Insurance for your instruments

Does anyone have such a thing like this. My herd is getting bigger and thinking I should take out some insurance on my guitars and amps. I was hoping maybe someone on here has a suggestion or a Insurance company to go to, Thanks....Pete

haha.."herd"

I know ASCAP has it: http://www.ascap.com/playback/2005/summer/features/musicpro_story.aspx

And you can get renters insurance but some companies won't insure instruments if they are for professional use, they consider that a business expense.

What kind of insurance are you talking about? Theft? fire?

In most cases it will be covered by your homeowners. If your "herd is getting bigger" it would be a good idea to send an inventory with serial numbers to your insurance company. This way should you have a crisis there won't be any question about what you had. I've done this with photography equipment. Your post is a good reminder to me to do it with my guitars, although I'm sure my "herd" is a lot smaller than yours.

edited to add:

Of course, when you say "herd" that has an entirely different meaning to me: http://www.fourwindsphotography.com/farm/farm.html :lol:

Originally Posted by: Neal Walterhaha.."herd"

I know ASCAP has it: http://www.ascap.com/playback/2005/summer/features/musicpro_story.aspx

And you can get renters insurance but some companies won't insure instruments if they are for professional use, they consider that a business expense.

Yea this would be cool, but I don't play out any more, I am a retired musician. From what I get out of reading the forum you need to be a working musician or song writer. But we are heading in the right direction. I just started to think about this looking at my equipment. Lots of money tied up and I would hate to take a huge hit. I don't know if I have to itemize my stuff if I contact my home owners. I am talking about theft and fire insurance

I think most home owners' insurance would cover loss of instruments due to fire, theft, etc. Renters' insurance often does not offer the same wide range of risk coverage. Get to know your policy and look at the exceptions, e.g., flood. There is also a big 'however', however. High-value items are/can be an issue...whether they be instruments, pieces of art, jewelry, collections, etc.

Such items must be documented (pics, serial numbers, manufacturers' certificates...) and should be appraised. Once that is done all items with exceptional value (or risk) can be added onto standard homeowner policies with a rider.

In a Bing search I found bunches of companies out there that insure instruments...and I hadn't heard of any of 'em. But that might just be me. I'm not a professional musician and have never looked for a company that specializes in insuring musical instruments. Still, if you have insurance with a reputable company...one you like and trust...I'd check out their riders first. My brother did that with his computers (and had two replaced) and my camera rider paid off when I walked down the trail leaving a camera hanging on a tree. :rolleyes:

Which reminds me...I gotta get my guitars on a rider...or at least documented with my insurance company. The problem with all of that is NO insurance is going to cover what you and your guitar have accomplished together. That is, the improvement of a guitar's sound that results from years of play cannot be recovered should you lose that instrument.

All we can do is be very, very careful, don't take risks, keep them secure and 'treat 'em like a lady.'

im pretty sure when it comes to instruments it would be a good idea to list all your make and model instrument/ gear serial numbers maybe with pictures to your insurance company just in case of the inevitable. I mean hell if homeowners insurance will automatically cover everything in case of fire , theft , flood etc ... then anyone can say they had 10 Gibson Les Paul models worth 4k+ each.

Originally Posted by: Jpin109im pretty sure when it comes to instruments it would be a good idea to list all your make and model instrument/ gear serial numbers maybe with pictures to your insurance company just in case of the inevitable. I mean hell if homeowners insurance will automatically cover everything in case of fire , theft , flood etc ... then anyone can say they had 10 Gibson Les Paul models worth 4k+ each.

Guys, this is important... Flood damage is generally *not covered* by standard home owners insurance policies. The same goes for renters insurance.

Put another way, "One lesson that many people learn the hard way is that homeowner’s policies do not cover damages caused by flooding. The standard policy does not pay for damage caused by floods; water on the surface of the ground, waves, tides, overflows of bodies of water; or water spray whether the wind drives it or not. It also will not pay for damage caused by water or floating debris that backs up into the home through sewers or drains or which overflows or discharges from a sump or sump pump." http://www.independentinsuranceassociates.com/our-blog/water-damage-flooding-homeowners-policy/

This applies to all household contents, even four thousand dollar Les Pauls.

Originally Posted by: john of MTGuys, this is important... Flood damage is generally *not covered* by standard home owners insurance policies. The same goes for renters insurance.

Put another way, "One lesson that many people learn the hard way is that homeowner’s policies do not cover damages caused by flooding. The standard policy does not pay for damage caused by floods; water on the surface of the ground, waves, tides, overflows of bodies of water; or water spray whether the wind drives it or not. It also will not pay for damage caused by water or floating debris that backs up into the home through sewers or drains or which overflows or discharges from a sump or sump pump." http://www.independentinsuranceassociates.com/our-blog/water-damage-flooding-homeowners-policy/

This applies to all household contents, even four thousand dollar Les Pauls.

