Insuring gear

[tdu]

Hey guys. I am assuming with some of the collections that people on here have that a lot of you insure your gear. How do you go about doing it? Do you need appraisals? Or are photos of the gear and the serials enough?

I have some gear that has unexpectedly become kinda valueable like my 1981 Dean E'Lite Deluxe that I got used in the 90's. I was in informed the other day it's worth 4 times what I paid for it. I also have a set of 1961 Ludwigs that I got for $100 at a garage sale. And my CIJ 52 RI was bought used as well. So basically I have no receipts for any of my gear heh.

[eryque]

I was told by my insurance company that either a bill of sale or an appraisal were necessary. In the case of something that appreciated in value, an appraisal is necessary to be covered for anything over the purchase price.

[guit145]

If you're talking about a $50,000 guitar, an appraisal is a good idea. If you're talking about a couple thousand bucks, it's probably not needed.

Pictures and a record of serial numbers, however, are always a good idea. I've had a pedal board and a B-bender lifted, and I'm an appraiser.

Hopefully someone in the insurance biz can help us here. Insuring music gear is always a bit sticky, and I'm pretty sure there are companies that specialize in it.

[tdu]

Thanks for the info so far.

The individual items in my collection aren't each woth a ton. The problem is the collection is getting large and multiple items are worth over $1000-1500 (at least 4). So that is why I am starting to get nervous.

We had a house fire and insurance replaced most of my gear at that time. But the remains if the equipment was here for them to look at. I am concerned about theft from the house.

[eryque]

Best make a call to your insurance company to find out what their rules are. They ain't all the same.

[Silverface]

Having been burlarized and two Martins taken in the process this year, I can speak from experience.

Standard Homeowner's policies will cover musical instruments if you have receipts or even pictures and serial numbers - but NOT if you play gigs, even free ones. BUT - the reimbursement is replacement value LESS deductible LESS "depreciation". They could not care less about the vintage values - "replacement values" are street selling prices of new ones, and depreciation is based on age.

Ergo I got $250 for a 1958 0-18!

Point - either step up to the plate and pay the extra fees for "professional" insurance, or go to a specific carrier like Clarion that specializes in musical instrument policies.

Now the weirdest part - the underwriter called me and told me that I could go out and buy replacements, turn in the receipts, and the insurance company will reimburse me for the difference between that price and what they originally reimbursed. he was telling me how to beat the system, and said it's just reality, so I might as well know. THEN he said I could immediately return the guitars for a full refund and keep the cash, as the insurance company has no "interest" in the items once they've beeen "purchased" - once I have turned in the receipt, I can do anything I want to with them.

So essentially, if you had a friendly store, you could pay for a replacement, get the receipt, and immediately return it, and the insurance company doesn't care.

Weird, but absolutely true.

[tdu]

Man I guess our fire insurance must be really good. In their cases they gave money for whatever value you needed to replace the item bottom line.

For example, I had 2 old reel to reel track recorders that I got at garage sales. I obviously wouldn't have been able to directly replace those items. So they gave me money for a digital 4 track portastudio instead. At the time those units were like $1000 (Canadian). The track recorders cost me $5 each.

The insurance is not MY insurance. I will have to ask my Dad to get a hold of the company and ask them that I need.

Thanks for the help!

[mark norwine]

Read your policy carefully. "Contents" of your home are covered {with limitations & deductions}, and if your house "contains" a Strat....they'll pay for a new strat. To the Ins Co., a strat is a strat, like a microwave is a microwave.

But if your guitar is one that has appreciated in value, that's a "collectable" in the eyes of most Ins. Co's, and collectables, art, jewelery and the like are rarely covered by a basic homeowner's policy.

To insure "collectables" most Ins Co's will want a professional appraisal {some want two}, and will insure for that value....for an additional cost.

As the value goes up each year or two, you need to re-negotiate at regular intervals in order to get "full value".

Or....you can say "forget about the homeowners policy" and find a separate insurance policy that's just for your guitars, written by a company that knows & understands the collectable game. I see ads in VG from time to time....that's who I'd call, if you don't want to mess with your homeowners.

And...as was mentioned...if you gig, that's a whole 'nuther kettle of fish. A speciality Ins Co. will know & understand the differences, whereas your homeowners policy might not cover you at all if you take your guitars "out".

If you gig for money, then your guitar is a business tool. Yet again another issue.

