If you follow my Twitter account, you already know that my girlfriend was in a car wreck earlier this week. Fortunately the cars hit at a low speed and she was not injured. The other driver was shaken up by did not go to the hospital. Both cars took a hefty amount of damage and our car is in the shop being repaired as we speak.

I am very thankful that nothing happened to my girlfriend, she is pretty much my world, and if something were to have happened to her, well, I am sure you can fill in the blanks.

But I am also thankful that I have great coverage on my auto insurance. I am not losing sleep at night wondering about the costs to repair my car, or any medical bills that may pile up because of the wreck. I can just take the time and make sure she is OK and does not have any injuries that appear after the wreck. I now know why I pay that bill every month.

With all of the talk of backing up data, Drobos, redundant hard drives and the like, it made me wonder, how many of you know what you insurance would cover if your car was in a wreck and your gear was destroyed or stolen?

I am sure the first thing you think about doing after buying new camera or lighting gear is calling your insurance agent and making sure that the gear is covered in case of damage or theft. Do you even know if you gear is protected? And what type of coverage do you have? If you gear is stolen from your house, do you have the same coverage as when it is stolen from you car? How much money do you get back for the gear? Many photographers have well over $10k in lenses alone in their car. What is your deductible for this gear and does it change from home to auto? How about coverage in a rental or friends car? And does this coverage extend to rental gear?

Of course now is not the time to be adding additional bills to our lives, but if you lose or damage your gear, and are strapped for cash, how are you going to make your living without your gear? Auto and home theft is increasing all over the nation, and all of that shiny gear that we take in and out of our homes makes us a great target.

And we haven’t even begun to talk about liability insurance. Most standard insurance plans do not cover you liability while working on the job. So if a model takes a C-stand to the head, or a light catches a curtain in a home on fire, you are in serious trouble.

So while you are watching your Lightroom catalog backup, or data copy from one drive to the next, it may be in your best interest to pick up the phone and talk with your agent. I am speaking from experience; you will sleep better at night.

M.D.