Insurance of your BW Gear

[corvus]

G'day All ,
Do any of you have"Portable Contents Insurance" ? the thought just occured to me when I received my renewal notice and thought how much it would cost to replace my BW gear however what are the chances of getting it nicked out there and or worst scenario incinerating it all with a stupid mistake

Thank you in advance if you have any suggestions, looking at around $135.00 to cover a maximum of $2000.00 claim with a $200.00 excess.

[stry]

I just wing it, and have always done so. Famous last words - "So far - so good". I left a pair of prescription glasses somewhere high up in NZ a few years ago, but that's all I can remember losing.

I do the same (with gear insurance -NOT medical) when I travel, after buying insurance a couple of times.

Having heard the horror stories about entire pitched tents complete with sleeping and cooking gear being picked up and stolen while the owner(s) is absent on a day walk or similar, I do get a little nervous occasionally.

[GPSGuided]

That's like a 7% pa interest rate! Exactly how to make the poor get poorer. No thanks. Take a little more care. If it's lost, just do without for a while but you'll still have your accumulated cash. $2k of gear cost a lot let secondhand.

[vicrev]

Mmm worth considering, corvus..........

[AlexB]

I get portable contents insurance for anything that I couldn't afford to replace out of pocket but couldn't do without. For me at present that's my laptop (used for self-employment) and bike (main form of transport). I'm short on funds right now but if I had enough to cover them sitting in an emergency fund, I wouldn't be paying for insurance. I'd basically be self-insuring, instead. Same goes for bushwalking gear: could I replace it from savings, or do without until I had the funds? If not, insure it.

Incidentally my insurance for those items is roughly $20 a month on top of my renters insurance.

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

My BW gear at home is covered by contents insurance.

When I travel, I just get travel insurance. Not only is it quite cheap - perhaps $10 a day, but it covers more than just my gear. Missed flight connections, breakdowns, weather delays, hire car excess (which is astronomical through the car hire places themselves) etc.

A week of car hire in Tasmania ...
Excess reduction to zero with my travel insurance - $80.
Excess reduction to zero with AVIS - $200-$300+

The fact that it covers all my BW gear and flights/transfers is just an added bonus.

[sim1oz]

Like SAH, we have home contents insurance and I get travel insurance when we fly somewhere. But I'm not sure if we are covered if things go missing when we go on local walks around the state that we drive to. I'll have to check our home contents policy but I think it does include portable contents. Something to check up....

[corvus]

It will be noted on your Certificate of Insurance if you have it and be shown as an extra cover.

[That_Asian_Bloke]

Hmmm...I've never considered insuring our bushwalking and camping gear.

Would this still be covered under Home and Contents or something else entirely?
And...is it expensive?

I've never really lost anything or had anything stolen except when my rain jacket went missing in Te Anau.

[GPSGuided]

Check the conditions associated with your home and content policy. It varies.

[+dj_hansen+]

Mine is covered under 'unspecified portable items' as part of my contents insurance, about $150 a year for $5000 cover. They dont cover tents damaged in use though.

[Lophophaps]

I don't know how much my gear is worth, but say $4000. In 40 years outdoor as an adult the only item of substance that went bust was a camera that a friend dropped off a crag. That was insured, got a full payment. Nothing has been stolen except food at The Prom by possums.

To a certain extent this is a guess but I reckon the cost of insurance for that period would be $2-3000. Call it $2500. This would have generated about $2500 in post-tax income. So by not insuring I'm about $5000 better off, which exceeds the cost of the gear. While paying $4000 all at once for total loss will be a pain I'm still in front and I get lighter gear. Certainly of the trip involves flights tack gear insurance onto flight insurance, but otherwise I can't see the point.

[madmacca]

Hmmm...I've never considered insuring our bushwalking and camping gear.

Would this still be covered under Home and Contents or something else entirely?
And...is it expensive?

If I had to replace my equipment (3 season alpine), I think I could probably do it for under $1000 if I was patient and waited for sales and bargains. Probably another $500 for clothing. If I had to do it for a trip next week, probably more like $2000. And closer to $2000 and $3000 for 4 season gear.