There's a lot more to this than having "content reimbursment" on a homeowner's policy. Start making phone calls!

mn

EDIT-----> This is how my insurance agents explained it to me, but I'm in New Jersey. I now see that you're in Canada, where the rules might be very diferent, indeed. Potentially, everything I said may be totally false in Canada. Good luck!

[shakedancer]

Who do you take it ( guitar) too for an appraisal???

[clayfeat]

Originally Posted by shakedancer

Who do you take it ( guitar) too for an appraisal???

Gruhn Guitars does online appraisals. www.gruhnguitars.com 8)

[agent2x4]

Every time I get one/sell one, I email my insurance man with a photo/serial number.

[tiktok]

If you want to find out what your policy actually covers, you need to talk to your own insurance agent and tell him the truth. A lot of people (musicians) will be sort of coy with their agent when doing a rough inventory and not say "I've got $20K worth of musical gear and I play in a bar band every weekend." You'll get a [i]very[i] different answer as to what's covered if you describe it that way versus keeping mum and turning in an off-site theft claim with your fingers crossed when your Tele gets stolen out of the back seat while you run into the store for cigarettes on the way to a gig.

My insurance agent (State Farm) said that musical equipment isn't covered under my homeowner's policy if I play for money. While I'm not a professional, I do get paid, and playing out three times a week is certainly outside what State-Farm considers an acceptable risk for my policy. Most policies have an off-site coverage limit, for things stolen out of your car, while flying, etc., but you want to dig deep down into the small print and find out if there are certain items, i.e. musical equipment, which aren't covered, and the only way to be really sure of that is to ask your agent without trying to play down the scenario. I suspect they'll tell you that you're not covered, and it's in your interest to find that out before something gets ripped off rather than later.

Assuming you're not carrying around vintage gear, I think your most cost-effective insurance policy is to never leave gear unattended and sock away some money into an emergency replacement fund. I know it happens, but you have to look around a while before you find someone who gets robbed at gunpoint versus all the guys who put off loading-in until the morning.

[cg73cmc]

Originally Posted by Silverface

Having been burlarized and two Martins taken in the process this year, I can speak from experience.

Standard Homeowner's policies will cover musical instruments if you have receipts or even pictures and serial numbers - but NOT if you play gigs, even free ones. BUT - the reimbursement is replacement value LESS deductible LESS "depreciation". They could not care less about the vintage values - "replacement values" are street selling prices of new ones, and depreciation is based on age.

Ergo I got $250 for a 1958 0-18!

Point - either step up to the plate and pay the extra fees for "professional" insurance, or go to a specific carrier like Clarion that specializes in musical instrument policies.

Now the weirdest part - the underwriter called me and told me that I could go out and buy replacements, turn in the receipts, and the insurance company will reimburse me for the difference between that price and what they originally reimbursed. he was telling me how to beat the system, and said it's just reality, so I might as well know. THEN he said I could immediately return the guitars for a full refund and keep the cash, as the insurance company has no "interest" in the items once they've beeen "purchased" - once I have turned in the receipt, I can do anything I want to with them.

So essentially, if you had a friendly store, you could pay for a replacement, get the receipt, and immediately return it, and the insurance company doesn't care.

Weird, but absolutely true.

Silverface is absolutely right. I didn't lose any gear in Hurricane Katrina (except for one in-progress Strat project, pics in the Strat Forum). However, I did receive wind damage to my house and it also flooded 5.5 feet.

Having dealt with the insurance companies since the storm - nothing weird suprises me. For instance, I have a house with 29 squares of shingles on the roof. Insurance adjuster came out and gave me money to replace 17 squares. Roofer said that was ridiculous because if you're going to replace more than half the roof - you might as well replace it all.

So HE called my insurance company and they said "no problem". Reason is, the insurance company was afraid I would take the dough for a new roof and then turn around and only replace half of it. When the roofer called 'em who was actually doing the work - they knew it was all getting replaced so they said "cool".

Nothing suprises me with these guys. What I will advise is that, whatever insurance you get, run through all possible loss scenarios to see how much YOU are going to be covered for after a loss. I took 7K in wind damage alone from Katrina - and due to the 2 percent deductible on the total value of my house - ended up paying more than 4K. The insurance company paid 3. What a deal huh? I've since gone back and obtained a FLAT 1,500 deductible and it only cost like an extra $200 / year. They don't tell you that you can do that - you have to ask in most cases.

So with insurance folks - caveat emptor! I'm convinced these guys count on the fact that YOU are undereducated about your own insurance policy. Therefore, when YOU DO have to file a claim - their losses are minimized.

But it's capitalism so I'm not really complaining. It beats the alternative.