Last year, peer-to-peer rental services KitSplit and ShareGrid both announced a nearly identical "Owner Guarantee" that protected users in case someone they've rented to walks away with up to $20,000 of gear. However, it seems ShareGrid has quietly suspended the policy due to COVID-19.
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.
Since launching in 2015, KitSplit has become a popular peer-to-peer rental network for camera gear. But gear owners have been exposed to thefts through the service, and after a recent pair of $3,500+ thefts, KitSplit has just announced a Theft Protection Owner Guarantee, the first coverage of its kind.
I first heard of KitSplit about a year ago and thought it was a great idea. Especially living in New York, everything is so accessible. Browsing through the site and seeing what type of equipment was available, I saw that there were a lot of high-end RED Epic cameras and digital cameras, but there wasn’t a lot of film equipment. I have such a big collection of film photography equipment that I figured why not -- I could possibly corner the film camera rental market on KitSplit.
East coast-based peer-to-peer gear rental community KitSplit announced today that they have acquired West coast rival CameraLends, bringing the two communities together to form what they're calling "the biggest rental marketplace for cameras and related gear."