Gear Insurance - Do you invest in this?

[mikecotrone]

I was wondering your opinion on scuba gear insurance. I know with any insurance there has to make monetary sense within the premium compared to the value of the items being insured. I have had a few insurance quotes so far and it appears the premiums are about 20 to 25 % of the overall value. Is this on par with your experience? Thank you in advance.

 

[vladimir]

Do you think there's a 20 to 25% chance that you will have a covered loss to all of your equipment? I doubt there's a 2% chance. If you did have such a loss, could you manage by a) not diving, or b) by buying new equipment? In my opinion, such insurance is silly. Insurance is to protect against catastrophic loss that would impose hardship upon you. Paying to protect yourself against every conceivable risk is just flushing money down the drain.

 

[DevonDiver]

I don't. I think the main chance of losing your scuba gear would be when in-transit to or from a dive site... particularly if flying abroad. In which case, it is covered by my holiday insurance... or even by my home or car insurance (if stolen from them).

Otherwise... the likelihood of losing kit during a dive itself... not likely unless there is a major incident. In which case, the last thing I'd worry about is my kit.

 

[Rainer]

I only insure our can lights, scooters, and computers. Basically the expensive stuff that could potentially flood. Cost isn't too bad with DAN (or whoever underwrites their policy).

 

[Carlos Danger]

Equipment insurance is not really worth the bother for me personally. If my stuff makes it through a couple of hard seasons without a loss, then I'd probably feel like I was paying for it twice if it was insured. A lot of my equipment ends up getting replaced every couple of years anyway, so I usually look at a loss as the perfect excuse to get into something new.

 

[DandyDon]

Did you try doing it as a scheduled property rider on your homeowners? I used to use State Farm's Personal Articles Policy but after a few claims my business is no longer welcome. :sad:

For out of US dive trips, I take trip insurance mostly for medical coverage and it includes $2500 Baggage and Personal Effects coverage, with limits and exclusions to be considered.

the likelihood of losing kit during a dive itself... not likely unless there is a major incident. In which case, the last thing I'd worry about is my kit.

In which case Preferred or Master DAN Dive insurance would cover up to $2,500, if your coverage is like the DAN North America?

 

[knowone]

Someone I know buys high end gear when it becomes less fashionable paying 1/4 the price of the latest must haves therefore having the ability to multiply at least by this math gear by 4 to put in a box if should any incident were ever to occur without having to ever think and therefore have it interfere with said persons life and deal with it as just an occurrence if it ever were to occur.

Said same box I am told also makes an appreciable difference to many other imaginable occurring occurrences and things.



I just took the bins out and there were three turkeys in the yard and then there were four.

 

[mikecotrone]

Someone I know buys high end gear when it becomes less fashionable paying 1/4 the price of the latest must haves therefore having the ability to multiply at least by this math gear by 4 to put in a box if should any incident were ever to occur without having to ever think and therefore have it interfere with said persons life and deal with it as just an occurrence if it ever were to occur.

Said same box I am told also makes an appreciable difference to many other imaginable occurring occurrences and things.



I just took the bins out and there were three turkeys in the yard and then there were four.

I think i just like to read your posts since by themselves are super entertaining. Most of your posts are like riddles for one to re-read with joy. they are seriously funny.

 

[40Fathoms]

I don't specifically insure my gear beyond what is in my home property plan and my travel/holiday insurance. However, I do have DAN insurance (Bronze Pro), for medical insurance in specific dive-related circumstances, and that actually covers equipment lost in e.g. a rescue situation where you need to dump your own and the injured diver's gear (up to a maximum cost). An unlikely situation, but I think that makes for pretty full coverage. As said elsewhere in the thread, how likely is it to loose all you gear while diving? Sure, you might loose a mask or a set of fins, but beyond that?

So basically, that makes for only a few scenarios where it is likely that you can loose gear: stolen from home/hotel room/car (property or travel insurance), in transit while travelling (travel insurance), or, pretty unlikely, in a rescue scenario (DAN).

So no, taking out a specific equipment insurance is probably not worth it, IMO.

 

[Eau_Girl]

Having watched another dive boat catch fire during my last dive trip, I am going to make sure I understand my coverage from travel insurance and homeowners policy before my next trip. All of the dive gear on board was a write-off -- most of it reduced to plastic blobs.