DAN Equipment insurance and residency

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Gaijinsan

Registered
Messages
43
Reaction score
3
Location
Tokyo
I have a bit of a dilemma that I'm sure is not all that uncommon in the diving world. I'm a US citizen living overseas and I live in a country where I don't speak or read the local language all that well. I'd imagine quite a few people who end up living in East Asia or SE Asia have similar problems.

I want to get an Equipment insurance policy and I'd much prefer to buy it from DAN in the USA since all information is in English but I don't know about how residency requirements would come into play should I ever have a claim. I did find this written by DAN's president:
http://www.noonsite.com/General/Glo...-canadian-citizens-is-dan-insurance-an-option
It seems to indicate that for regular DAN membership you can do it as long as you spend at least 1 day a year at your US residence, which I do, typically I spend 3-4 days a year there. But that post is more specifically for regular DAN membership and dive emergency insurance, not the separate equipment insurance.

I could get a policy in Japan but I can only find one company that issues them and they claim that they don't have a single sales agent who can speak English (common for Japanese companies to make this claim, they often just don't want to deal with it even if they have some bi-lingual staff). It may also be on included already in my renters insurance just as it would be with homeowners policy in the US but I have no idea because again the only information I have on that policy is Japanese only, just bought it to satisfy the building owner.

People familiar with DAN Equipment Insurance claims, how is it paid out if you have to file a claim? Check mailed or direct bank transfer? In my case a check adds a bit of a hassle factor since someone would have to mail it to me from my residence address in the US but at least Bank of America can handle check deposits via mobile app. Is it likely that my policy would get cancelled due to living the majority of the year overseas or is it the same "at least 1 day" requirement as DAN membership?

I did notice that DAN Japan (why we have to be a separate region from Asia-Pacific is beyond me) seems to have limited information in English but they don't offer Equipment insurance, only dive emergency insurance.
 
I wanted to come back and update this as I've tried to inquire with DAN Japan about just standard membership. They don't even want to sell membership to foreign residents since it includes the emergency insurance and the policy is written in Japanese. This is a frequent problem that foreign residents run up against in Japan, but in the case of DAN I find it a bit infuriating since they have Geo restrictions based on residency for membership.

Here is the reply I got from DAN Japan after I inquired about English language information and service.

Dear Mr ******

Thank you for your E-mail.

At the present, we do not provide any information on DAN Japan in English.
For becoming a member, each person need to know about DAN JAPAN in Japanese.
One reason for this is that our membership automatically include our diver
insurance, so you need to thoroughly read and understand the insurance
policy which is wrote in Japanese.
As of the Hotline of DAN JAPAN, the first responders who is in charge of
hotline calls might not communicate well with English, especially in an
emergency situation.
Sorry for your inconvenience.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DANJAPAN/Japan Marine Recreation Association Kowa-Ota-Machi Bldg,2F, 47
Ota-Machi 4-Chome
Nakaku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa 231-0011 Japan
Phone 81-45-228-3066 Fax 81-45-228-3063
E-mail info@danjapan.gr.jp
Website www.danjapan.gr.jp
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Also find the part mentioned about the Emergency Hotline to be interesting. How do they deal with overseas DAN members visiting and diving in Japan? I fully understand that ambulance staff probably won't speak English when they respond but I'd fully expect whoever answers the DAN Hotline to be able to handle the arrangements for their members in English and get them to a treatment center.
 
I've had no problems with DAN Europe, although I live in the Solomon Islands - about as far from Europe as it's possible to get. I haven't had to make an equipment claim, but they were fine with the one medical claim I had to make.

I'd have thought DAN in the States would give you a direct answer if you emailed them?
 
Thank's GrimSleeper. Yes, next step is just emailing DAN (USA). I'm pretty sure standard medical coverage is fine based on the letter I found from their president, equipment though is a totally different policy so was hoping some people had first hand experience here.
 
