Insurance replacement camera - advice please?

nbt

nbt

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Posting on behalf of a friend who isn't a member here:

A while ago I had my Canon 350D stolen. It had an upgraded lens on it which I bought S/H off a mate for cash so no receipt.
The camera is covered (cos I found the receipt) but they'll only cover it for the original kit lens it came with and I also don't have receipts for the expensive memory card that was in it.

So they phoned up today to offer me a Canon 1000D with kit lens. I asked if I could upgrade to the Canon 50D, they said yes for an extra £465.

Do I need to accept this given that a 50D is £940 with lens? Can I just ask for/demand cash? Can I negotiate a lower price?

I guess this is a lesson to *always* keep receipts...
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I've suggested that the Exif data on pictures taken on the day of the theft should hold data on lens focal length, which will show what lens was used - this combined with a statement from the person who sold him the lens (Hi, rich!) might be enough for him to legitimately claim for the lens as well?

Anyone have any advice on dealing with insurance companies? Apparently it's through his Barclays bank account, and the claims handler is iVal.

Cheers
 
Apparently a lot of insurance companies will accept registration details from the Canon image gateway, did your friend update their profile?
Perhaps your friend should ask for details of the prices of where these replacement cameras are coming from, that would form the basis of showing that the cost they are asking for is not a market going-rate.
 
The 'upgrade' costs are always more then you expect - I think they only 'credit' a part of the value of the itme you are wanting to upgrade from.

The way I looked at it when I had an insurance claim recently was to compare the 'upgrade' fee to the difference between the cost of the upgade item and what I coudl get s/h for the base item - then took the cheeper option.
 
You can ask for cash, but I doubt if you can demand it. Most insurers reserve the right to replace the goods, and their only duty is to put you back in the position you were in before the loss occurred. They usually settle for the closest equivalent available, if the item is out of production.

Please don't take this personally (or your friend!), but a lot of insurance claims are fraudulent in one way or another, and this will probably increase because of the recession. Insurers don't like losing money and can get sticky about proof of ownership. The losses on the underwriting accounts also get passed on to customers in the form of higher premiums.
 
I don't know what the lens on the 350D was but upgrading to a 50D for £465 doesn't sound too bad, effectively you are getting £475 for a 350D and lens, so unless the lens was a Canon 100-400 or something!
 
david1701 said:
if the lens wasn't listed they are unlikely to pay for it
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That's not true. Cameras can be covered under the unspecified personal possessions section of a policy and some have limits up to £1,500 any one item BUT the problem here is that any insurer can demand some form of proof of value/ownership. The proof of value isn't so much of an issue with commoditised goods like camera gear, but the proof of ownership is in this case.

The other factor is how long the gear has been owned. If you've had gear for years and no receipt, it will be more acceptable having no receipt than something you've owned for, say, 6 months and claim you have no receipt. The suggestion about the Exif data is probably the best chance to prove he had that lens, but at the end of the day, if he cannot prove it, it will be the subject of negotiation with the insurers.

The insurers are very unlikely to agree to a cash settlement as they will probably have their own suppliers who will give them a discount. If they do, they may agree to pay cash upon production of a receipt for the purchase of the new item based on what the price paid less what they could have replaced it for.

This is on the assumption that they have written into their policy that replacement will be through their chosen supplier. If they haven't, I believe I am correct in saying that they cannot take their discounted price into consideration.
 
The exif data doesn't state the lens just the focal length and maximum aperture that the image was taken at.

So unless the lens was a bit special i.e a large maximum aperture or longer focal length then the exif data may not help!
 
Replacement or cash settlement is normally at the option of the insurer. They are unlikely to go for the cash option if they are obtaining discount prices. Your only bargaining power is that they cannot replace like for like. Try it - tou may get cash.

As has been said before, the reason insurers are so stringent is the number of fraudulent claims. I have seen instances where the policyholder insisted they had a certain TV and stereo system that was stolen and yet the wiring left behind would never have supported that system.

So where does that leave you? You have to prove you had that lens. Do you have boxes, manuals or anything that would support your claim that you owned the lens? Can you contact the original seller? Have you noted the serial number of the lens - always a good thing to do? Did anyone ever take a photo of you showing the lens on the camera?

If none of these apply, don't give up try going up the management lines of the insurer. However, at the end of the day the onus to prove you had this lens rests with you.

Good luck,
Ken
 
Thanks all

>The exif data doesn't state the lens

I checked on a photo taken with my 300D, it gives the focal range e.g. 70-200. The lens in question was the 17-85, so not the stock lens and not one where there are multiple lenses with the same focal range
 
Is there a feature that the 350D has that the 1000D doesn't?

If there is, use this as a negotiation point stating that you use that feature and the replacement must also have that feature. Done right that is pretty much end game for insurance companies - although I have a sneaky that there will be no such feature on the 350D!

EDIT! There is one thing - the 350D takes Compact Flash and the 500D takes SD cards. Insist on a camera that takes compact flash format.
 
EdBray said:
The exif data doesn't state the lens just the focal length and maximum aperture that the image was taken at.

So unless the lens was a bit special i.e a large maximum aperture or longer focal length then the exif data may not help!
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It do tell you How else can Bridge tell me what lens it was taken on and I can filter out to one lens if need
4060086123_e124c751a1_o.jpg
 
I didn't know bridge did that, a normal exif viewer doesn't seem to.
Does it do it for non OEM lenses such as Sgma, Tokina and Tamron?
 
I think the EXIF will only show the lens IF the lens is a model that reports it's type to the camera.

Not sure if Sigma do.
 
EdBray said:
I didn't know bridge did that, a normal exif viewer doesn't seem to.
Does it do it for non OEM lenses such as Sgma, Tokina and Tamron?
Click to expand...

Just had a look and I can see my old Tamron 80-210 on my old 300D also see my Sigman 10-20 so YES is the answer
 
EdBray said:
The exif data doesn't state the lens just the focal length and maximum aperture that the image was taken at.
Click to expand...

Just checked mine:

[root@fileserver old1]# exiftool _mg_5121.cr2 |grep -i lens
Lens Type : Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Lens Model : EF28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
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DPP performs vignetting compensation based on lens data stored in the exif, it couldn't do this unless it knew which lens it was...
 
The insurance company may say you could have changed the lens and surely the card with the last picture on it was stolen as well?
 
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