Rentor's insurance for gear?

[honkyjonk]

I got enough gear now that I'm starting to think about getting insurance.

Just wondering what your guys' experience is with rentor's insurance, which kinds cover theft, fire, etc. How much they cover.

I'm not a business but I now have a bunch of money invested in my home studio, and I'm about to move it to my home residence (instead of my girlfriend's parents' house. heh, don't ask)

Anyway, is there an insurance company that you guys trust in this regard? I don't want to pay a bunch of money every month and then get a Katrina'd.

Geiko has rentor's insurance for seemingly pretty cheap, but I havn't looked into it much.

Is that a good way to go?

[Rolsen]

I own a home and have homeowner's insurance now (Allstate) and they cover any of my possessions, anywhere in the world they may be when they are stolen or damaged. One caveat - if those items are used for 'professional' uses, you are screwed. My agent said that if you play in a bar for beer money, and your guitar gets jacked, that is considered a 'professional' use - screwed.

My renter's insurance, which I had about five years ago through State Farm, seemed to have the same policy. Just say that your studio is a non-pro, hobby studio and see what the agents say when you're shopping around. In Washington, it seemed like companies were getting out of the renter's insurance game, so good luck!

[digitaldrummer]

there are sometimes other exclusions too - vintage gear, stuff thats actually worth money, etc. all may require a separate policy. there is these guys:

http://www.clarionins.com/

but I found them more expensive (about double) over what my car/home insurance comapny could get me.

and like was already said, make sure that if you gig, that its covered in the car, in the club, etc.

[Phiz]

On the renter's policies I've looked at there have been rather low caps on claims for electronics. Something like $2000 I believe.

[ethyrvalve]

Have any Canadians looked into this? Specifically, is the SOCAN group insurance plan a good deal?

[Rodgre]

I have been meaning to get my gear specifically covered for the longest time and just never got around to it until now. A band I know recently lost their gear when the mill where they had their rehearsal room burned to the ground. Makes you think...

I got a quote from one agency for $50k of coverage of my music gear for around $450/yr. Another quote from another agency for around $12k was around $25 a year.

To me, that seems reasonable. Has anyone found anything better than that?

I've been putting together a list of my gear with reasonable costs to replace them and it's insane what all these $50 pedals and $300 guitars add up to.

Roger

[xonlocust]

i've used http://musicproinsurance.com/ for a couple yrs now for my touring coverage - and they also do studio coverage. no need for any claims yet so no data on that, but it's easy to do all online. your rate is a percentage of the replacement value (i think 1% of).

they;re affiliated somehow with ascap, which is how i found them.

[GooberNumber9]

For personal use I think everyone should have renter's insurance on their stuff. Nothing is covered by anyone else's insurance if your apartment building burns down. If you have special items that are more valuable, ask your insurer about riders, floaters, or schedules for such items. Usually that is coverage for jewelry, but my policy has floaters for a couple of my guitars.

If you are getting paid, you want business insurance. I've talked about that with an insurer, but never priced it or anything.

Todd Wilcox

[Jeff White]

i've used http://musicproinsurance.com/ for a couple yrs now for my touring coverage - and they also do studio coverage. no need for any claims yet so no data on that, but it's easy to do all online. your rate is a percentage of the replacement value (i think 1% of).

they;re affiliated somehow with ascap, which is how i found them.

Thanks for this.

I am getting ready to buy a house in Philadelphia, and I will be building a studio, mostly for me, within. However, I plan on doing some ADR work and other paid work (mixing) there. I am planning on alarming the property, but I also thought that everything inside of it was covered by home owners insurance.

So this is definitely something that I need to look into.

Jeff

[Professor]

Probably dangerous to say publicly, but I've never had any kind of renter's insurance, so I can't really speak from experience there. I know from what I know of the industry that many of the policies are carefully crafted to exclude as much as possible for as many reasons as possible, and by far the biggest one is professional/commercial use. That one will come up with music gear, with power tools, computers, etc. Maybe describing the equipment as 'home entertainment' or something like that could help, but don't quote me on that one without reading the policies. One correlation that seems pretty obvious is that the less you spend, the more they are going to try to exclude. That's not to say that the most expensive is the best by any means, but a company that charges $25 a year isn't going to be too inclined to pay out $2000 for your guitar and will try really hard to avoid doing so.

I'm curious whether anyone here has ever successfully filed a claim for gear with any insurance companies, whether home, auto, business, renter, or whatever? How much did you have to argue? How much did they pay out? etc.

-Jeremy

[honkyjonk]

Yeah,

That's a good question. Who's actually paid up? Let's hear about it.

[lanterns]

The insurance covers your gear up to $2000. It doesn't cover beer, though. unless it's vintage, and used for a hobby.

[rydaken]

My insurance is pretty good (I think, I've never had to file a claim). They tried to blow me some shit about being a music engineer by trade, and collecting music instruments as a hobby. I just insist that the gear at home is for hobby. It's all listed in my policy with State Farm. A little over $200 a year for $35,000 and $100,000 liabilty. Can't remember what my deductible is right now. $500, I think.