Jeff caught his first fish at the age of five, a mackerel from a Torquay fishing boat. That was the starting point 55 years ago and the sight of that living silvery image coming up from the invisible depths had him hooked for life. Since then he has practised virtually every type of fishing, although not always successfully.
He doesn’t just like fish, he has a love affair with them, in his living room, in his garden and at times, in his freezer. Lately he has spent more time either running clubs or assisting them to become successful. Now he admits to being too old to chase monsters, he’s happier getting as much fun as possible out of what’s before him.
Don’t Take Chances, be Sure You and Your Tackle are Insured
We’ve had some excellent advice in the past from FM member and police officer Mark Hodson, about the security and safety of both yourself and your tackle. It’s good advice, but no matter how careful you are, nothing these days is 100% safe and secure, not even YOU!
What Mark’s article did was to draw many anglers’ attentions to that of insurance, particularly when we had some reports around the same time of gear being stolen from their sheds and in one case, from directly in front of his bivvy whilst he was asleep inside! This prompted Graham to ask if I knew much of these tackle insurance companies and how they compared with additional elements to home contents insurance. I said I would do some research and make some notes. These are those notes.
I have looked at two companies who are prepared to insure anglers and equipment, Tackleguard and E&L. There may be many more out there so this is in no way a recommendation (you need to be approved for that I believe) or sales pitch and I would advise you to research as much as possible, perhaps online through Google. Same with home contents insurance, Liverpool Victoria, who I have been with for about 12 years now, were used as comparison, but please research your own as you may find even better deals.
Home Contents Insurance
Let’s first take a look at what type of cover you want and where your tackle is kept most of the time when it’s not in use. If it’s in a shed, take Mark’s advise and make sure that the hinges and locks on the door are as burglar proof as you can possibly make them, ie, with hinges, make sure screw heads are hidden. The tackle might be covered with your insurance, but like car insurance, you would rather pay the premiums and NOT have to claim or have the inconvenience of getting replacements. Tackle is very personal anyway and you may not now find identical stuff with the same action as that which you lost. So I would advise that you protect it as much as possible and keep the expensive items indoors.
That being the case, does your home contents insurance cover it? It should if it is indoors and many policies now cover outbuildings to a limit providing they are well secured. Garages attached to the house are sometimes considered as part of the indoors, it depends on structure and means of entry. In all cases – do check this with your home contents insurance company and if necessary take out further options if they are available. I say this only because if thieves steal other stuff as well as your tackle, like a pressure washer (Doh! It happened to me) for example, then that would NOT be covered under a specific angling policy. Think also about fire destroying your tackle and other belongings.
So my recommendation is – get your home contents policy checked out first and extend it if necessary. Better to have just one company to claim from and one excess to find!
 The value of the tackle you take with you can be a lot more than you think |
Let us say that whilst the equipment is on your own premises it is now fully (or nearly so) covered on the insurance policy. Assess now how much tackle your take with you on a typical fishing trip and on your exceptional trips when you might have most of the expensive gear with you. How old is it and how much did it cost?
Angling Specific Insurance
Both of these companies I looked at will not automatically cover ‘new for old’ on any tackle over two years old unless you ask them to and pay them an extra premium. What you will get back on tackle older than two years or three years (E&L), I don’t know. I guess that would be a job for the loss adjuster when he visits you after a claim has been made, but by then it is too late. So consider that you might only get 50% of its original value, if that, and therefore it’s going to cost you more to replace such tackle. That on top of the excess you cannot claim.
Unless you are in competition fishing against the likes of Bob Nudd where poles can cost up to £ 3000 then the average value of tackle that angler take out with them is unlikely to exceed £ 2000-£ 3000; even carpers with bivvies, barrows, pods and the armoury of rods and expensive reels they have. Do a valuation though and see what you come up with, don’t forget all the nick-knacks in your tackle box (one company quotes £ 250 max for these), the luggage and all the ironmongery you take. It might scare you to discover that the bits and pieces can cost almost as much as the rods and reels.
If you’ve been realistic then that sum is what you should take cover for. After all, it’s either going to be in your car or with you on the bank, the rest of your tackle is still at home covered under the home contents policy, hopefully. From my bit of research, this is the best way to do it in order to keep your policy premium low whilst at the same time being covered. Both of these companies also cover you for personal accident so, again, they’re well worth considering. With Tackleguard you have to answer some basic questions to obtain a quote whereas with E&L there is a price list, not so easy to understand either so telephone them and clarify any queries you might have. With insurance companies NEVER ASSUME and try to get it in writing!
Caveats (warnings) – Be sure that your car is securely locked before you leave it and that any tackle inside is well covered or hidden completely if possible. Most companies will not pay compensation if any part of the vehicle is left unlocked, even so much as a broken window! Also make sure it has a current MOT certificate and road tax (oh yes?) although what this really has to do with it, I don’t know. I suppose the MOT is in case you have a crash and the tackle is destroyed and it is as a result of faulty brakes, etc. Anyway, you have been warned.
Also on claims for personal injury, the companies won’t usually pay out if your injuries were sustained whilst under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Watch out for any clauses that state, eg: ‘Exclusions – any item not specified in the schedule’. If this is the case make sure everything is listed on the schedule and that it is correctly valued and be certain to get new items added as and when you acquire them.
Clauses that ask for specific security devices to be fitted to your car if contents exceed certain values. With vans the windows must be obscured so the thief can’t see inside and with estate cars, hatch-backs, or 4×4 a factory fitted cover must be in place and if not the tackle must be out of sight. I have to admit that when you read some of these clauses you wonder if they really want your business at all.
It’s reasonable to ask you to take every possible precaution to prevent the theft of your tackle, but it would seem that there are some demands that are beyond being reasonable. Try ‘hiding’ a 6 foot long carp holdall, barrow, carryalls, bivvy, bedchair, bait buckets and other such stuff in my estate. It’s impossible, but some recommend a simple cover to make it harder to see what specifically there is inside and this doesn’t seem unreasonable.
