photo gear insurance non-US/Canada/Europe

Hi, folks. Does anyone know of a way for a non-US/Canada/Europe photographer to have their gear insured? This is for a good friend of mine who works with me in Costa Rica (I have mine insured through NANPA so I'm good).

I appreciate any and all ideas people might have.

Thanks!
Greg

Greg, they'll have to check with insurance agents operating in their home country. I believe most insurance underwriters will not directly cover somebody who wasn't a resident in the same jurisdiction. If your friend isn't in North America or Europe that eliminates most underwriters that most of us are likely familiar with. If the specific country can be shared (somewhere in Central or South America?), perhaps somebody with experience there can comment...

Thanks, Royce. I know, it's a tall order. My friend is Costa Rican and works with me here. We have looked at local options, which are apparently non-existent. I was hoping there might some sort of international/global option out there (kind of like travel insurance where anyone can have access), but I do understand that most will be location-based.

Cheers,
Greg

Does your friend have or can he get any type of business and/or liablity insurance?
If he has business insurance he should be able to get his camera gear insured under the business insurance policy. 
I'm assuming he is a profession photographer - profesional in the sense that he gets part or all of his income from photography.

Thanks, Dick. He does indeed generate part of his income from photography. Nonetheless, a professional photographer down here is seen by the insurance companies as someone who is full-time employed by a newspaper, which is not the case with my friend.

Cheers,
Greg

Greg, here in the USA at least you don't have to be a "full time" photographer in order to need/buy business/camera insurance. My insurance company classified me as a professional the moment I sold some prints - as a result when it came time to buy camera insurance I was required to add my camera gear to my business policy even though I didn't have a photography business it was a sign business. So I thought if your friend had some type business or liability insurance he might be able to add his camera gear as a rider to that policy.

The insurance industry is really different across jurisdictions, especially when you step outside of so-called "1st world" markets. It's pretty difficult to generalize anything. Though there might be some, I've not heard of any kind of international coverage that would cover this case.

International coverage is normally provided by an underwriter that operates in the same jurisdiction as the customer buying the policy. In other words a CR-based underwriter offering a policy for a CR customer who may travel internationally. Put another way, as a Canadian resident I doubt I can buy a policy from the USA, UK, Australia or anywhere else that would cover me resident in & working primarily in Canada but occasionally traveling elsewhere.

The NANPA insurance policy is a case in point. NANPA is supposedly the "North American" NPA. But the insurance is available only to US residents. Canadians can join NANPA but we can't get the insurance. I expect that if there was any kind of insurance that covered Canadian nature photogs from a US-based organization, NANPA would have it in place. The USA and Canada are two of the closest partner nations in the world, with closely allied legal and financial systems. But we don't have insurance that crosses our borders that I know of.

As another example, I've had various State Farm policies for years, but the Canadian State Farm organization was a separate entity from the USA State Farm. In fact State Farm didn't even operate nationally across Canada, only in certain provinces such as Alberta. State Farm policies were not available even to other Canadians who weren't resident in a province where the company operated. Up here, State Farm recently got sold off to another financial services company so is no longer associated in any way with the original USA State Farm.

Hopefully something would be available for a CR photog but I'm not optimistic that a policy would come from a country other than CR. As a general piece of advice, Greg, your friend could check for CR insurance brokers offering some type of inland marine policy. This is a class of policy that often covers much of what photographers need in the USA and Canada, in terms of equipment coverage. This is separate from other insurance policy types like commercial general liability or professional errors & omissions. If somebody offers inland marine in CR it might do the job...

Greg,

I know this is a pie in the sky type of thing, but most mutual insurance companies started up because no insurance company would insure what some people wanted to insure.  So they formed a group to share the risk.  If all of the photographers in your area, or a larger area, have the same problem, maybe they could pool the risk and maybe make a few bucks on the side (legit of course).

Charlie