Camera, Camcorder & GoPro Insurance Guide

Whether you're a budding Steven Spielberg following your family around the house with a Sony Handycam, love filming your bike rides down a steep hill with a GoPro or you are an Annie Leibovitz wannabe taking portraits of your family with the latest Nikon DSLR, you're going to need a good insurance policy to protect your photographic equipment. Protect Your Gadget offers just that, giving you peace of mind that your recording equipment is protected should anything go wrong.

Protect Your Gadget will help you find a policy with the right levels of cover for your personal circumstances. For example, if you're looking to insure a relatively low cost Compact camera, with few accessories, a standard policy will probably suffice. If have a top of the range DSLR camera with four different lenses and a tripod, you're looking at getting a premium policy, or tagging on some extra cover to make sure you've got everything covered.

Things to consider before taking out camera insurance

• Is your camera or video camera covered by your home contents insurance? Many home insurance policies cover gadgets, but not many of us know if we have that extra cover. Would you also be protected if you lost your camera or video camera away from home?
• If you have travel insurance - would that cover your camera equipment? If it will, is the full value covered or is there a set limit? What is the excess on that policy?
• Do you have bank or credit card insurance? You may also be covered with inclusive insurance with a packaged bank account or certain credit cards - again, check this out. Doubling up on insurance doesn't mean double the pay-out, it can mean double the administrative headache.

What does Protect Your Gadget insurance cover?

Protect Your Gadget’s camera insurance will help protect your camera (including DSLR and SLR cameras, camcorders or GoPros) against damage or mechanical breakdown. It covers you if you take your camera abroad and accessory cover is also standard.

Cover is available to safeguard your camera as one item of significant value or you can opt for a household bundle policy which covers a range of items.

Protect Your Gadget offers a multi-gadget policy which could include your camera and all the other gadgets you own, likes Kindles, smartphones and iPads.

What isn’t covered?

Wear and tear: Policies won't pay out for normal wear and tear, or cosmetic damage like scratches.

Things to consider when buying camera insurance

Excesses
An excess is the contribution you are asked to make towards a claim. You can have a choice of the amount of your excess - £150, £100 or £50 and there is an additional excess of £50 if a claim is made within the first 31 days of the policy starting. We always recommend you read the terms and conditions carefully, so you know what applies to you and your policy.

Is it preowned?
We insure gadgets that are purchased new or refurbished from a UK Vat registered company and that are up to 7 months old for a single gadget or no more than 36 months old when purchased with our bundles.

We can also insure your gadgets if they were purchased second hand or gifted to you, provided that you have the original proof of purchase and a signed letter from the original owner confirming that you own the gadget(s).

The signed letter must include the following details of your gadget(s):

• either the IMEI or serial number (whichever is applicable);
• the make and model;
• the sale price of the gadget (if purchased second hand);
• confirmation that the gadget(s) were in good condition and full working order at the time of sale.

Wear and tear:
Policies won't pay out for normal wear and tear, or cosmetic damage like scratches.

Virus damage:
If your system gets wiped out by a virus, you won't be able to claim to get the damage repaired, or for any other loss relating to the virus.