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Who do you use for personal Equipment insurance?


Chase Yeremian

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I use Frankel & Associates Insurance Services. It's a company that insures people specifically in the entertainment industry. I pay around $500/year for about $30K worth of coverage. I found cheaper policies, but this one is underwritten by a reputable company that's been around for years and I like the fact that they are familiar with the entertainment industry. They also don't make you create an insurance schedule for any item less than $5K.

Policy covers replacement value, not original purchase value of equipment (very important). It also covers fire, theft, flood, equipment in transit, acts of terrorism, international travel (except to Mexico I think) and rental reimbursement if your equipment being stolen requires you to rent equipment to finish your project.

Frankel & Associates

800 696 3023

www.filmins.com

P.S. Don't forget the unlocked car policy. Under a normal plan, if you leave your stuff or any part of it in an unlocked vehicle and it is stolen, you're SOL. With the unlocked car policy in place for an extra $25/year, you can put your stuff in anyone's vehicle for transportation to or from or even during a project, and you are not responsible if they leave the vehicle unlocked. The key here is that if someone 'jimmy's' your car, the police could say you left it unlocked unless there is proof of a break in. In that case, you just made a very expensive mistake by not having the unlocked car policy in place. Just a thought.

EDIT 23 OCT 2012: Updated my price above to include the additions to my plan, including a bump in coverage.

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" Who do you use? How much do you pay for what kind of coverage? "

pretty much what we all said the last time insurance was discussed...

"personal equipment"

be careful, the stuff we use is not personal equipment! be certain you have professional equipment coverage...

"unlocked car" is usually called mysterious disappearance, and getting that coverage requires particular attention.

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" Who do you use? How much do you pay for what kind of coverage? "

pretty much what we all said the last time insurance was discussed...

"personal equipment"

be careful, the stuff we use is not personal equipment! be certain you have professional equipment coverage...

"unlocked car" is usually called mysterious disappearance, and getting that coverage requires particular attention.

Last time it was discussed was 2010. I thought it needed an update, for example If I only looked in the 2 year old threads I would have never heard about Frenkal @ Associates that Mr. Toy Robot mentioned, so for me It was worth asking because Knowledge is power!

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I pay about $1200 for $100k coverage with Heffernan. I insure a bit under replacement value in order to maintain a lower deductible. I figure the chances of total loss are far less than those of a partial loss, and I'd prefer less out of pocket.

See I think this is really interesting. I am only really interested in insurance for catastrophic full loss situations. Do you ever see yourself in the position where you might just lose one or two pieces of gear? (of course this happens regularly on set but it's covered in L&D... Hopefully) I guess it's one of those situations where I just need to assess If i'm more in the position for a partial loss or a full cleanout.

Otoh, perhaps being a cart mixer vs bag mixer has an effect on this. I suppose if a thief broke into your home, they would have trouble rolling your 200lb+ cart out of your house, and just grab a few pelican's. Where bag mixer's can get their entire kit swiped rather easily.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hey guys. I just signed up for a policy through Heffernan, and had a question about the coverage. I couldn't find an answer on their page, so I figured I'd ask all of you who have coverage through them:

Does the policy cover gear when it's being rented out to another mixer? I don't do this often, but wanted to make sure it's covered when I do.

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...would be interested to know from people in Montreal ... :-/

I gave up on insurance a dozen or so years ago (Taillefer Desjardins at the time). It was just too expensive. Way more than the rate in the US.

In order to keep my premium down, I would only insure big ticket items, leaving out cables, adaptors, bags, trinkets, etc. If I suffered a loss, I would still be out a good chunk of change, not to mention the $1K deductable. It's not a decision I took lightly, it's certainly not for everyone, but it was the right thing for me. It came down to this: A total loss would hurt like hell, but it wouldn't ruin me. I've probably saved $15K+ in premiums since.

Today, I make sure I'm covered by the production company for long term projects, and on day jobs, I'm very careful/anal.

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''Today, I make sure I'm covered by the production company for long term projects, and on day jobs, I'm very careful/anal.''

Haha, me too. I bring my gear inside restaurants (well, the bag with both Rxes and Txes+boom), I insist with the ''green'' assistants to park the van in front of a window so we can see it while having lunch, etc... well, so far in Mtl, I lost two bicycles, been robbed in a car once, been robbed in my home, got a part of my stuff stolen in a production van... not so bad huh ? lol

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Has anyone looked into 'Music Pro' ASCAP? It sounds as if their qualifications for a music professional could easily include our daily work activities, though I happen to write and record music as well. A few studio guys I occasionally work with swear by it for equipment insurance, even using their website to find low cost health insurance. It sounds as if they cover every possible scenario of loss, theft for a reasonable price. Quick quote from web calculator was 700/y for 60k $100d per claim. Does anyone have experience with them? Thanks.

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Read you policies carefully including all the exclusions. I dropped my equipment Insurance after after they kept adding exclusions like.

$500 deductible goes to $5000 if the equipment is stolen from a LOCKED vehicle. If there is no evidence of break-in it is not covered at all. (mysterious disappearance). Since my equipment is most at risk when it has to spend the night in my vehicle at home it made the insurance that had a $1600 annual premium pretty worthless. My equipment is covered by production insurance when working or on the set or being transported by the production. If you total up all the premiums for 5 to 10 years plus the high deductibles, you are probably better off putting the premium money in an Interest bearing Bond account. If you don't ever have any losses you still have all the premium money.

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  • 1 month later...

I checked out filmins and got a quote for over $500 total (including $125 broker fee *sigh*) to cover $10,000 in gear. That seems a little steep to me, but I'm assuming the broker fee is a one time thing and not factored into yearly cost. But it's the same price for gear up to $29,000 so I can expand my set without increasing premiums.

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  • 3 months later...

Left messages at Heffernan, no response. Guess they don't need any more business?

I received the following communication from Heffernan on October 12:

Greetings!

We just wanted to send a quick note to let you know that the InsureMyEquipment.com team will be exhibiting at Live Design International (LDI) in Las Vegas next week from Oct. 19-21.

I'm just guessing here but I expect that the Heffernan office isn't a big place with a lot of agents. They may be thinly staffed until everyone gets back from the trade show.

David

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I was cancelled by 3 insurance companies with never a claim. They just decided they didn't want to insure people like me anymore. I quit two more over their vehicle policies/deductibles. The vehicle thing is a problem in all insurance--we know that is the point of greatest exposure and so do they. Every year I ask myself if it is worth the money. I've basically turned my policy into a sort of disaster insurance--for if my shop is burgled or the whole van with a whole package is nabbed. Renewal is coming right up--I'll be considering it all again. Courtney makes a very good point.

philp

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