Thinking a little more about this... I am glad that you have a competent agent that is not a ripoff artist. Thinking about mine... I would point out that I would be hesitant to make a homeowners claim on a printer that I couldn't get to work right even if I did have a rider.
Insurance companies do not like customers who make repeated claims and they do keep track of such things. If my $60 printer has a 2 year $5 extended warranty however I would not hesitate to give them a call. My 4 year policy from the Sony store worked out very well and got the camera fixed in a week.
Franky, the insurance agent that I use for auto and home is a shyster on everything else. They have tried to rip me off on various other products from overpriced AAA type towing insurance, overpriced life insurance, overpriced credit protection insurance, and the list goes on and on. A lot of credit cards have insurance that covers your purchases for free better than what my insurance agent has tried to talk me into paying for. The only way that I am able to keep them in line is to comparison shop and report back to them to get a competitive offer.
I totally agree that there is no way anybody should get a rider on a $60 printer but for several thousands of dollars of camera gear it makes sense. I used to spend a few weeks a year at a friend’s cabin in Ontario and none of the extended warranties I looked at covered dropping my camera in the lake or smashing it against a rock or most any other way of destroying my gear in the wild.
As far as making a claim in a homeowner’s policy for a $60 printer, my same friend filed a claim for around $1000 when he took out a propeller on his boat. The insurance agent said “You’d better hope the boat burns to the waterline next time because after the second claim your rates will go up big-time and after a third claim you will be cancelled.