aznbass Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 (edited) Hello! Following a sting of robberies in my area, my parents have begun looking at the home insurance. They have reciepts for pretty much everything they own of value, However my bass doesnt have one, as i didnt buy it new. in the event of a robbery, would i be screwed?, is there any way i could get it covered under the home insurance? how do they know i had it? do i just need pictures of it etc? They all are worth under £900 easily if that is of relevance. Edited June 21, 2010 by aznbass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 [quote name='aznbass' post='873697' date='Jun 21 2010, 06:04 PM']Hello! Following a sting of robberies in my area, my parents have begun looking at the home insurance. They have reciepts for pretty much everything they own of value, However my bass doesnt have one, as i didnt buy it new. in the event of a robbery, would i be screwed?, is there any way i could get it covered under the home insurance? how do they know i had it? do i just need pictures of it etc? They all are worth under £900 easily if that is of relevance.[/quote] Do you want the black and white answer or the grey one? I'll outline the B&W one and you can fill in the gaps for the grey one! B&W - If you are a gigging musician who gets paid for what you do then you need to inform the insurance company of such and they will then work out the premiums accordingly. Grey - If you are a gigging musician who gets paid for what you do then 'technically' you need to inform the insurance company as such and they will then work out the premiums accordingly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pietruszka Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 I dont have receipts for my gear, but i have separate musicians insurance from Music Guard. Roughly £3k's worth of gear costs me £90 for the year. Its covered in the house, in the car, gig venue, recording+practice studio for the full value. The last 2 are for up to 72 hours to. So if need be I can leave my gear at the venue over night if i need to. Check them out. As with regards to your 'dilemma', Id ask the insurance company and see what theyll cover you for. The advantage of Music Guard is that you can taylor the policy for what you do, and pay accordingly. Hope this helps. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aznbass Posted June 21, 2010 Author Share Posted June 21, 2010 Hey thanks guys, Yea, i was looking into cover for my instrument, But seeing as i dont really do gigs often, dont record, and the bass is at home like 99% of the time, i thought it may be covered, i dont get payed for gigs, im a student, living at home. - thanks for the information warwickhunt, ill be sure to remember it if i do ever get payed for gigs etc. I think its about time i start paying insurance for my instrument, Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Check the policy cover very carefully and if you have any doubts call the company in question. I'm not sure original receipts are necessary, depending on your type of cover (again, check with your company). Anyway, you don't really care about how much you paid for something, you care about the cost of replacing it. Photos of the item, with yourself in the picture, are always a good idea. My wife recently lost the stone out of her engagement ring - we had no receipt (what do they expect after 30 years!!) and we had to rely on photos to prove our ownership and the value of a replacement diamond. I suppose it helped that we still had the ring itself. Insurance claims can be tricky things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janmaat Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 (edited) This is such an important issue. Burglars broke into my flat this Sunday at 1pm (!), fortunately they got spooked so all they grabbed was my camera, none of the music equipment - I was glad I had stacked the valuable stuff under the bed leaving only the crap gear out. Living in East London, I feel insecure about valuables 100% of the time for good reason. Walking home from a jam session to take the night bus with gear worth a grand once a week - whats the chance of a hold up!! And for breaking ins, about once a year seems normal in East London, they sometimes just take the entire door frame out. I even know people who ran a recording studio, and the guys who rented the place turned out to be a robbery squat - they tied down the guy, beat him to bits, nicked all the gear - and then did the same in the next studio. Many studios are now fitted with alarm buttons for a reason... Oh and in case you have not done it yet: write down the serial numbers of all your valuables. For the unlikely event of police actually busting a burglar, they find this pile of stuff and the only way to assign it to you is if you knew your serial number. Mark all your possessions by carving your name into them. Edited June 22, 2010 by janmaat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aznbass Posted June 22, 2010 Author Share Posted June 22, 2010 [quote name='janmaat' post='874068' date='Jun 22 2010, 02:28 AM']This is such an important issue. Burglars broke into my flat this Sunday at 1pm (!), fortunately they got spooked so all they grabbed was my camera, none of the music equipment - I was glad I had stacked the valuable stuff under the bed leaving only the crap gear out. Living in East London, I feel insecure about valuables 100% of the time for good reason. Walking home from a jam session to take the night bus with gear worth a grand once a week - whats the chance of a hold up!! And for breaking ins, about once a year seems normal in East London, they sometimes just take the entire door frame out. I even know people who ran a recording studio, and the guys who rented the place turned out to be a robbery squat - they tied down the guy, beat him to bits, nicked all the gear - and then did the same in the next studio. Many studios are now fitted with alarm buttons for a reason... Oh and in case you have not done it yet: write down the serial numbers of all your valuables. For the unlikely event of police actually busting a burglar, they find this pile of stuff and the only way to assign it to you is if you knew your serial number. Mark all your possessions by carving your name into them.