Professional Organizations and Insurance

[brad]

I have been looking at a couple of pro photographer organizations and the insurance options they offer...

So far, I've found PPA and WPPI/PDIA .. but I'm unclear on what kind of costs they would incur..

Anyone a member of these organizations? Care to offer what kind of money you lay out between membership and general liability + malpractice insurance?

Any other organizations to look into besides these? Thoughts on these two?

[Gordon]

I'm in NANPA for equipment insurance (via Rand)

North American Nature Photographers Association.

www.nanpa.org and look under membership benefits.
http://nanpa.org/docs/EquipmentInsurance.pdf

They also offer the various liability/ malpractice insurance options as well I think - but I'm not sure about that.

http://www.randinsurance.com/

[AjP]

wppi has Hill & Usher insurance for photographers www.hillusher.com

[LoungeLizard]

We just signed up with Hill & Usher. Overall, not a bad policy. You don't have to be in WPPI to sign up with them - not sure if WPPI offers some discount.

[PictureCow]

I buy it on my own... 1 million professional liability for $1200 a year.
I have my gear insured through my business property/liability insurance... about 700 a year with 100 ded. covers everything on location included.

[brad]

Thanks, PC .. numbers is what I was hoping for. :)

I am talking to my regular insurance agent to see what they can offer.. but I was looking for some ideas if any of the professional organizations were worth it for the insurance benefits.... or just worth it at all, I guess.

[cmalana]

I went through this also and determined that it's better to just buy it on your own.

I went with these guys:

www.groupinsure.com

One of my big needs was international coverage, so that was factored in. Otherwise, I would've gone probably with hill-usher.

I got general business liability insurance, and equipment coverage (including studio stuff and PCs, laptops).

My rep was Casey Berry caseyb@groupinsure.com

[adam7731]

I was very impressed with hill and usher.
they will cover everything from shipping your film or print to a client, rental equipment, computers, the room you use in your house for buisness, equipment on location out of country, and Errors... Up to 45k to reshoot a wedding...

will pay you if you get hurt and help pay bills if your studio burns or everything is stolen. Probably the most complete insurence i could find.

i pay 1500 a year but i have world wide coverage. I am thinking of dropping the worldwide next year but i am not sure. havent made up my mind if i am just going to stay in country for personal reasons. 1000 dollar Deductible but if you dont have world wide you will only have 500 Deductible. Best thing is it's a full replacement value.

make sure your policy will cover you if you or someone helping or working with you breaks something. I remember helping this one photographer out when i was in college and i plugged in a power pack and blew the pack and the breaker box at the location we where shooting at. It wasnt pretty the location had bad wiring but the shooter didnt have insurence that covered breaking something on location. The cost was 20k to fix it all. she had to a lawyer and take them to court. she ended up paying thousands in court cost and part of the reconstruction. she thought she was covered but she wasnt and i am not going to say what professional orginazation she was with.

[adam7731]

Originally Posted by cmalana

I went through this also and determined that it's better to just buy it on your own.

I went with these guys:

www.groupinsure.com

One of my big needs was international coverage, so that was factored in. Otherwise, I would've gone probably with hill-usher.

I got general business liability insurance, and equipment coverage (including studio stuff and PCs, laptops).

My rep was Casey Berry caseyb@groupinsure.com

who underwrites your policys...

[PeteQ]

I went through USAA for both equipment and liability. They take care of all my house and cars, etc. so even though they farm it out they still give me a good break. It was like $350 a year for $25K equipment w/$500 deductible and my liability was like $750 a year for a $1M policy.

You may want to check with your house/car insurer to see if they can hook you up through their contacts....

[adam7731]

Originally Posted by PeteQ

I went through USAA for both equipment and liability. They take care of all my house and cars, etc. so even though they farm it out they still give me a good break. It was like $350 a year for $25K equipment w/$500 deductible and my liability was like $750 a year for a $1M policy.

You may want to check with your house/car insurer to see if they can hook you up through their contacts....

when i called usaa they said they didnt do commercial insurance... Is this something new they are doing.... I have everything else with them...usaa was the first place i checked. Is that international coverage too and full replacement value.

[PeteQ]

usaa does not handle it directly, they farmed it out to General but I got a good deal IMO. The equipment policy covers against what I paid. I had to provide receipts, serial #'s and photos of my gear. I can easily add gear by sending an email with new info. I chose a higher deductible to keep it lower overall. I did not ask for international coverage as I don't currently do commercial work internationally. If I did I would probably do a one-time policy kind of thing as I would otherwise be paying for insurance I would never use. I will probably do a little more shopping around when this comes up for renewal if my situation changes, but this fills the bill for the moment. I can't imagine not having coverage for equipment or liability these days....

[BobbyC]

H&U is about 450/year for GL and another 400 or so for equipment coverage, can't remember what the deductible is.

[RobyMD]

So what is the benefit of joining one of the organization such as PPA, WPPI or WPJA?

[Dokk]

Profesional Photographers of America (PPA) to me seems to be ther premier organization in the US. My Father-in-Law is a Life Member and pays a pretty good size chunk of money in dues each year for himself, studio, employees, etc so he obviously thinks the benefits are worth it. As far as benefits, the biggest would be the networking abilities. When my Mother-in-Law died, there was over 200 people there including PP of A member from as far away as California and Vermont. I know that doesn't sound like much but when you have that many people from all over the US that are willing to "back up a buddy" like that, it means something to me. As far as the insurance, I've never heard of any problems and the carrier has been providing this coverage for a lot of years. PPA has a HUGE membership with a lot of years experience available through a little networking. Texas and Southwest PA are subdivisions of PPA and the TPA is having a show in College Stations this week and SWPA had a big show and get together in Arlington a month or so ago.