Insurance for instruments

peewee

peewee

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Hi

Does anyone have any wisdom about musical instrument insurance?
like:
https://www.clarionins.com/index.asp
I'm considering purchasing.
Any recommended brokers ? Good / Bad experiences?
Thanks
 
You don't have homeowner's or renter's insurance? Your instruments should be covered, check and if you need to just add a ryder. Insurance for indivdual items is nearly always a rip-off. NEVER let the TV salesman up sell you on an extended warranty.
 
I think my ukuleles may be covered under my renter's insurance, even if they're damaged while not in my apartment. I suppose if I get a K brand ukulele, I might want to insure it separately, but I'd never really thought of it before. Thanks for the post.
 
Get a ryder listing what you have; it's not that expensive. Often your homeowner's or renters policy will only cover unlisted items to a preset limited amount.
 
I don't have any experience with those kind of insurance companies. I did see a booth for one at NAMM though...www.anderson-group.com. This is not an endorsement... I just picked up a flyer at the show – in case you want to shop around. They had some interesting details to the coverage... like if someone damages an instrument, the insurance pays for the repair and compensates you for the loss of value.

–Lori
 
I don't know much about Ukuleles, but I do know a lot about insurance. I would only buy insurance on something I could not afford to replace. So for me, I am only concerned about $5,000 and up loses. Losing my home and all contents without insurance would be a life changer. Loosing even a $1,000 or $2,000 Ukulele would be a bummer for sure, but I could easily recover. Insurance is designed to mitigate risk, and unless you can't financially recover from the loss of your instrument, I wouldn't spend the money. The odds are in the insurance companies favor. Always.
 
bugman said:
I don't know much about Ukuleles, but I do know a lot about insurance. I would only buy insurance on something I could not afford to replace. So for me, I am only concerned about $5,000 and up loses. Losing my home and all contents without insurance would be a life changer. Loosing even a $1,000 or $2,000 Ukulele would be a bummer for sure, but I could easily recover. Insurance is designed to mitigate risk, and unless you can't financially recover from the loss of your instrument, I wouldn't spend the money. The odds are in the insurance companies favor. Always.
Click to expand...

+1. Insure for catastrophe.
 
Yeah, it's kind of like those silly extended warranties at Best Buy and what not. Most electronics either fail within the manufacturer's warranty period or last for several years - those extended warranties are great big cash cows for the stores.

Spend your money wisely so you can afford more ukes!

John
 
While I know that insurance is a ripoff in general, I am certainly not talking about Best Buy or Office Depot warranties here, but asking about protecting instruments whose dollar value may not be more than a few thousand, but that would be difficult to lose from an emotional point of view. Maybe having them insured would make me feel like I'm taking better care of them, and that's my motivation, however flawed.
But the advice to insure for catastrophe is good advice and taken. I am probably better off worrying about liability insurance for my freelance professional life that could save me from getting in over my head there rather than a few pretty ukes, heirlooms or otherwise. Back to practicing..
 
Again, not an endorsement and I don't know if they cover the States, I use this company as I get a combined policy which covers my instruments at home and away. It is combined with a Public Liability Schedule too so I'm covered as an entertainer. I can format the cover that I need online and I pay a monthly Direct Debit, £8.
May be there's something similar for the states.
It's possible that some of the major instrument suppliers may have preferential offers through links on their websites.

http://www.musicguard.co.uk/
 
I'm pretty sure homeowners or renters insurance covers your ukes even, in some cases, when you're traveling with them.

Professional musicians likely should insure their gear because stuff happens and often they have some high value gear that would be difficult or impossible to replace. Pro insurance costs more than and is seperate from homeowner contents policies because the perils are different and in many cases, statistically more likely to happen, such as equipment damaged in a car accident on the way to or from a gig, stolen or damaged by a drunken idiot. . . . . You'd really need to discuss that with an agent or broker or whatever. . . I don't know
 
I have special insurance on my Moore Bettah. For the value I put on it, the policy is $30 a year. It is a better policy than our homeowners. At least 14 more things are covered than on homeowners. While insurance can never get my ukulele replaced, it's comforting. We have all our insurance with State Farm (No, they have never screwed us -- yet) so we get some type of discount for each policy. My ukulele insurance doesn't have a deductible either.
 
I insure my valuable items using a ryder. It costs about $10 per thousand. There is no deductible; and the items are covered against any kind of damage or loss. Insurance is a personal matter. You have to decide how much risk you are willing to assume yourself. If you are fine assuming all of it, then as others have written, do not purchase anything. If on the other hand, you are not comfortable with that risk, then get some insurance. I would be cautious, however, about assuming that a homeowner's or renters policy covers your instruments. I say this b/c I know of a few people who were startled to discover that their jewelry, lost in a burglary, was covered up to a specified limit.
 
Your home owners or renters insurance will cover your music gear (even when you're out in the world) BUT only if you do not earn money as a musician. My home owners reads something like "equipment not used for remuneration."

So my gear is insured through Music Pro Insurance. It's about a hundred dollars/year for my all my stuffs (about $20k worth, including this MacBook). If my stuff gets stolen they give me a generous allowance ($2500/day up to $25k per occurrence) for renting stuff until I replace it.

Huge peace of mind for a negligible amount of money. The only caveat is that they use a common renewal date and have a minimum charge of $100––ie. all of their policies begin on June 21st, and any new policy is $100. So if you start the policy in May (like I did), you're paying $100 for one month of coverage. Very screwy, but a simple phone call to them and they prorated and refunded most of that money.
 
ryders are the only way to go.

I had my Steinway and my big dollar K ukes 5K+ added to my policy went up like 3 dollars a month.
 
There is another part to this that I think everyone has to consider.

I have never had insurance on musical instruments, but I would imagine you need to be able to prove you own the instruments. In other words, you won't be able to show up and tell them you got your like new '59 Les Paul or '62 Strat stolen and walk away with $100K.

Depending on the instrument, you may need an appraisal. At a minimum, I would think pictures, showing serial numbers, and condition, maybe in your house/appartment... maybe holding it. Might help if you have receipts.

John
 
70sSanO said:
There is another part to this that I think everyone has to consider.

I have never had insurance on musical instruments, but I would imagine you need to be able to prove you own the instruments. In other words, you won't be able to show up and tell them you got your like new '59 Les Paul or '62 Strat stolen and walk away with $100K.

Depending on the instrument, you may need an appraisal. At a minimum, I would think pictures, showing serial numbers, and condition, maybe in your house/appartment... maybe holding it. Might help if you have receipts.

John
Click to expand...

Yes When I got my policy I had to give them a copy of the receipt, tell them where I lived, where I worked and for how long. Dumb questions, but they wanted to know that I wasn't a professional musician. I also sent them a sopy of the photo. That was just to be a show-off. You could tell over the phone that they thought I was weird to be doing this for an ukulele.
 
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