Flood and Equipment Insurance

[WileEDiver]

I'm in the process of researching which coverage I want to go with and found something that may be an important consideration for others.

Some (like DEPP) will repair or replace the equipment covered for loss. Others (like DAN) will cut you a check for the loss. Both minus any deductable.

So with DEPP, I'm told you might have a wait if they can't quickly locate (or repair) the same equipment whereas with DAN, you can take their check, look around and buy something else (newer?) if that's your choice (like to add to their settlement and upgrade equipment).

This has me leaning toward DAN.

 

[Dee]

Yes, that's the difference in the way DEPP and DAN's H2O handles claims. But with DEPP the deductable is only $25 plus 10% (?) of the repair/replacement cost. And with DAN I think it's $250. However, I've never been charged more than the $25 deductable by DEEP. I don't know if it's left up to the agent you deal with or it was just my charming personality! (yeah, Right!)

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

H2oinsurance deductable is $100. Give you some idea. Last year my flood ran me an easy $1.5k with no insurance. With a 25% + 10% that would have been $175 with DEEP and $100 w/ h2o.

Ed

 

[Dee]

blacknet once bubbled...
Hello,

H2oinsurance deductable is $100. Give you some idea. Last year my flood ran me an easy $1.5k with no insurance. With a 25% + 10% that would have been $175 with DEEP and $100 w/ h2o.

Ed

Ed...who has the $250 deductable? Or am I thinking home owners coverage.

Thanks for correcting me.

Do they reimburse you current retail price or only the amount you covered it for? I know some folks have complained about the length of time DEPP has taken with claims but I've never had anything that was beyond a couple of weeks.

 

[notabob]

I was also under the impression that DAN O2 had a $250 deductible for flooded gear. At least that's what I understood from their website & numerous reports and writeups when I was researching the two last year. Could it be that it's $100 for anything else and $250 for floods? Of course, it is always possible that they changed their policy to remain competitive with DEPP.

-Roman.

 

[DailyLunatic]

notabob once bubbled...
I was also under the impression that DAN O2 had a $250 deductible for flooded gear. At least that's what I understood from their website & numerous reports and writeups when I was researching the two last year. Could it be that it's $100 for anything else and $250 for floods? Of course, it is always possible that they changed their policy to remain competitive with DEPP.

-Roman.

That's the way I understood it.

They have a $250 (or 10%, whichever is GREATER) for water damage, and $100 deductable for everything else.

DL

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

this is from the web site.

Deductible $100 unless claim is for water damage. In the case of a water damage claim, the deductible will be the greater of 10% of the claim or $250.

The adjuster told me in my theft case the deductible is $100.

Ed

 

[Genesis]

Boy, this is some bizarre stuff.

DAN's insurance to cover just a 5050Z and an Ikelite housing is $100. But with the $250 deductable, if there was a flood I'd get only about half the cost of the camera back, the housing isn't damaged by the flood itself (the problem obviously would have to be corrected, but the housing itself would be ok)

Their premium is $99 for this "coverage."

So I pay $100 for $250 worth of insurance. What's wrong with this picture? Close to half the value of the coverage?

Now interestingly enough, if I schedule a bunch of other stuff (like my primary reg set, my wing and plate and dive computer, it suddenly becomes a better deal. It appears that the next "breakpoint" for the premium is at $5,000 in total coverage, at which point the cost begins to rise.

The problem is that until and unless you have very expensive single items that can be hosed by a flood (say, a $3,000 camera) the deductable for floods gets to be quite punitive.

In a theft situation you're likely to lose ALL of the gear, so it works better in that situation.

But for floods, DAN's equipment plan doesn't appear to make much sense. It does, however, make a lot of money for DAN I'm sure!

DEPPs program is a bit odd. First, you must enroll one set of complete dive gear (defined as a BCD, Reg, and one more piece of gear) BEFORE you can buy flood insurance. Then your "floodable" things must be scheduled, with a 4% uptick. So let's take some examples:

1. Reg, "higher end" piece - $600 (retail prices here)
2. BC, again, "higher end" like a Knighthawk - $500.
3. Computer (which can flood!) - $500
4. Camera package (C5050) - $699 (again, retail stuff)
5. Ikelite housing ($500) for above

So we've got about $2800 worth of gear here, assuming no strobes. With one strobe we probably fit under $3500 still, so we'll compute that way.

They work out to $65 + ((500 + 699) * .04) = $112.96.

So DEPP is a bit cheaper, and the coverage a bit better for most "ordinary folk."

BUT, there are some catches. DEPP requires you to ship the gear to them within five days of an incident - not normally a problem, but it could be if your flood happens somewhere that shipping is not available (unlikely for most of us, but something to think about)

They also repair or replace gear, at their option, but do not pay cash settlements. For underwater digital photo gear, its going to be replace, and you can bet it will be a refurb, used, or reconditioned item - possibly ok, but something to be aware of.

I have no idea if they will actuall FIX the cause of the flood in the first place (e.g. a bad housing O-ring on a control)

Anyway, it looks interesting, but consider this - for digital cameras, at least, if you don't flood in the first year you can probably get that camera on eBAY for - at most - half of your original purchase price. This makes DAN deal look either real good or real bad depending on how you figure it.

It also means that DEPP is really cleaning up on you - they're figuring on a loss every year to two, at best, since flood losses won't damage your reg (duh!) but they're charging you for that part of the coverage anyway.

I'm still mulling this around, but I may be going the self-insure route on this one....neither of these programs look all that impressive, and I've had a lot of electronics underwater now for quite some time and have yet to have one flood on me - then again I'm absolutely anal about maintenance on the things that can be damaged by water getting inside.

 

[blacknet]

Genesis,

You are on the correct path What's also interesting to note is in a flood situation you have the unit repaired and they overlook things durring the repair and it has to go back for re-repair. In my last year flood, which cost me an easy $1.5k, my camera body had to go to the shop at least 3 times before I tossed it and bought a new one.

With my recent theft I faxed the info to the aduster on tuesday night and the case was closed with a check cut by friday. I had to send the adjuster some additional information. That was a very fast turn around time indeed for any ins company.

Also worth noting is the premiums do not change for a single camera vs a complete dive set. I would recomend IF you went with dan's policy then to throw everything you have on the policy. For me it's $10,000 worth of gear and well worth it.

Ed

 

[cdiver2]

You may also want to look into where Dan covers your equipment
I just puchased my equip insurance with DAN and the policey states.

DIVERS PAC
sec 3 Territorial limits. we wiil cover property wherever located.

In CONDITIONS
sec 4 Territorial limits. Unless a coverage form attached to this policy indicates otherwise, this policy covers only within the 48 contiguous states of the United States, the district of Columbia and within the states of Alaska and Hawaii.

Loss $100 deductible.
flood $250 ---"------