I like your signature , what Chet said, He made a lot of sense, maybe not to younger people starting out but in their later years they will find out, I should of paid or practiced a little more of that boring stuff is what it amounts to. Have a good labor Day

Thanks, Sgt Tee. I've been changing out the signature about every month. Maybe I'll keep this one around...

And, yeah, I shoulda practiced and concentrated on the boring stuff too. Especially during my 35-year break of no guitar at all. :(

I have done that myself but not as long, maybe a year and then hit it for awhile, then family things were priority, dropped it and picked back up and been solid at it since 06 now. I play what I want , when I want, no more pressure with learning tunes and playing out. I don't know if I would be able to handle that any more. I am not saying that word "never". 5 years from now I could be playing drums. No not that crazy but you get where I am coming from

I have mine insured with USAA. A rider that cost me around $60 per year.

Five guitars and two amps. Gretsch, Les Paul, Strat, Tele, Super Beatle, etc.

My company too.

Originally Posted by: john of MTThanks, Sgt Tee. I've been changing out the signature about every month. Maybe I'll keep this one around...

And, yeah, I shoulda practiced and concentrated on the boring stuff too. Especially during my 35-year break of no guitar at all. :(

I tell people I've been playing guitar since 1965. But I took a break from 1967 to 2011.

I finally researched insurance for instruments. My insurance company covers such under a "Valuable Personal Property" rider. The difference from household/renter's insurance is there is no deductible, coverage is for full replacement, and coverage includes loss and theft. Or so it goes for my company. Total annual premium for the $5000 value I placed on my two guitars is $13.00.

Now...my company is widely known for its excellent service and lower costs, YMMV with your company. Still, the premium cost can't be hugely different between companies. Additional rider protection for our instruments looks like a deal!

(this is for "personal" property, the VPP rider does not cover instruments used professionally)

When my house burned down, it took my $5,000 Taylor with it. I'm not a professional musician and had a specific policy for that guitar which cost me about $60 a year with Allstate (thank God). I did get my reimbursement for that guitar right after the fire, but had to fight tooth and nail with attorneys to get the rest of the policy limits paid to rebuild my house.

Okay, now I switched to USAA and they actually reduced my homeowners insurance when I took out an additional rider for my jewelry and remaining instruments which actually reduces my total insurance cost! (No, I don't work for USAA).

You are wise to take out insurance for your instruments for fire, theft and flood, no matter if you are a renter or homeowner. Word to the wise...although I never thought it would happen to me - it did. You never know what the future may bring.

Protect your babies (herd/instruments or otherwise). :-)

I am still looking into it, taking pictures and copying all my serial numbers, sorry to hear about your loss, Did you get to replace your Taylor yet. I love mine. They are great guitars. I bought the 710ce. I just took it out of the case this morning to play a little on it and it was in the case for over 3 months. The guitar stayed in perfect tuning. You get what you pay for. Thanks guys for all the help. I will contact my home owners I guess. I was hoping that someone had a good experience with a company that just insures instruments

Some posts above, mine included, praise USAA. It's a member-owned company which ensures active duty military and veterans, their spouses and adult children. They are extremely easy to work with (phone or online) and have really decent rates.

With that said, the VPP I mentioned above is a rider on my USAA Household policy. In setting it up one can declare which/what personal property one wants on the rider, e.g., instruments, jewelry, guns, collections, etc. You set it up for one, some or all of the categories. In this way, you can choose to have 'only' the instruments insured by the rider.

Other companies may do the same. I don't know. As soon as I was eligible for USAA (the above membership wasn't always so wide ranging) I got it as soon as I could (auto, home, umbrella, riders, etc.). That was a few decades ago. ;)

Originally Posted by: Jpin109im pretty sure when it comes to instruments it would be a good idea to list all your make and model instrument/ gear serial numbers maybe with pictures to your insurance company just in case of the inevitable. I mean hell if homeowners insurance will automatically cover everything in case of fire , theft , flood etc ... then anyone can say they had 10 Gibson Les Paul models worth 4k+ each.

haha i have two 1969 fender strats and 68 les paul and two private stock prs guitars lol.i think there heads would spin....

Actually, coverage for a high value instrument or many is precisely what riders are intended for. Otherwise, home owner's/renter's insurance will usually provide appropriate coverage for an 'average' collection of music toys. ;)

Axe2 -- What happened to your PRS SE's?

Originally Posted by: Sgt TeeDoes anyone have such a thing like this. My herd is getting bigger and thinking I should take out some insurance on my guitars and amps. I was hoping maybe someone on here has a suggestion or a Insurance company to go to, Thanks....Pete

[br]ow, dude, I remember a case, when I was transporting some guitars when I worked as a courier to earn money in order to buy my own guitar. And you know what? That moment I was transporting guitars I had an accident where I wasn't fault... That guitars were expensive enough (as it turned out, it cost about $15 thousands) and I thought I had to go into debt to pay the damaged guitars, but my Courier Insurance paid all the guitars cost to the owner and also paid me compensations for moral damage. By the way, my car also was repaired, and, due to that guys I text this message and can learn playing guitar, instead of getting into debts...