Ukulele Insurance?

VegasGeorge

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I'm worried about the uninsured risk of having my Ukulele collection in my home. The homeowners policy sets a low limit on losses to musical instruments. I tried simply determining the acquisition costs of the instruments, and giving the insurance company a list with values and a total. The agent temporarily bound coverage, but the company cancelled, and said that they needed an appraisal. Where the heck do you get a Ukulele appraisal? My agent has no idea. And, neither do I. I live in community of about 25,000. I suspect that I'm the most knowledgable Ukulele person here. It's very frustrating!

PS: I'm talking about 40+ instruments with a combined acquisition cost of nearly $40K.
 
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Start with the receipts. That should suffice for a lot of the ukes. If they are currently on the market, use the new price and vendor as the appraisal.
 
There are musical instrument insurance policies, and insurance companies that specialize in musical instrument insurance for professional musicians or instrument collectors. I don't have any experience with these, but a Google search of "musical instrument insurance" pulled up lots of promising looking results.

-Brett
 
I was going to say that as well. I know that my niece has her violin insured. I will ask her, but I'm pretty sure that they got it through the music store where they bought it. I believe that my sister-in-law told me that they had the option. You might call a music store that supplies instruments to schools and ask. Or maybe the band director at the school. I'm just throwing this all out there. You can do as you please. I just came across the same thing when I tried to insure my firearms a few years ago. I had to get a rider. It was pretty expensive and they wanted to get an appraisal as well. As long as I'm just blabbing, my father-in-law used to be an auctioneer and he did insurance appraisals.
 
I think there are (at least) two kinds of coverage; a rider on your policy which would cover loss by theft, natural disaster, etc., the same as other items in your home, only with an additional charge. Instrument policies like Rollie's niece has on her violin would probably, though not necessarily, cost more, and cover additional potential loss from theft outside the home, damage outside the home, etc. I guess calling a couple of agents is the place to start.
 
I've got MusicPro insurance for my gear. They're covering $13k worth of stuff for $190/year-ish. I thought that was pretty cheap for the peace of mind it gives you at gigs. No appraisals. You just punch in what you value your instruments at and they give you a quote from there.
 
Two of my wife's instruments are insured. Yes she did have to get them appraised. Easy enough in a big city. I would provide receipts if you have them, kind of sound you tried something equivalent. Should likely get my son's violin on the list as well. My ukulele's, I only have 3 and I doubt any are worth more than 1K, even the Koaloha and the other two less.

Instruments can be along term investment that you want to be able to protect. Be persistent. Have you thought of the appraiser coming to you?? Might be cheaper to get them to come to you than for you to get your instruments to them?
 
Another consideration is whether you play professionally as some homeowners policies won't cover gear you use to make a living.
 
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I believe our insurance company's policy has a "high value content" that we opted for. The contents are covered up to $150k replacement value. With jewelry, art work, antique furniture, a handful or guns and my ukuleles, I think I'll have to get a rider for some of these. It all mounts up quickly.

Receipts are you best proof, then market value from MSRP listings (with copies of the listings, to adjust for inflation as well). Serial Numbers if available. Take videos of everything with a running commentary. Store copies of everything off site, such as a bank deposit box or friends.
 
The Anderson-Group link that Jan D posted looks like a good place to start.

I would think that you will want to take multiple pictures of each ukulele, along with serial numbers, date of mfg, if known, and how the value was assessed; receipt, Reverb, eBay, etc. The Anderson-group website indicates that an appraisal would be needed for instruments over $15k, so hopefully you will not have to get an appraisal. If you have to get one on one or two of the ukuleles, maybe with enough pics and documents, it can be done online.

Values for ukuleles are all over the place depending on what you have. Some will be less than what was paid if they are inexpensive and used. I don’t know if replacement cost is used or not. I would think that any higher end local luthier instruments might be tough to assess a value. I have a few ukuleles that fall into that category that I can’t replace, but they are not highly sought after, so the current resale value may not be what they would cost to buy a similar ukulele. It might be worth it to get an online appraisal (if possible) for expensive true collectible ukes. These should appreciate in value over time and you may want to periodically update the value to the insurance company.

For 40 instruments, it is a lot of work, but having adequate documentation will help with getting a policy and filing a claim, which I hope never happens.

John
 
I've got MusicPro insurance for my gear. They're covering $13k worth of stuff for $190/year-ish. I thought that was pretty cheap for the peace of mind it gives you at gigs. No appraisals. You just punch in what you value your instruments at and they give you a quote from there.

Except for house and car, I've never had a need for insurance on anything. I could have paid a fortune over the years for insurance on camera equipment and now on ukuleles, but there are too many loopholes in insurance policies. I once had a medical policy that would pay me a daily rate after being out of work sick for 30 days. When I called to collect, I was told that the thirty days start counting after I am out of work for 30 days.
 
