A little word of warning re Insurance

[Hoppy]

Dive Kit and Insurance

Having taken time with my Contents Insurance people to point out that there was a significant value of Dive gear around, approx £4500.

A well known insurer Nor**** Un**n told me I was covered all risks, eg. while away from the house etc.

Good oh you think. Till your gear gets knicked along with the car that it was in.

At that point in time they remind you of the clause that says there is a limit on the value of goods while in the car !

That limit turns out to be £500, some 4 grand short of the necessary.

So I now find myself in the unenviable position of paying for it all again. At least this time round I will be better informed as to some of my choices but what a way to improve your kit folks.

I hope that this will never happen to anyone else, but at least it may prompt you all to check your kit insurance and cover thoroughly.

I do now have details of specialist Insurers.

Well better go now and earn some more Dive Kit.

Cheers all

Hoppy

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Nice to know insurance guys are of the same ilk across the pond.

DAN offers equipment insurance that covers against just about everything except losing the stuff while it is in your control (ie, dropped or washed overboard)

https://www.h2oinsurance.com/

Of course they do not currently offer this coverage in South Dakota or Alaska which renders it useless to me. And I have no idea what limitations in availability may be involved outside the US.

 

[Phish-phood]

When we went to the Red Sea recently my buddy and I spent ages sorting insurance. We both have DAN insurance and we managed to find a travel insurance that covered us both to dive on holidays. We were given the impression that this also covered our kit while in transit as it was part of our luggage only to find having read the small print on the policy that in fact with our combination of insurance policies our kit was covered for every eventuality *except* while in transit on the plane, the time I would consider my kit most at risk for loss, theft, damage etc. Cue me in a panic the day before leaving trying to sort out some insurance! I got ours from Westfield and I would recommend them to anyone. Both sets of kit are now insured for a not unreasonable fee and are covered for all eventualities including being stolen from the car or getting lost in transit. There is a minimum excess charge of £50 or something but other than that everything is covered.

 

[turnerjd]

Thanks for the warning about this.

I've just phoned my insurer..... my house contents are insured with the same people as my car. I also had a similar £500 limit (800€) on items in the car for a simple 8€ (£5) I was able to link the two policies, so that all the expensive portable items insured with my house contents were also covered "in transit" in the car.

So nice of the bastar*s to tell you about this type of exclusion.

Thanks Hoppy..... and condoleances for the lost gear. Have you checked e-bay.co.uk to see if any of the gear has made its way there? - you can also list the nicked gear on ukdiving.co.uk

Jon T

 

[chippy]

Hoppy

Who did you manage to get your insurance through in the end?

I've been on the hunt for "reasonable" insurance to cover my UW camera gear (£5k), and so far haven't had much luck.

The cheapest I found was 8% of the value - £400!!

 

[Moray Mike]

Ouch! That's a lot of kit to have to write off, Hoppy. It did, however, prompt me to to check out my insurance. My wife and I have annual travel insurance with Preferential. It's a direct insurance outfit based in Southened.

We pay an annual joint fee of £160 for unlimited overseas and UK trips of up to a month and I see the personal baggage limit loss for each of us is £1,500. Given that we carry regs and dive computers in our hand baggage, this is probably just about enough to cover gear lost in transit.

I do note, however, that anything stolen from a car has to be locked in the boot and there has to be evidence of forceable entry. What happens if the car is nicked as well, I'm not quite sure. My car policy (with SAGA - I'm old and it's cheap) covers £1,000 of on-board personal belongings.

I suspect that hoping to get £1,500 x 2 from Preferential and £1,000 from SAGA falls into the realms of wishful thinking. I also assume both companies would find a way of ducking the issue!

 

[Washy]

Dive Kit and Insurance

Having taken time with my Contents Insurance people to point out that there was a significant value of Dive gear around, approx £4500.

A well known insurer Nor**** Un**n told me I was covered all risks, eg. while away from the house etc.

Sadly a similar thing happened to my with the afore mentioned insurer - I suppose I should have read the exclusion for thoroughly, however that doesn't help when you're minus one set of golf clubs and the lovely people on the telephone say here's £500 - somewhat short of the mark...

 

[Hoppy]

I just hoped it would spark people to check the cover they "think" they have.

Good news is I just had a couple of good months so my dry suit arrived today, Explorer 55 wing next week, tanks & regs as well next week. So I can go get wet ! YIPPEEEEEEEE

Bl**dy kit will live in the house form now on, don't care what the fiance says

Stay lucky folks !

Hoppy