Gear Insurance

[Hit&Run]

Apologies if this dead horse has been flogged before, but I've got an insurance query.

My band has recently got exclusive access to a (locked) rehearsal room, so I was wondering if my gear would be insured if it was stolen from that location.

My lead guitarist says his home contents cover sorts his gear out irrespective of where it is located. The git. I hope he's read the small print.

I'd purposely taken out extra cover with my home contents insurance, and paid extra for cover away from home to make sure my gear would be ok, but having phoned my insurers this morning (theAA, underwritten by zurich) it turns out my harem of basses (about 30 instruments, eek) won't be covered as:
1) They're musical instruments
2) They're worth too much as a collection/unit (about £10k)

....and I was advised to take out separate insurance for my music gear.

Do any of you guys have a home insurance policy that covers your gear at gigs & rehearsal rooms as well? If so, how much are you paying?

My current home & contents insurance is about £400 pa, and specialist musical insurance on top will be at least £200, if not more (from somewhere like musicguard).

So, what's the deal guys? Have any of you sorted out decent insurance for minimal outlay?

Thanks,
H&R

[JTUK]

Home insurance and items such as basses are specified with a value but this costs extra

If it is a proper arrangement, then I would expect the rehearsal room to have insurance, but I'd check.
I wouldn't be leaving basses there anyway... just cabs mostly and only the ones I could afford to lose.

Amps and basses should live in a proper environment and basses are stacked and out of the case all the time, IME.

Just my take on it..

[wateroftyne]

Here's some fairly recent threads...

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=63611"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=63611[/url]
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=63078"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=63078[/url]
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=22445"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=22445[/url]

[jonny-lad]

Mine's through the MU, with Hencilla Canworth - you get £2000 of insurance free, and then 'top up' to include extra that goes over that...Lot's of other similar benefits aswell when you join the MU.

I'd never trust home contents cover and it is, IMO, far easier to arrange specific musical instrument cover with an insurance company who are used to dealing with the specific needs of musicians.

[Hit&Run]

[quote name='jonny-lad' post='797406' date='Apr 6 2010, 12:16 PM']Mine's through the MU, with Hencilla Canworth - you get £2000 of insurance free, and then 'top up' to include extra that goes over that...Lot's of other similar benefits aswell when you join the MU.[/quote]
Having spoken to my insurers 3 times today, I've now been told that they won't insure me, and I've got a 7 day 'grace period' to sort out new cover for everything. Every person I spoke to at theAA gave me different answers!

Looking at musicguard it'd cost me over £300 pa to have my stuff insured, with 25% being covered away from the 'main address' and including theft from a car. Ouch.

How much does the MU insurance cost, on top of the MU joining fee? This may work out cheaper.

Any other offers? Please keep 'em coming. Looks like I'll have to sort this out sooner, rather than later.

H&R

Edited April 6, 2010 by Hit&Run

[charic]

Done mine through Endsleigh. Cant remember the cost tho...

So couldnt of been that bad

[Hit&Run]

[quote name='charic' post='797671' date='Apr 6 2010, 03:46 PM']Done mine through Endsleigh. Cant remember the cost tho...[/quote]
Endsleigh seem to get a lot of love on here, so I gave them a call and they quoted me £187.50 pa for £15k of cover.

I remember that someone somewhere said their cover was more than £10k, which the Endsleigh online calculator didn't seem to like. Having just spoken to the Endsleigh characters, it turns out I'd need 2 policies, one to the max of £10k and another for the remaining £5k.

£187.50 is probably the best quote I've had yet, but I'd like to go lower if applicable.

How do you guys get cover for £35 a year? Or is it the £15k amount that pushes my premiums into the stratosphere?

H&R

[Sarah5string]

My insurance is with Allianz and cost me £47 for the year for about 1.5k worth of gear, although I've just changed gear so will need to call them up and alter it. I got free DNA liquid stuff with it to to trace the items back to me if they were ever stolen.

[jonny-lad]

[quote name='Hit&Run' post='797621' date='Apr 6 2010, 02:54 PM']Having spoken to my insurers 3 times today, I've now been told that they won't insure me, and I've got a 7 day 'grace period' to sort out new cover for everything. Every person I spoke to at theAA gave me different answers!

Looking at musicguard it'd cost me over £300 pa to have my stuff insured, with 25% being covered away from the 'main address' and including theft from a car. Ouch.

How much does the MU insurance cost, on top of the MU joining fee? This may work out cheaper.

Any other offers? Please keep 'em coming. Looks like I'll have to sort this out sooner, rather than later.

H&R[/quote]
The cover through the MU seems to be good value IMO, as I've had over £10k of gear insured for the past year for £215...I've just put some extra gear on the policy, taking it up to over £11k and I've not been asked for any extra premium until the renewal, and even then, from past experience, I doubt it would be much more. The cover is also quite extensive, covering things like leaving gear in a vehicle, it's worldwide, and you can be really specific on extra situations you want stuff covered for.

MU membership works out at around £156 for the year for most people, but this can be paid in direct debit installments throughout the year, and it also includes free public liability insurance, and even some kind of free personal injury insurance (which is a new benefit), as well as all the other benefits like access to some free courses, networking and free legal/professional advice. AFAIK, to get a public liability policy on its own would cost more than the cost of MU membership.

[Eight]

As a non-gigging player, I'm covered through the AA with the Vampyre as a named extra since it exceeds the standard single item limit.
Edit: They know it's a musical instrument.

Can't remember what the advisor said about the cover outside of the home EXCEPT that if you're in any way paid for a gig during which your gear is damaged then they'd probably argue it's in a professional capacity and wouldn't be covered. She advised me to look away from home contents insurance if damage outside of the home was a real possibility.
Edit: and they don't do specialist stuff so was actually suggesting I use a different company. But in the end their price was so good I took it and thought I'd join the MU if I could ever get gigging.

Although I am covered if a bass gets wrecked on the way to e.g. a lesson.

Edited April 6, 2010 by Eight

[lonestar]

I use Musicguard as they also include Public liability insuarance. Do Endsleigh, Allianz or any others?
I need to renew my policy, currently £69 for £2k of gear and 1 million Public Liability which seems reasonable.

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='jonny-lad' post='797406' date='Apr 6 2010, 12:16 PM']Mine's through the MU, with Hencilla Canworth - you get £2000 of insurance free, and then 'top up' to include extra that goes over that...Lot's of other similar benefits aswell when you join the MU.[/quote]

same as.

[xgsjx]

Most insurance companies (not all tho) will cover musical instruments in & away from home under the personal belongings/possessions section & you can usually specify the items if they exceed the individual item limit, as long as they're not for professional use. I'm with Direct line (one of the co's I actually don't work for) & they're pretty good for cover, I'd give them a phone.
As for covering stuff away from home when you're not with it, some do & dome don't.