Except for house and car, I've never had a need for insurance on anything. I could have paid a fortune over the years for insurance on camera equipment and now on ukuleles, but there are too many loopholes in insurance policies. I once had a medical policy that would pay me a daily rate after being out of work sick for 30 days. When I called to collect, I was told that the thirty days start counting after I am out of work for 30 days.

"daily rate after being out of work sick for 30 days" MEANS the clock starts after the 30 days are up, up to the maximum number of days. The operative word is after. There would be no point in making you wait 30 days to pay you for those 30 days. If they meant that, they would say, "a daily rate rate when you are out of work sick, PAYABLE in 30 days".
 
"daily rate after being out of work sick for 30 days" MEANS the clock starts after the 30 days are up, up to the maximum number of days. The operative word is after. There would be no point in making you wait 30 days to pay you for those 30 days. If they meant that, they would say, "a daily rate rate when you are out of work sick, PAYABLE in 30 days".

In that case, the "30 days" would be meaningless. According to this policy, I would have to wait 60 days before collecting anything. It wasn't that it was payable in 30 days, which is the way the agent explained it to me. I had to be out sick for a month straight. After a month, they started counting up to another month before I could collect. Yes, I should have read the dozen pages of fine print, but this forty years ago, when I was more trusting. This was one of the things that turned me off to insurance.
 
I don't think that receipts are going to be of much use. Sometimes we get deals. Ukuleles lose value or gain in value depending on what they are. Especially collectors hope that their purchases will be worth more over time than they paid. Just myself, I have a ukulele that was sold to me for $250 new, yet it sells on the internet for $450 and it retails for $650. If something happened to it I'm quite sure that I could not get that deal again, as that sale was a goodwill gesture by a retailer who messed up an order that I placed. I would certainly want to get at least the replacement value. That's why they need an appraisal.
 
I've heard guitar players mention using Heritage or Clarion for insurance for their guitars. I'm not familiar with either, but thought I'd mention them in case you might want to investigate those options.
 
I don't think that receipts are going to be of much use. Sometimes we get deals. Ukuleles lose value or gain in value depending on what they are. Especially collectors hope that their purchases will be worth more over time than they paid. Just myself, I have a ukulele that was sold to me for $250 new, yet it sells on the internet for $450 and it retails for $650. If something happened to it I'm quite sure that I could not get that deal again, as that sale was a goodwill gesture by a retailer who messed up an order that I placed. I would certainly want to get at least the replacement value. That's why they need an appraisal.

Isn’t the appraisal also a snapshot in time? Say, you own a pristine vintage Martin 5-K and get it appraised now. Do you have to get repeat appraisals in the future?
 
Isn’t the appraisal also a snapshot in time? Say, you own a pristine vintage Martin 5-K and get it appraised now. Do you have to get repeat appraisals in the future?
I don't know, but at least you have a baseline that represents the true value of your ukes at that time. Actually though, I'm not an insurance adjuster, so I really don't know anything about it. I'm just using my own often times misguided logic.
 
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Start with the receipts. That should suffice for a lot of the ukes. If they are currently on the market, use the new price and vendor as the appraisal.
I kind of disagree. If OP received a notice/qualification from the insurer that coverage was conditioned on an appraisal, receipts won't be sufficient. They could be a point of argument, but the company sets the conditions of coverage. The appraiser can use the receipts as a starting point of comparable, but it's the appraiser who the insurance company looks to for market value.

As to the OP... contact the office of a "nearby" orchestra. Why his community is only 25,000, there's a larger city nearby! Ask the office if they have any information on how they insure their stage instruments, or if they would inquire to the orchestra's concert master ( a violinist ) how she/he insures theirs. Also contact the local high school band/orchestra director. She/he will have contacts for school instrument insurances. Finally, call some music stores that sell and rent instruments. They deal with questions like this from their customers.
 
Except for house and car, I've never had a need for insurance on anything. I could have paid a fortune over the years for insurance on camera equipment and now on ukuleles, but there are too many loopholes in insurance policies. I once had a medical policy that would pay me a daily rate after being out of work sick for 30 days. When I called to collect, I was told that the thirty days start counting after I am out of work for 30 days.

The best way "around" a loophole is to have a specific rider to a policy that details and outlines the extend and limitations of coverage. Established "independent" insurance agents can, and will engage the companies they represent to write and price coverage on anything. If you go through a company agent ( e.g., StateFarm ) they will be limited to what StateFarm will write. That's why I specify "independent agency."

By way of example, in the 1990's I was traveling to attend an international kite festival, carrying a dozen+ stunt kites that had to be flown as cargo/baggage. And I'd be staying in a hotel that had a limit on stolen goods. My homeowners coverage covered "some" personal items, and travel insurance covered the flight, but I had to get a rider to cover the equipment/kites. It was worth the few hundred$$ for the piece of mind. I also travel with a high-end road bike on occasional international flights. Airlines penalize me with huge baggage charges (!) but will only insure to the standard baggage limits. So I take out additional coverage through a cycling adventure company.

You can find coverage, you just have to spend time on the phone, be willing to spend the money, and anticipate and follow the conditions.
 
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