

It was stolen at work, and as working for an insurance company, I'd expect a shorter term, But I finally got my stuff back

Get insured!!!

[cyanide]

I too had cause to claim on insurance semi-recently. Getting out of the car, I swung my Slingshot onto my shoulder without realising the zip was undone.... out tumbled several lenses and my D70, about 1.5m onto concrete. It's an awful sound. I think my heart stopped, hearing that crash. Completely my own careless fault, though.

Anyway, seeing as it happened in the garage at home, the home and contents policy covered it. D70 was cracked through, and was a complete write off, but the other lenses were all repaired for about $500, IIRC. (DPrime, if you are still looking for somewhere that does repairs on Nikons, you could try Anderson's Cameras in Brisbane.)

My excess was a little higher than some here have mentioned - I think I paid about $400. But I was just happy to have coverage. And a replacement D300 will be mine very soon, I hope.

[seeto.centric]

Insurance is something i keep putting off.. arr i really should think about it!
but im glad that everyone's had stories with good endings to share with us all
AON @ $400... hmmm.. might get that instead of the tammy 90.

-Julian