Gear insurance

[Gunsfreddy2003]

Afternoon,

I have always insured my gear on our house contents insurance and had a guitar or two listed as a specified item because the values were a little bit higher etc. However, I am thinking that I would like to leave some of my gear at our rehearsal room and naturally my household insurance will not cover this.

I looked into the policy from the Musicians Union and decided to try and put all of my gear on one policy but they have a limit of up to £10k and sadly everything that I wanted insured went over this amount.

Anyone else got any tips on good policies and cover elsewhere?

[TRBboy]

I'm also looking to insure my gear on a proper policy, and spotted a thread on here awhile ago about New Moon Insurance, and I'm going to sort it out next week. They're a new(ish) company formed from guys who used to work for Cornhill and Allianz (I think)< and wanted to start a firm specifically doing musical instrument insurance. The policies are underwritten by Hiscox, who are one of the best, and the prices seem extremely reasonable compared to quotes I've had from other firms. I spoke to them on the phone yesterday and they were very helpful and knowledgeable, and the cover seems very comprehensive. It can include theft from an unattended vehicle, and they say that they appreciate that not everything fits in the boot/glovebox. When I asked them more about this, they said that as long as it's not glaringly obvious what you've got in there and you've done as much as possible to conceal it, then they'll pay out. They gave the example that if you had a bass on the back seat, as long as you had a blanket/sheet/coats or whatever covering it, that would be fine. I also quizzed them about what if I'm loading up after a gig, take my amp out to the car, and then when I get back in my bass has disappeared off the stage. Technically you've left the instrument unattended in a public place so it's often a grey area. NM told me that this would probably just go down as a "lost" instrument and they would pay out, no worries.

Whether they are as good as they sound or not, I don't know, but I'm certainly going to give them a go.

[Gunsfreddy2003]

Never heard of them but their website looks good so I am going to give them a call tomorrow and see what they can offer.

[quote name='TRBboy' timestamp='1320946064' post='1433611'] I'm also looking to insure my gear on a proper policy, and spotted a thread on here awhile ago about New Moon Insurance, and I'm going to sort it out next week. They're a new(ish) company formed from guys who used to work for Cornhill and Allianz (I think)< and wanted to start a firm specifically doing musical instrument insurance. The policies are underwritten by Hiscox, who are one of the best, and the prices seem extremely reasonable compared to quotes I've had from other firms. I spoke to them on the phone yesterday and they were very helpful and knowledgeable, and the cover seems very comprehensive. It can include theft from an unattended vehicle, and they say that they appreciate that not everything fits in the boot/glovebox. When I asked them more about this, they said that as long as it's not glaringly obvious what you've got in there and you've done as much as possible to conceal it, then they'll pay out. They gave the example that if you had a bass on the back seat, as long as you had a blanket/sheet/coats or whatever covering it, that would be fine. I also quizzed them about what if I'm loading up after a gig, take my amp out to the car, and then when I get back in my bass has disappeared off the stage. Technically you've left the instrument unattended in a public place so it's often a grey area. NM told me that this would probably just go down as a "lost" instrument and they would pay out, no worries. Whether they are as good as they sound or not, I don't know, but I'm certainly going to give them a go. [/quote]

[tuss]

Towergate Entertainment do a policy specifically for entertainers/musicians which works out quite well. I've recently sorted out a policy with them in the joint names of all the band members which gives us public liability cover too. The good thing is you don't need to specify items so we have cover for upto £25k for anywhere in the UK. Collectively we probably have about £40k worth of gear (if we had to replace it all new), but worst case scenario is if the van/trailer got written off in transit then that would cover us. Previously I had a policy with Musicguard for £6000, but this didn't include all my items, as you have to specify everything with them and I never know on a week to week basis what gear I'll be using at gigs; that's GAS for you.