[/quote] Thats very unfortunate to hear, hope the buggers get what they deserve... Its really got me thinking, im in wouth-west london, in hanworth, but i neibour feltham, fairly quiet area, so im also very worried most of the time, so much that we make sure someone is home all of the time, its very annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 (edited) [quote name='aznbass' post='873697' date='Jun 21 2010, 06:04 PM']Hello! Following a sting of robberies in my area, my parents have begun looking at the home insurance. They have reciepts for pretty much everything they own of value, However my bass doesnt have one, as i didnt buy it new. in the event of a robbery, would i be screwed?, is there any way i could get it covered under the home insurance? how do they know i had it? do i just need pictures of it etc? They all are worth under £900 easily if that is of relevance.[/quote] On normal household insurance you can have the items "named" on the policy, sometimes it costs extra - sometimes not. It just means that anything of special value or special risk (like jewellry it's something a robber would look for specially) is listed on the policy documents. If you start to take it out to gigs on a regular basis that goes into the territory of higher risk so they'd probably not want to do it, if you get specific musical instrument insurance it goes a lot higher from household up to gigging cover; though it is very reasonable when you consider how much gets robbed or stolen at gigs. I had musical insurance on my bass, the last quote they gave me put it at £4600 for £82 a year, houshold only (they wouldn't do it for gigging) but it was so impossible to get through to them to take it up that I let it lapse. I tried Music Guard, but it's a very rare instrument so MG want a valuation from a recognised dealer, though they wouldn't say who. I'm still waiting for over a year for "Vintage & Rare" to get back to me, so for now I'm running a big risk. Edited June 22, 2010 by Big_Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 [quote name='flyfisher' post='873893' date='Jun 21 2010, 09:12 PM']Check the policy cover very carefully and if you have any doubts call the company in question. I'm not sure original receipts are necessary, depending on your type of cover (again, check with your company). Anyway, you don't really care about how much you paid for something, you care about the cost of replacing it. Photos of the item, with yourself in the picture, are always a good idea. My wife recently lost the stone out of her engagement ring - we had no receipt (what do they expect after 30 years!!) and we had to rely on photos to prove our ownership and the value of a replacement diamond. I suppose it helped that we still had the ring itself. Insurance claims can be tricky things.[/quote] I agree with this - I have Musicguard cover on some vintage and valuable equipment. Much of it was bought second-hand, so receipts are rare. I asked MG for clarification on proof of ownership, they said photos of me with the equipment would be ok, I have pictures of my schedule printed out with the equipment. if you move house, take new pictures in a room which can obviously be identified as being in your new place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 [quote name='Big_Stu' post='874194' date='Jun 22 2010, 10:10 AM']I tried Music Guard, but it's a very rare instrument so MG want a valuation from a recognised dealer, though they wouldn't say who. I'm still waiting for over a year for "Vintage & Rare" to get back to me, so for now I'm running a big risk.[/quote] I had to ask V&R for valuations for a couple of my older guitars, luckily I work round the corner so I could go in on a regular basis and pester them. You'd think for the amount a valuation costs you'd get a quick turnaround. While we're on the subject, can anyone recommend anywhere else to get valuations done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 A recommendation (that I should do myself) in addition insurance, which I have through MU & Hencilla Canworth, is to get a UV marker pen and write you post code in assorted places, such as in the control cavity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 [quote name='WalMan' post='874424' date='Jun 22 2010, 02:09 PM']A recommendation (that I should do myself) in addition insurance, which I have through MU & Hencilla Canworth, is to get a UV marker pen and write you post code in assorted places, such as in the control cavity.[/quote] Good tip - although I'd also/alternatively use something more individual like your national insurance number, birthday (DD/MM/YYYY format) or passport number, for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Im also with music guard, been with them for about 5 years. so far ive not had to make a claim so i cant say how good they are but i do feel a bit safer. I used to have my gear insured under our house policy was was advised to take out specific insurance, especially if i was gigging. Other than serial numbers i also take photos of any distinguish marks, plus ive also been known to write my post code on the heel of the neck (the bit thats hidden of course) or if ive had to shim the neck i write it on the piece of card i use. Probably a bit over cautious but it makes me feel better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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