Anyone ever use CineVideoTech?

T

TylerGred

Well-known member
I am looking at renting a few item and found CineVideoTech. You need to set up an account with them before you rent any equipment. I downloaded the .pdf form and they want my credit card number, bank account number along with other various items. I have never used a rental house before, but is this common? I am just a little worried about giving out my bank account number. They also require a 1,000,000.00 dollar liability policy and other forms of insurance. Is this common with rental houses?

http://www.cinevideotech.com/index.htm
 
Re: Anyone ever use CineVideoTech?

I've worked in camera and grip rental houses in both the midwest and in NYC, and yes, their policies sound pretty normal.

I didn't really get into all the intricacies of the rental agreements as I worked primarily as a prep tech or handled deliveries. The bank account thing does sound kinda weird, because logic suggests that if you have the insurance requirements, the hard cash to cover potential losses wouldn't be necessary other than covering your insurance deductible.

Sometimes I found the practices of the NYC rental house I worked for VERY questionable, so I'll refrain from mentioning its name. If there was a small/low priced rental and the renter didn't have or couldn't get insured, the rental house would often just put a hold on the renter's credit card for the equipment replacement cost, or take that deposit in cash and hold it until the equipment was returned with no damage. It avoided the whole insurance thing altogether, but I can't recommend this as an option WHATSOEVER, cause it's very dangerous, and really just stupid.

The insurance is a necessity to cover the equipment replacement costs true, but most important is the liability, because what if you rented something that whatever whatever reason caused injury or death to you, your crew, talent or a bystander? It's a good idea to be covered.

Depending on your geographic location insurance can be HUGE or very affordable. I pay about $300 per year to cover about $10k worth of my own equipment with the $1M liability. I can add a Rider for rented equipment and it's repalcement value for just the dates of a rental, and it really doesn't cost me much more, depending on the amount of equipment I'm renting. But I'm in the Midwest, so I'm probably paying bargain basement prices.

Hope this helps.
 
Re: Anyone ever use CineVideoTech?

I used to use them all the time. They've been in Miami for a looooong time. I haven't dealt with them in well over 10 years, but back then they were the go-to rental house in Miami. Since their main competitor, Image Devices, appears to have gone away, I'd say that's even more the case now. I first dealt with them in 1983 when I was making my student film at the University of Miami film school.

The rental policy you mention is the same policy they had back then, and not a single production company that I coordinated for ever had a problem with it--meaning it was pretty standard. In my experience, they were very responsive and had an excellent inventory. As far as I know, they still supply pretty much every major job that comes through Miami.
 
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