Travel insurance for the technologically savvy?

April 10, 2007 6:39 AM

Help me insure my expensive gear while I'm travelling between residences!

Ok, as my last question implies, I'm heading off on a kickass 6 week trip shortly, as my fiancee and I make our way back to Canada from Ireland. Unfortunately, things are a bit confusing when it comes to the insurance situation. Health insurance is easy - Soon-To-Be-Mrs. Antifuse is getting worldwide health insurance any way, because she won't be covered for her first three months back in Canada (and technically, I might not either, having been gone for some time... but I digress). More importantly, we want to insure our stuff!

What she's bringing that needs insuring:

- the brand spankin' new engagement ring

What I'm bringing that needs insuring:
- My laptop, worth maybe $1000 (or, say, $1500-2000 to replace with a comparable model [more because it's small than because it's fast])
- My camera gear, worth roughly $3000

I've looked at some of the previous travel insurance threads on here, and while there was some OK links in there, I couldn't find anything that would help with my particular situation. Now, here's the real kicker - does it make sense to try and find a travel insurance plan that covers all these items, and if so is there a way to do it that won't cost me $800? I understand that things like this are normally covered under home/renter's insurance, but I've got a bit of a pickle - my fiancee and I are going to basically be without a residence while we're travelling. We're giving up our apartment here when we leave, and we're moving into my mom's place temporarily when we get back to Canada. So we can't really have home insurance if we don't have a home! I've asked my mom if she can put us in a rider on her home insurance, but I'm afraid of getting caught in a "Well, you weren't technically residents of that home at the time you started your travel" loophole.

So, does anybody have any insurance advice? And no, "just don't bring your expensive stuff" isn't really an option. I'm not *overly* worried about losing any of our stuff, but I just want to make sure that we covered in a worst-case scenario. For added details, we're currently residents in Dublin, Ireland, and we plan on being residents of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada once we get home at the end of our trip.

posted by antifuse to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

I know very little about insurance, so this may or may not be helpful, but where will the rest of your belongings be while you're away? The things you're not taking travelling.

If you're shipping it to your parents, then you might be able to claim that as address is your residence, as that's where your stuff is.

If you're ditching it all in Ireland and buying new in Canada, or you're putting it all in storage, or you just don't own anything, then this probably won't help.
posted by Helga-woo at 6:58 AM on April 10, 2007

I was in a somewhat similar position a couple years back when my husband and I moved out of our house, put most of our stuff in storage, traveled in Europe a few months, and then returned to the States, moved all that stored stuff to another state and eventually bought a house and moved in. I was also concerned about how to keep our stuff insured while we were in transition & traveling.

I talked to my renters' insurance company, and they recommended keeping the policy even though we'd moved out, maintaining it until we moved into a new place (6 months later). This was a U.S. policy (and my main concern was actually all the stuff I had in storage, although also some thing we brought with us, like our laptop).

They explained that since the renters' insurance policy covers your stuff, not your residence (our landlords had insurance to cover their property), that we could do this.

Whether this is the case in Ireland and Canada, I can't say. Have you talked to your current insurance carrier?
posted by jessicak at 6:59 AM on April 10, 2007

So we can't really have home insurance if we don't have a home! I've asked my mom if she can put us in a rider on her home insurance, but I'm afraid of getting caught in a "Well, you weren't technically residents of that home at the time you started your travel" loophole.


I'm not so sure that this will be a problem for you. I would just ask the insurance agent. Make sure that you are up front about things and maybe read the policy before you sign and write them a check, to make sure that the policy doesn't conflict with what the insurance agent tells you. My renter's/homeowners insurance has always included a 30-day period after I moved from that residence during which my possessions were still insured. Obviously, your period is a little longer, so just ask. Generally, it's going to be way cheaper to insure specific items on a renter's insurance or homeowner's plan - additional premiums for specific items, which are then covered without deductible (usually, I think) are usually on the order of 5-10% of value for things like jewelry, watches, cameras and other things that you take with you and which might be stolen.

Good luck, congratulations!
posted by jcwagner at 7:00 AM on April 10, 2007

Hrmm... thanks for the advice thus far folks... I'd love to hear more! My mom is going to look into her insurance policy - we are shipping our stuff that's not traveling (FFox spell check says only one 'l' in that word? hrmm) with us back to my mom's place, so I guess it wouldn't be too hard to claim that it *is* our residence, despite not actually living there yet. We've actually been quite bad about getting renter's insurance here. It's something that we kept talking about doing, but never got around to.
posted by antifuse at 7:18 AM on April 10, 2007

Renters insurance. Renter's insurance. Renter's insurance. It's inexpensive, invaluable, and covers your stuff when your travelling or when its in storage. (Two-l-spelling is correct as well.)

It doesn't take long to set up a policy. You can probably get this done before you leave. Good excuse to get it done.
posted by desuetude at 7:54 AM on April 10, 2007

Check out safeware (at least for the laptop). I've had a policy with them for years - my policy costs about $150/year for about $3000 worth of coverage -- covers my laptop, phone, and pda from theft, accident, etc. They also appear to have a product that will cover international travel.

I've never had a claim, so I can't vouch for them on that end.
posted by jknecht at 8:00 PM on April 10, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Just an update: my mom's home insurance company says that they won't cover our stuff until we actually move in. Annoying. I'm looking into renter's insurance options here, now.
posted by antifuse at 6:09 AM on April 11, 2007

Even better update (not): in Ireland, if you are renting your accomodations, Insurance companies do not provide the option to insure items taken out of the house (such as engagement rings, photography equipment, laptops). If you own the house? No problem. But not if you rent it. WTF? What difference does THAT make?
posted by antifuse at 9:26 AM on April 18, 2007