Understanding the Insurance Risks of Renting Out Your Camera Gear and How to Protect It

Everything You Need to Know About Voluntary Parting or False Pretense Coverage when Renting Out Your Camera Gear  

In a world where peer-to-peer production equipment rentals are becoming more common, we want to provide camera equipment owners with the most robust coverages available. 

Overall, an amazing online community (like ShareGrid) has formed, where you can easily find and rent any piece of equipment you may need for production or photo-shoot just by doing a quick online search.

Additionally, camera equipment owners are benefitting from making some extra money by renting out their gear when it’s not being utilized. While most of the community is made up of genuine creatives, renting your camera gear out to someone you don’t know comes with risks. The biggest one is voluntarily parting with or renting your gear to fraudulent renters.

What is Voluntary Parting vs. Theft?

A common misunderstanding is that people think voluntary parting is the same as theft, but they are actually defined differently. Theft is defined as equipment being stolen directly from the renter against their will. An example of this is when a thief smashes the window of your car and steals the camera equipment that you left in the back seat. 

By contrast, Voluntary Parting occurs when an owner willingly gives his or her equipment to someone (the renter), and the renter never returns with your gear. The biggest misconception is that the renter’s insurance policy will pay if the renter themselves steals the gear. 

However, voluntary parting is considered a crime the renter commits, and the renter’s insurance policy is never going to cover them for fraudulent activity. In other words, an insurance policy is not meant to cover the policyholder against criminal activity. 

So when you rent out your camera gear to people you don’t know, it’s important to be aware of this possible exposure and you’d want to check with your insurance company to make sure that your insurance covers fraudulent renters on your equipment rental insurance policy. 

 Photo by Lê Minh from Pexels

The Good News About Voluntary Parting or False Pretense Coverage

At Athos, we offer an optional additional coverage called Voluntary Parting or False Pretense coverage to individual equipment owners, which is a great add-on because this is typically a coverage that’s only available to rental house businesses. 

Voluntary Parting or False Pretense coverage offers protection against fraudulent renters, and it is a coverage we highly recommend to anyone renting out their gear, especially in peer-to-peer online platforms.  On our annual equipment policies, equipment owners have the option of adding up to $100,000 of voluntary parting or false pretense coverage.  

In addition to having the Voluntary Parting or False Pretense coverage on your policy, you always must have a rental contract in place between you and the renter. At the minimum a rental contract should include the following:

• A statement that says the renter is fully responsible for all damages or losses whatsoever
• Both the owner's and borrower's legal names and addresses 
• A full description of the rental equipment 
• The period of time the rental agreement is for 
• The expected delivery/return date
• The cost of the rental 
• Any security deposits that are required
• Fees for late returns 

Since a rental contract is a business document we recommend having your business attorney review your rental contract for legal accuracy. 

While a sound insurance policy will help save the day, throwing all your responsibilities out the window is not encouraged.  All clients who walk through your door should be vetted and reference checked.  The Athos policies also require that a valid rental contract is in place for valid coverage.

There are plenty more stories about the great experiences people are having when they can seamlessly rent out their gear and make some extra money on the side. The bad stories are the ones that always stand out and discourage equipment owners from participating in the peer-to-peer gear rental space. And while we’d love for every rental to go smoothly, we know that even with all the measures put into place to keep these fraudulent renters out of the community, they are still a very real threat. 

It’s so important to understand what your risks are when renting out your gear, and how to protect yourself. Athos has your back and we want to help! Rented equipment owners who are renting out their gear to strangers should always feel secure in their own insurance coverage, just in case, a renter’s policy doesn’t pay out or if the renter is fraudulent. To learn more about this special coverage, you can contact our customer service support team.