 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Gary Shiozaki
Date: 2000-11-13 21:46
Besides homeowner's insurance, are there any good, full coverage insurance policies available for musical instruments? I'd like to cover my son's clarinets for not only theft, but for cracking and other major repair works that may occur. My homeowner's insurance will cover theft but with many restrictions such as not leaving the house...rather impracticle. I'd appreciate any suggestions.
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Author: Robert Gifford
Date: 2000-11-13 22:35
I have heard from places that do have musician's insurance... I know there is one place in Dallas, but I'm sorry I don't remember what their name is.
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Author: mark weinstein
Date: 2000-11-13 22:36
It seems like the ICA has a policy that is offered or made known to its members. Last I looked, it seemed cost effective & competitively priced. Most h/o's policies might have a rider available, etc. but the cost would be greater, as well as the likelihood that an overall limit would be placed on the h/o's policy. mw.
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Author: Judy
Date: 2000-11-13 23:23
My son's clarinets are covered on a Personal Articles Schedule provided by State Farm Insurance. I have to have this coverage anyway for certain items that are not covered on my State Farm homeowner's insurance policy. The clarinets are definitely covered while he is away at school - I inquired about that this summer. I doubt that the policy covers cracking or major repairs, but I would have to check. This coverage is not cheap - but considering that the cost of replacing the clarinets is approximately 1/3 the cost of a car - there is no other choice.
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Author: jbutler
Date: 2000-11-14 00:24
Music Agency, Inc
PO Box 868
Arlington, TX 76004-0868
1.800.421.1283
If you like I can fax you the application. NO I do not work for them, but I do have their applications on hand for my beginners.
John
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Author: jbutler
Date: 2000-11-14 00:57
BTW, I've got $15,500 worth of insurance on my home owners rider and it costs me about $72 per year. I don't know what you all are paying, but if it is a lot more than that I would be shopping around for a different carrier. I usually do each year anyway to keep them honest. If you don't, they'll sneak that premium up a little EVERY year. My current insurance carrier is Nationwide.
John
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Author: Jim
Date: 2000-11-14 04:33
An issue not discussed is that most riders (or scheduled items) for instruments on homeowners policies exclude those used professionally. Also, they usually do not include damage from cracks or other maintance type problems, but do cover the same risks that the homeowners itself covers, and ours also covers accidental loss. Our rider covering my son's new R-13 costs just under $20/ year for a value of $1800. (Homeowners is with Harleysville Ins Co.)
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Author: mark weinstein
Date: 2000-11-14 04:39
Those #'s sound right to me. I am surprised that the Insurance co. allowed $15,500 of value on the h/o rider. Most times if it goes beyond, $5-10K, they insist that a separate policy be written. mw
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Author: J. Butler
Date: 2000-11-14 17:20
Mark and Jim,
Mine does let me carry that much. Also, they cover certain ones (the ones I designate) as professional use. It states on the coverage "instrument is mobile" on the ones that I use at school and performance. You are correct in that it is a separate policy, but added in with my regular home owners payment that comes out of my escrow account held by the mortgage company.
John
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Author: Judy
Date: 2000-11-15 22:58
I don't have a rider on my homeowners policy. This is a separate "Personal Articles Policy" that also includes schedules with other personal articles. Items used professionally are not excluded.
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Author: mark weinstein
Date: 2000-11-16 00:06
Judy, you said "Personal Articles Schedule" and that IS a "Rider".
A "Schedule" is a detailed list _attached_ to a Policy of Insurance. The reason it is "scheduled" is because it is not "usual or customary" to the basic policy of insurance. Thus it "rides" with it. And, **but for the schedule or rider**, you wouldn't have those items insured in the event of a "covered event".
NOW, you may have a separate policy from your Homeowner's. This I do not know. I only made a statement based upon words you wrote. I didn't mean to create a problem or infer/imply anything. My apologies.
I am a CPA in Oklahoma and my firm does a fair amount of accounting & tax work for Insurance agencies. Growing up I also worked in my Uncle's Insurance office in NY, too. (hmm ... don't know if that was good or bad!)
Sorry for any confusion.
mw
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Author: Kristen Denny
Date: 2000-11-21 22:23
I have had wonderful coverage with State Farm. They have a policy that you can take out
in increments of value in 10,000's. I have all of my instruments listed in the coverage of
up to 20,000 bracket. My R13 Bb and A, plastic Eb, plastic Bb, student model flute, and trumpet are all covered 100% of the stated retail value if any had to be replaced. This policy not only covers theft or out-of-the-house damage, but also covers your own stupidity! Yes! You can
leave it on a bus, leave it in a cab, run over it in a car, throw it across the room, drop and step
on it, crack it, split it....etc. To an extent (not intentional damage by the owner, of course).
It also not only covers the instrument, but also the mouthpiece and other accessories
associated with the clarinet. I have two examples. A week before my semester jury two years
ago, I was stupid and knocked my clarinet over. Well, my mouthpiece cracked. I went and
bought a new one (at retail cost), sent the insurance a copy of the invoice, and received a
check for the amount a couple of weeks later. The other example is that I
bought a wonderful gold plated Bay ligature at the clarinetfest this year, and 2 weeks ago,
I accidently closed it in my case in between my two clarinets... needless to say it was
a pancake. I ordered a replacement, mailed the receipt, got the check....
