Do you get insurance on your instruments?

[davdud101]

Wife and I moved from our 635sqft apartment to smallish 2 bedroom house (where I finally get a studio!). It's a pretty safe neighborhood, lots of families with young kids, and in a somewhat upscale area, so I imagine there's not a huge risk of a break-in, but you really can never be too sure

I have a lot of cash in instruments and equipment, and I figured I should get some kind of insurance on the expensive stuff, but I wanted a sounding board first, and I had a few questions.

- Is it actually worth getting insurance on personal items? We have renters insurance, but there's this inner part of me that is not totally sure, and I should at least take stock of what high-value items I own. I going to add security cameras to the house too

- What do you usually need to provide with each item you're insuring? I don't have any purchase receipts, but of course I have model and serial numbers.

- Has anyone had something stolen and had to file a claim? What was the outcome?


Just getting this convo started. I'd be interested to hear what you guys have to say.

[hwlentz]

No claims, but I use Clarion. Extremely reasonable. I think I had to provide description, serial and value estimate. Did not have to provide invoice/receipts. I’ve taken photos of horns and serial numbers for my personal records.

https://www.clarionins.com/

[hornbuilder]

+1 for Clarion.

Some considerations. Do you take the horn(s) out of the house for gigs? Does your renters insurance cover it outside the house? Do you ever leave the horn(s) in the car? Can you afford to replace an instrument, outright, financially?

[GabrielRice]

Clarion is the industry standard for musical instruments and equipment. Individual items over a certain value ($5000? $6000?) need appraisal or other documentation. I know some owners of modular trombones who have been able to insure each component as a separate item, making the appraisal unnecessary and the insurance more flexible.

Thanks for this reminder that I needed to update my policy!

[ghmerrill]

Is this primarily a problem for renters? My wife (she does all our home and auto insurance stuff) tells me that all the musical instruments in the house are covered (as is any of the artwork that may be of some value). The carrier is Liberty Mutual, and it's a standard homeowner's policy.

Also, as far as I can see, if you're "travelling with musical instruments" you may need separate coverage for any loss while outside your home. Maybe I should check that.

[Burgerbob]

Yes, I have a policy through AFM on all my keeper horns. Well worth it. Never had a claim yet but it makes me feel much better about having the instruments.

[Gfunk]

I have coverage for all my horns through Clarion, as many have recommended here. The $255 for my policy a year is way less than the amount having a horn stolen/destroyed would set me back. Well worth it in my opinion.

I need to look at my policy and how it works for international residency, since I’ll be moving out of the USA soon.

[Posaunus]

Is this primarily a problem for renters? My wife (she does all our home and auto insurance stuff) tells me that all the musical instruments in the house are covered (as is any of the artwork that may be of some value). The carrier is Liberty Mutual, and it's a standard homeowner's policy.

Also, as far as I can see, if you're "travelling with musical instruments" you may need separate coverage for any loss while outside your home. Maybe I should check that.

My State Farm agent also told me that all the musical instruments in the house (including my wife's oboes) are covered by our homeowner's insurance policy, so we don't need to list or have appraised.

I haven't tested that with a claim!

[ghmerrill]

I haven't tested that with a claim!

Unfortunately, about 10 years ago I tested it with items that at least were not musical instruments. It worked out as promised, and the insurance paid off in a matter of days.

I believe that in general you can get pretty much what you want in terms of insurance -- if you're willing to pay the vig. However, our homeowner's policy seems to have a lot built in for the standard vig.

[davdud101]

Huge thanks for all the good info, guys. I'll take a look into Clarion. I know our renters insurance covers quite a bit, but I feel like insurance is founded on doing everything it can to absolutely not pay a dime