Peer-to-peer camera gear rental services KitSplit and ShareGrid have launched new Owner Guarantee policies that cover voluntary parting, which is when someone rents your equipment but doesn’t return it.
“Voluntary parting” is something that has historically not been covered by peer-to-peer services and theft insurance, and several thefts of this nature have made headlines in recent days. Photographers reported having gear worth thousands of dollars stolen by renters who paid less than $100 in fees.
Although the two programs were not created in collaboration, KitSplit and ShareGrid’s new policies have nearly identical names and terms.
Both programs cover all listed equipment from voluntary parting, which is rare — KitSplit estimates that it only occurs 0.02% of the time, or 1 in 5,000 rentals, and ShareGrid says it only occurs 0.01% of the time on its service. But when this type of theft does occur, owners were often bewildered that it’s wasn’t covered by services or by insurance.
The new protection comes at no additional cost to equipment owners, but KitSplit has a 20% deductible on the value of covered gear while ShareGrid doesn’t have any deductible. You may also be requested to sign a confidentiality agreement with KitSplit before your payment is released, while ShareGrid doesn’t require any type of NDA.
“The trust of our community and the safety of their gear is of utmost importance to us. With the Owner Guarantee, and our improved vetting, we are excited to give our owners even more peace of mind,” says KitSplit CEO and cofounder Lisbeth Kaufman. “Trust has been a focus of ours from day one, and we’re excited to build the safest way to rent cameras in the industry.”
“Our goal has always been to make ShareGrid the safest way to rent your equipment to other people, and today we’re excited to offer even more protection to our users,” says ShareGrid CEO and cofounder Marius Ciocirlan. “For years, we’ve been the only marketplace to offer instant coverage against Voluntary Parting. With the ShareGrid Owner Guarantee, we’re taking this a step further and including protection against voluntary parting automatically. Best of
all, it’s completely free for all our members.”
Correction: This article originally stated that the two Owner Guarantees have the same terms, but this was incorrect. We’ve updated the article and apologize for the error.
