Insurance

[Nightingale 0]

In light of what happened to the folks down at Elsinore, I wanted to bring this up:

If you are a renter, please get renters' insurance. If you are a homeowner, you probably already have insurance, but if you don't, please get it.

Renters' insurance will cover all your personal property inside your unit in case of fire, flood, act of god, or other disaster not caused by you. If the pipes break or you have a slab leak or something, your landlord DOES NOT have to pay for your personal property.

You can have your rig and anything else you like specifically written into the policy as covered. Many times such insurance will also cover theft or damages not on the actual rental property (ie: dropzone).

You can call whoever does your car insurance. Mosttimes they will be able to insure you, and if not, they can refer you to someone who can. Renters' insurance in California typically runs $15 - $30 a month. If you think about the cost of your rig, clothing, electronics, computers, that really isn't a whole lot to pay.

[skybytch 273]

Great post!

In addition to insurance, and to make your life a whole lot easier should something happen to your gear, make an itemized list of what you have; include make, sizes, d.o.m., serial number, colors and any other identifying features. Include pictures of each item. Also include copies of the original invoice for each item.

Keep it all in a safe deposit box or other fireproof place away from your gear.

[EdC 0]

Another good idea is to go through your house/apartment room by room with a video camera to document your possessions in case of fire or other natural disaster. Keep the tape at an alternate location like a safe deposit box at the bank or at a parent’s house or at work.

Big Ed

[gemini 0]

And for those of us who keep rigs and equipment at the DZ, it is probably a good idea to check and see if you have insurance that will cover property stored at a third party location like the DZ. I suspect that a lot of DZ's don't have a lot of insurance to cover third party property.

Blue skies,

Jim

[dayle 0]

You are all too right about having insurance, two items I just want to point out.

1) You may not want to actually advise your broker that your a skydiver, just look over the wording of the policy in the exclusion area for sports equipment, or in the area that defines limitations and see if there is any limit for sports equipment.

Just don't mention skydiving, say, expensive Golf Clubs etc if you do want to seek clarification.

Here's the reason.

Most of those renters policy/homeowner's policies also contain a limit of personal liability insurance. WHICH WOULD APPLY IF YOU WERE TO INJURE SOMEONE OR SOMETHING WHILE SPORT PARACHUTING, regardless of USPA, or CSPA's insurance.

You just have to check your policy for any clauses in the liability section about sporting events, but usually there is nothing except for sometimes, for waterskiing.

The reason for not saying anything, simple, there won't be a question on your application about it and you'll get your policy, however a smart broker would see the liability implications and may not offer you coverage.

What they don't know, they can't do anything about except pay the claim... as long as you don't lie to them on your application. If there is a questions about it, find another insurer with a different application.

2) This one all the "PROFESSIONAL" Skydivers should watch out for. These types of policies are PERSONAL INSURANCE POLICIES......therefore if you are making a living, or getting paid for using your "books tools or equipment pertaining to a buisness" you usually either don't have coverage, or it is limited to $1,000 dollars or so.

So if your a video guy, and the replacement cost of all your equipment (brand new) is $15K, don't get a 20K Tenants' pkg and expect it to cover your equipment.

For the casual fun jumper though, you should have no problem.

Blue skies,

Dayle

[slug 1]

Quote

And for those of us who keep rigs and equipment at the DZ, it is probably a good idea to check and see if you have insurance that will cover property stored at a third party location like the DZ. I suspect that a lot of DZ's don't have a lot of insurance to cover third party property.

Considering the cost of insureing the DZ's equipment, the incremental increase in the cost of the policy for covering the staff's gear maybe be very reasonable if it's available but the added cost would have to be covered by the DZO.

This is based on the benifit of 20-20 hindsight so maybe the staff at other DZ's may want to discuss this with the DZO. Second best get your own insurance for work gear.

Due to the estimated time for replacement gear, maybe rental gear should also be covered until new stuff arrives.

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