Zero Deductible! It's amazing. For up to $10, 000 coverage, it's $35 PER YEAR!
For up to $20,000 coverage, it's $50 PER YEAR! You do have to have your
home owner's or car insurance with State Farm to get this deal.
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Author: TheMusicalNotes
Date: 2012-06-25 20:49
You need to be careful insuring your instrument under an existing homeowners policy. If you perform with your clarinet outside of your home it is very likely that you are not covered if your instrument is damaged or stolen, and you'll need a separate policy.
Additionally, homeowner’s coverage of musical instruments carries large deductibles, sometimes as high as $1,000 per loss. Look for a specific instrument insurance policy with a no deductible option.
Post Edited (2012-06-25 20:51)
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2012-06-25 22:58
Gary -
Here is material I've collected about musical instrument insurance. Unfortunately, there's no information on whether the insurers were fast/fair about claims, but I used to work in insurance claims law and you can be sure that any claim will be gone over with a microscope.
If you can get it, "all risk" coverage (which covers everything except what's specifically excluded) is better than "named risk" coverage (which covers only what is specifically included). "Replacement Value" coverage is better than "Blue Book Value," which pays only depreciated value.
For any policy, you need to check coverage dollar limits. Some insurers don't cover (or charge extra) for instruments used professionally. Others cover only losses that occur in your home. Repairs are usually covered only at the "usual and customary" rate, which will usually be well below your actual cost.
Clarion is probably the biggest. http://www.clarionins.com/ Clarion policies do NOT cover cracking.
Anderson is at http://www.anderson-group.com/
Heritage is at http://www.musicins.com/
Kelly Abraham, who used to be a regular on this board, wrote:
I insure my instruments through Sterling and Sterling in New York State. The union (my music union is local 802) gave me information on the insurance, and I believe you might have to be in the union to get the rates I get (which are really low) but they may insure people outside the union.
http://www.sterlingrisk.com/
MusicPro is a national company insuring instruments. http://www.musicproinsurance.com/
I strongly suggest instrument insurance rather than as a rider for homeowner's insurance, which is not only more expensive, but only covers blue book value. Sterling and MusicPro insure it for replacement cost, not current value. As of several years ago, you can have $3,000 worth of coverage for about $50/yr, plus they also give you up to $5000 insurance for electronics/stereo equipment free in addition to the instrument coverage, just for insuring your instruments through them. I remember over a decade ago, my parents had my old clarinet insured for blue book rates through the homeowner's policy. The insurance rider cost them $40 a year for $1000 coverage for a "used instrument." Not only would this not have covered replacement, but for $3,000 insurance, it would have cost $120/year, and that was in the late 80s.
Homeowners insurance doesn't cover breakage due to wear or droppage, car running over instrument, etc. Musical instrument insurance does.
Most important, homeowners insurance only covers instruments in your home or car. If you are in a mall and the instrument is next to you on a bench, and then swiped by someone, or taken when you're at a concert, it's not covered.
Instrument insurance is available from Merz-Huber. http://www.merzhuber.com/Musical+Instrument+Insurance/ You may have to join an "affinity group" such as the American String Teachers Association http://www.astaweb.com/ for ($99.00/yr.) as a woodwind member, but it's still cheaper than Clarion, plus you get their journal with lessons and tips from eminent teachers. They also insure through the Music Teachers National Association http://www.mtna.org/. Merz-Huber won’t write a policy if you're outside the US, and you'll need to check whether they cover for foreign travel. Clarion writes only for US citizens (a recent change).
State Farm has a Personal Articles policy that covers instruments – be sure to keep value updated.
Homeowner/renter policies and riders to other policies don’t cover professional use, which they define as any payment at all, even if it’s only money for gas.
This material is several years old, but I just checked the links, which are good.
Ken Shaw
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Author: davetrow
Date: 2012-06-25 23:00
I second Buster's suggestion. I've had Clarion insurance for several years now, and they cover just about everything (I originally got it so I could ship my R-13 to Backun for an overhaul--it was cheaper than the two-time--there and back--cost through FedEx).
My homeowners' insurance (Farmer's) won't cover a musical instrument under any circumstances.
Dave Trowbridge
Boulder Creek, CA
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2012-06-26 02:12
I have music pro, my wife got her $10,000 flute stolen this year and they were quick to respond and honor the claim.
Clarion has a slightly better valuation policy, but it's more expensive.
Make sure you update the replacement cost regularly in your policy, otherwise you may have to battle with the insurance company on the actual replacement value of your instrument when you make a claim.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2012-06-26 02:19
Rider insurance through Alstate. Covers everything including cracks. You can't be a pro though, so if you show income on your taxes don't do it.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2012-06-26 03:11
Just for the record, the person who resurrected this almost 12 year-old thread sells instrument insurance and it looks like s/he may have resurrected the thread to advertise his/her product. Personally, the conflict of interest coupled with rather vague wording ("it is VERY LIKELY..." and "... deductibles SOMETIMES as high...") give this poster very little credibility with me.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2012-06-26 04:19
Jack Kissinger wrote:
> Just for the record, the person who resurrected this almost 12
> year-old thread sells instrument insurance
Thanks, Jack. For those that don't think obvious disclaimers are necessary ...
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