KitSplit will now offer Instant Insurance on your rental packages that is quoted, well, instantly.

Renting gear is getting easier and easier. With online platforms for connecting filmmakers with the widest spectrum of gear to rent, including from individual owners and rental houses, it's shocking how fast it can be to get your hands on a needed piece of kit, often last minute. Of course, this being film, accidents still happen that lead to gear getting damaged, and with that ease of renting we don't want to forget to make sure our gear is covered.

With its new feature KitSplit Instant Insurance, the online rental platform is teaming with Heffernan Insurance Group, backed by OneBeacon, to allow for instant insurance quotes on packages $10,000 and up. Whether it's for a single day or up to a year, or for a single rental or multiple it's now built right into the platform with premiums starting at $125. The coverage can also be extended as the situation changes, like if you need to add shoot days. And, of course, for smaller rentals KitSplit has an instant damage waiver program starting at $5.

Whether you need insurance for a single day or up to a year, or for a single rental or multiple, it's now built right into the platform

Heffernan is the company behind InsureMyEquipment.com, a popular online platform that partners with many rental houses and also provides blanket insurance for production companies. These programs give Heffernan a deep experience in the often complex nature of insuring film equipment, where gear is constantly aging and changing in value and sometimes the camera accessories are worth more than the camera body. For example, camera bodies lose value every year, but some lenses increase in value. Thus, you generally get better insurance premiums with more accurate data about precisely what is being rented. For instance, purchasing a blanket "$50,000" policy will cost you more than if you bid insurance on precisely the $24,000 camera package you are renting. By integrating the rental platform directly with the insurance platform, more accurate policies can be written with less back and forth and form-filling for the end users.

Final details on the newly announced program are still forthcoming but, in an ideal world, Heffernan will also actually factor in the current market value for gear and not just the retail value (sure, that camera was $24,000 new, but if it's 4 years old and currently selling on eBay for $12,000, we would rather pay only to insure the $12,000 replacement value). Even just having a platform that integrates the precise kit list to the insurance broker with retail values will likely save you money and/or time.

Instant coordination between your rental platform and your insurance broker at any hour day or night is going to make it easier to roll with the punches.

One of our favorite details of the release is the "24 hours a day, 7 days a week" aspect of the program. Yes, in an ideal word you are planning everything out weeks in advance and are able to talk to your insurance broker during normal business hours. But sometimes, it's saturday at 2am, someone on set breaks something expensive, and you need to rent another before shooting the next day. Internet insurance has been a thing for a while now, but instant coordination between your rental platform and your insurance broker, with accurate info on what you are renting, at any hour day or night, is going to make it easier to roll with the punches.