Under your general personal property coverage of your homeowners or rental policy, there are specific limitations as to value of items covered. This is designed to limit the exposure to the insurance company and also can avoid “padding” an insurance claim (claiming items which were not damaged or never existed). Specifically, we are interested in the coverage for cameras and related equipment. A quick glance through your policy may show a limitation for electronic equipment. Unfortunately the definition of electronic equipment is vague, and doesn’t make a determination whether a digital camera is included. Fortunately though, courts rule on the side of an insured when it comes to ambiguity in the language of the policy. To prevent the chance that a limitation is placed on your camera equipment, you have the choice to schedule the equipment and ensured it is fully protected. This additional coverage ess is typically referred to as a “floater” or “scheduled items”.

Scheduling personal property is essentially adding additional coverage to your policy for those specific items which are valued above the limit placed by your policy. Typically, your insurance company will require that you have the items appraised prior to being scheduled, as it will allow the insurance company to insure it to the whole value. Further this allows them to confirm that the item actually does exist.

Your camera equipment may be something you want to schedule if it’s value is beyond $2500 (varies based on your policy – read your POLICY). This can be done simply by just contacting your homeowner’s insurance company, and advising that you would like to schedule the camera equipment.