Insured courier recommendations.

[bigthumb]

I need to arrange a courier to ship a bass and being a high value instrument I'd like it insuring if possible. Under normal circumstances I'd collect the bass in person but it will have to be shipped.

I know couriers can be hit and miss and most here will have horror stories but is there a company that will insure a shipment and if the worse happens, pay up? 

So any recommendations please. 

[Lozz196]

Don’t use Parcelforce, their T&Cs prohibit payout on musical instruments.

[BreadBin]

Eurosender with the Basschat discount.

[bigthumb]

Just now, Lozz196 said:

Don’t use Parcelforce, their T&Cs prohibit payout on musical instruments.

Noted. Thanks. 

[BreadBin]

1 minute ago, BreadBin said:

Eurosender with the Basschat discount.

 

[sammybee]

I've always used UPS via interparcel with good results & they do insure instruments. Keenly priced too

[la bam]

I've just used UPS. Insurance included in price. It does state that musical instruments are covered. Tried to find some small print reversing that, but it all seemed good.

[chris_b]

20 minutes ago, sammybee said:

I've always used UPS via interparcel with good results & they do insure instruments. Keenly priced too

Me too.

Insurance is always a good idea, but the best insurance is the one you never have to call on. When I ship basses they are in a case or gig bag and that is in a cardboard bicycle box which is filled out on all sides with several layers of expanded polystyrene sheet.

[la bam]

What I have recently noticed is that some middle men companies / brokers that have a lot of courier services for you to choose from WONT insure musical instruments, even if the actual courier service you use does on their own site. As you book through the broker youve no cover.

[Owen]

I had to call on Interparcel insurance recently. Because the bass was packed in a proper transit case (Pelican type) it was fine. But they took 3 months to pay. 

[ClassicVibes]

Does anyone have experience of Tuffnells?

[Ian McFly]

Sorry for digging this thread out, but I wanted to share my experience with Tuffnells. 
 

I just sold a bass on Reverb. Went with Tuffnells via Interparcel. 
 

The buyer sent me this photo:

 

 

 

They bloody left the bass in front of his house, as he wasn’t home. He luckily found it after work. 
 

What a sh*t service, seriously. Who does that?!!!

[jezzaboy]

Tuffnells are another one of those 80 + drops a day guys. They are under constant pressure and that why they are always looking for drivers as they can`t keep good guys. They pay decent money but by jings you work for it.

 

But there is no excuse for the above.

[Ian McFly]

I had no idea about their working conditions. I will never use them again for an instrument though. The buyer got lucky it didn’t get nicked. Imagine the hassle.

[adamg67]

The last couple I’ve shipped I’ve sent UPS after reading a lot of T&Cs and ruling out a lot of big names because they didn’t cover instruments for damage. UPS did (check before sending though) and the extra insurance for the actual value was only something like £6. I’ve never tried to claim from them happily but it seemed pretty clear that a properly packed bass (hard case wrapped in cardboard) was covered for both loss and damage to the full amount I’d insured it for. The same could not be said for the others I looked at, and there are some that specifically exclude musical instruments from their insurance.

 

Never really looked at the brokers after the feedback on here that generally, if things go wrong, they just leave you to deal with the carrier and don’t help at all.