sarita75:
That is what I noticed about the gear insurance through DAN's broker - anywhere from $100 to $250 for the deductible, depending (I believe) on the equipment damaged, lost, stolen, etc. Seems like - when you take into consideration the fact you are paying $200 a year for the gear, then, if it gets stolen another $100 (min), seems alot. I suppose its still less than what the payout was for the stuff in the first place.
As for homeowner's insurance -- great idea, regrettably I am a renter. Does anyone know if renter's insurance will actually cover this? If so, who do you go through?
It all depends on what happens to what gear.
If ALL of your gear is stolen, or even your regs and computer, you're looking at anywhere from $500-$1200+ worth of gear to replace (more like $2k in my case, since my computer alone costs $1200) the regs and computer, and easily another thousand in misc. gear. (wetsuit, fins, mask, bc... it all adds up). It was a real eye opener when the listed value of all my gear hit over $6k. One car break-in or stolen luggage incident, and you'll be glad you spent the money on insurance. The deductible in that case is lower, as well, closer to $100, IIRC.
Write down every piece of gear you own, even the little stuff, and add up the cost to replace every item. I think you'll be unpleasantly surprised at what it would cost to replace everything.
For floods, yes, the deductible is higher at $250. In that case, it really depends on the camera you have, as to whether it is worth insuring. My cameras tend to cost around $500, so even with the $250 deductible, having the replacement net cost be $250 is a lot more palatable than ponying up another full $500.
Floods usually only kill the camera (and memory chip, and battery), and not the housing, so that usually does not need to be replaced.
