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I have been covering my instruments on my house contents policy as special and named/ recorded items. I have been a little unsure as to the competeness of this as an option.

 

Recently I spotted www.musical-insurance.co.uk, a section of Allianz Cornhill in the UK, advertising in the 'Making Music News' magazine.

 

I did an all risks type online quote for a £2,000 concertina (listed as an option under keybord instruments (a little suprising, but so be it!) The annual premium quoted was £37.55 per annum.

 

Who do others use, and how does this quote compare??

 

Dave

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I rang Cornhill for a quote yesterday. (0870 240 0303), to insure 2x Concertinas, £1500 + £800, and 2x Melodeons £1700 + £450. They quoted me £110.82, this involves leaving them unattended in a car boot, and Worldwide cover. Im just waitng for an application form to come through the post.

 

A friend of mine has £7295 worth of musical instruments insured with them. He pays an annual premium of £166.38 under the same conditions.

 

Best Wishes

 

 

David Ayres.

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While I have several instruments at home, I only insure my Wheatstone Hayden for $3500 which costs me an extra $17/year on my homeowner's insurance. I made sure that this coverage includes when I take it off the premises too (watch out for that as most policies are limited to on-site instances).

 

I understand that people who don't own their houses can get similar "tenants" insurance and riders. Getting a policy just (solely, stand-alone insurance) for one's instruments is usually a *lot* more expensive.

 

I've also encountered a problem with musical instrument insurance that if you have too many instruments (no set number though the insurance adjusters seem to point to 10 or a dozen or more), then you are considered a collector or a "business". Either way you can no longer claim the instruments as personal property but must get commercial property insurance which costs a LOT more.

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I have been using the Allianz - Cornhill for a number of years. The cost is reasonable and when I had cause to claim for a repair on my Castagnri Melodeon they were prompt in paying and no hoops to jump through. . Particularily like the cover in car boot clause. Thoroughly recommended

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While I have several instruments at home, I only insure my Wheatstone Hayden ... on my homeowner's insurance. I made sure that this coverage includes when I take it off the premises too (watch out for that as most policies are limited to on-site instances).

 

I understand that people who don't own their houses can get similar "tenants" insurance and riders. Getting a policy just (solely, stand-alone insurance) for one's instruments is usually a *lot* more expensive.

 

I've also encountered a problem with musical instrument insurance that if you have too many instruments (no set number though the insurance adjusters seem to point to 10 or a dozen or more), then you are considered a collector or a "business". Either way you can no longer claim the instruments as personal property but must get commercial property insurance which costs a LOT more.

As with so many things, standard procedure and even applicable laws can vary greatly from country to country and even (in the US) from state to state. They can also change over time, so what I experienced 10-20 years in New York and Connecticut may no longer be the case.

 

In both places my home insurance covered my instruments as part of the "personal belongings" coverage. I.e., it didn't matter what sort of belongings they were. And they were even covered when I took them off premises, with no fine-print exceptions for car boot or whatever, nor anything said about the number of instruments. BUT... they became uncovered if I used them for making money... any money at all, even ten cents. Coverage for that would have been 1/6 the insured value per year, which I felt was rather steep. I've heard that the best & cheapest instrument insurance in the US is provided by the musicians' union to its members. I never did get around to finding out what it takes to join.

 

The situation here in Denmark is quite different, but unlikely to be relevant to other countries. After all, a default provision in Danish homeowner's policies is coverage for lawyers' fees, with a per-case limit and no cumulative limit, and regardless of whether you're defendant or plaintiff. Try getting that in the US! :o

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We have instruments that leave the house frequently, and instruments that don't. The latter we insure under the house contents insurance, which is very cheap. The former is insured with a specialist company who cover storage in a car boot.

 

Oddly enough I renewed our cover only yesterday. Our broker is Musicians Insurance Services and our policies are with Allianz Cornhill Musical Insurance, formerly known as British Reserve Musical Insurance (under which name they've been covering British musicians for donkeys years - it was only when I looked at the small print just now that I realised they had changed their name). £6600 pounds worth of cover costs me 137 pounds a year, that's approximately 1 pound per 48 pounds of cover.

 

Chris

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Here in the US, one must be careful if they are covered under homeowners type of insurance. Often homeowners insurance will cover items in a car, but if you are a musician or use the instrument to make any money, all coverage is void. I don't know how they would know, but if you have a very expensive instrument, you might not want to find yourself in a fix disputing your coverage.

 

I insure my two Jefferies for approximately $12,000 US with a company that specializes in instruments, jewelery, etc. at an annual cost of $75.00. I am careful not to perform professionally (ie accept any money). I don't have the name of the insurance company in front of me at the moment, but will get back with their particulars.

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This may only be applicable to those in the UK, but there was a relevant exchange of emails some time ago on the ICA E-mailing list, which I summarise here:

 

An ICA Member obtained a discount on instrument insurance by declaring that she is a member of a 'recognised musical society'. In this instance membership of the ICA was quoted to qualify.

 

This applied to one particular insurance company. We do not know if any other insurance company offers this type of discount.

 

written confirmation of the discount from Allianz Cornhill:

"We confirm that a 10% discount has been applied to your policy for being a member of the International Concertina Association"

 

Allianz Cornhill Musical Insurance

Allianz Cornhill House

6 Vale Avenue

Tunbridge Wells

Kent TN1 1EH

0870 2400 303

 

"All I had to do was tell them that I was a member and that we did not have

membership numbers."

 

I hope this is of some help.

 

 

- John Wild

Edited by John Wild
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In both places my home insurance covered my instruments as part of the "personal belongings" coverage.  I.e., it didn't matter what sort of belongings they were.  And they were even covered when I took them off premises, with no fine-print exceptions for car boot or whatever, nor anything said about the number of instruments.  BUT... they became uncovered if I used them for making money... any money at all, even ten cents. 

 

 

That's the situation where I live. Homeowners insurance covers instruments, but not if you earn any money at all playing. Since I declare music income to Internal Revenue, I wouldn't be covered.

 

In my case the answer was a separate business policy from my insurance provider. About 50 dollars a year for complete coverage.

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I have my various boxes insured with Cornhill Allianz, and get a similar discount with Musicians Onion card (over £11,000 for under £300).

It is a neccesity and is tax deductable (for me anyway).

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Our homeowner's insurance has a limit of $1,000 on speciality items like firears, coin collections and musical instruments. I was able to obtain additional insurance for two boxes for $30.00 for the year. Includes at the house, and away.

 

USA

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Glad this topic came up. I hadn't wondered about our Homeowner's coverage much, since any personal items of mine that are covered by it are seldom taken anywhere else.

 

But, I did call our company, and found out that musical instruments are covered at home OR elsewhere, though there is a deductible.

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Having phoned my home contents insurer (Norwich Union Direct), to compare costs, and coverage between them and Allianze Cornhill Musical, I was assured of the following:

 

1. Full coverage in an unattended car as long as the instruments are locked up out of sight in the boot (sorry, trunk!)

 

2. Vicki's instrument would be covered if she takes it away to University

 

3. The instruments would be covered if in a public place (pub, bar, park etc.) being played or between play as long as the playing is not rewarded, and they are not left unattended. (Clearly the insurance people have never heard my attempts to play otherwise they would never have suggested that I might get paid for performance!!!)

 

For me this cover is adequate, and as the instrument quote from Allianze was over 50% of the full total of the contents policy including my specified and value declared instruments, I shall stay as I am, but I shall increase the instrument values more in line with today's inflated replacement costs!

 

Dave

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