Interesting! I'm a European national and actually took my first DAN membership with DAN Asia as DAN Japan gave me the feeling they did not support English well. This was not a problem for non-Japanese nationals. Now, I know joining DAN Japan was not even possible. Sigh.
At that time, I did not know that Dan EU offered coverage to EU citizens wherever their residence. Since their benefits were better than DAN Asia, I switched over to them.

For your dilemma, let me ask my fellow diving club members in Japan!
 
Interesting! I'm a European national and actually took my first DAN membership with DAN Asia as DAN Japan gave me the feeling they did not support English well. This was not a problem for non-Japanese nationals. Now, I know joining DAN Japan was not even possible. Sigh.
At that time, I did not know that Dan EU offered coverage to EU citizens wherever their residence. Since their benefits were better than DAN Asia, I switched over to them.

For your dilemma, let me ask my fellow diving club members in Japan!

Alfawolfje, thank you for chiming in. I had thought I read the DAN Asia site and Japan was entirely excluded. I just went back in and looked at it and low and behold only "Japanese nationals" living in Japan are excluded.

THIS APPLICATION IS FOR DAN MEMBERSHIP ONLY FOR RESIDENTS OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC EXCLUDING RESIDENTS OF AUSTRALIA AND JAPANESE NATIONALS LIVING IN JAPAN

I think DAN USA would still be my first choice if I go with the standard membership just because it's half the cost, but this is excellent to know that I can join DAN Asia as a non-Japanese living in Japan. Think I'm leaning toward DiveAssure however for my accident insurance since they are primary and seem to handle medical claims quite well from what I've read on here.
 
Yup, I was a member of DAN Asia so no problem! It states in the policy you quoted... Some feedback from people:

<quote>
PADI Japan has a per dive insurance plan:
http://www.padi.co.jp/visitors/insure/index.asp

Here's an annual plan
http://www.toy-hoken.co.jp/kojin/divers/ (Japanese)
</quote>

Unfortunately only Japanese websites at first glance but maybe use to you anyway.

Another person mentioned DAN international (yes, another "entity") does provide equipment insurance. So maybe delve into that?
 
I've had no problems with DAN Europe, although I live in the Solomon Islands - about as far from Europe as it's possible to get. I haven't had to make an equipment claim, but they were fine with the one medical claim I had to make.

Your DAN Europe insurance doesn't cover your equipment (unless involved in a medical emergency). From the Dan Europe website:

2 - Am I insured for loss or theft of my dive equipment while travelling and at the holiday destination?
No. However, most of our plans cover loss or damage of own or rescuers' diving equipment in the event of a diving emergency.

I'm having difficulty getting reasonable insurance quotes for dive equipment :(
 
Thank's GrimSleeper. Yes, next step is just emailing DAN (USA). I'm pretty sure standard medical coverage is fine based on the letter I found from their president, equipment though is a totally different policy so was hoping some people had first hand experience here.

Note that I'm referring to DAN's US site here.

DAN's dive equipment insurance isn't actually through DAN. It appears they've partnered with a third party insurer for this. I just went to their page (DAN's) and clicked on dive equipment insurance and I got this message:

Please Note:
Dive Equipment Insurance services are being provided by Senn, Dunn, Marsh, and Roland, LLC.

You then have the option to continue or not. If you continue you're taken to this page.

I had to select that I was in the US when I was taken to the new site. I don't recall what the other options were for countries/regions, but you might be able to get a quote with them directly and skip the middle man (DAN) altogether for insurance on your dive equipment.
 
Last edited:
therre is nothing special about scuba gear that requires you to insure it via a dive organization like DAN. scuba gear is just like golf gear, or a bycycle. you can get it insured by any P&C insurance company.

you may run into juristiction issues as insurance companies must be licensed to sell in your region of residence. not sure how this affects you, but my assumption is that you will have to use a company licensed to operate in japan.

try looking for tennant insurance that will cover all of your possessions (your computer, your clothes,...) no need for a special scuba gear only policy

---------- Post added July 16th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ----------

p.s. my scuba gear is covered "for no extra charge" by my home owners insurance as it is just another one of my many possessions.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom