I was hoping to find out if anyone here who has rented night vision / thermal might be able to comment if they were able to secure any kind of insurance from a 3rd party against theft. I am also talking with the rental company (Ultimate Night Vision) about options and waiting to hear back, but it sounds like they do not offer any insurance.

I spoke to my insurance broker who is a pretty sharp guy, and he indicated that my home owners policy (Kemper) would not cover theft of any rented items. He said that this kind of coverage is usually offered on commercial policies, but he was not aware of anything for personal policies that would be cost effective.

So, has anyone had any luck with this? Did your homeowners / renters policy cover this equipment? Know of anyone that offers coverage?

Thanks!

Don't think my homeowners policy would cover it, and haven't heard of any 3rd party company that offers that type of insurance. That said, I don't think it would be wise for UNV to offer in-house insurance. Sure, they could make a few extra dollars off honest people who pay for the insurance and then return the equipment. But all it would take is one shitbag to pay for the insurance and then falsely report the equipment stolen. Said shitbag now has a thermal for the price of a rental and insurance, and UNV is out a few thousand.

As the renter, if you know that you alone are responsible for it, you will take better care of it.

If you treat it like it's yours, it won't get damaged. If you don't leave it laying around unsecured or unattended, it won't get stolen. No worries. Problem solved.

I completely agree that if UNV offered insurance themselves, that it could increase the likelihood that someone tries to rip them off. However, despite honest individuals best intentions and appropriate precautions, you have to admit that there still exists a need for insurance in the world. Theft still occurs, and I would feel a bit naked with $10k of thermal gear that I will be on the hook for if someone decides to rob me...

Yes, very low likelihood that would occur, but I would love to pay a bit more for insurance coverage if anyone knows of anything out there.

Life is dangerous.  

So what if it's damaged in a house fire?

Dunno, guess it would depend on your individual policy. Maybe you could claim it belonged to you since you are gonna be buying it anyways. I just doubt many policies are gonna pay for theft of a single rented item. If they would, then you have to worry about the deductible and possible policy increase.
I guess either way, you could pay UNV back out of the money you got for the contents payout.

If it gets stolen buy it, and then claim it on your insurance policy?