Insuring your Basses, anyone?

[Phantasm]

After realizing just how important insurance was after the hurricane, I've started thinking about how I should insure my basses from theft. They're the one thing that I always protect and watch over, and the hardest thing to replace!

 

So to those of you who insure, who do you use and what does it cost? Have any of you needed to use the insurance, and how hard was it to collect?

 

I'm trying not to use my homeowners policy as the coverage won't be as complete and after the storm I want to limit my possibilities of making a claim.

[LO_RYDER]

Sounds interesting especially if you have a collectors piece or really expensive bass. i am thinking of buying a MTD 535. with a price if $3700 insurance sounds like a good idea!

[Phantasm]

 

Originally posted by LO_RYDER Sounds interesting especially if you have a collectors piece or really expensive bass. i am thinking of buying a MTD 535. with a price if $3700 insurance sounds like a good idea!

 

 

Yep, I have a low-serial Tobias Classic 5 and a Lakland 4-94. I'm also looking at "something special" right now that if I get it will cost more than both of those, so I'm starting to feel the urge to invest in insurance.

[bbl]

Originally posted by Phantasm Yep, I have a low-serial Tobias Classic 5 and a Lakland 4-94. I'm also looking at "something special" right now that if I get it will cost more than both of those, so I'm starting to feel the urge to invest in insurance.

 

Have you considered LoJack?

 

[greenshag]

Originally posted by bbl Have you considered LoJack?

 

bassius has something very similiar on his conklins....he told me about it one day when I pretended to run off with his blue/green one.

[Phantasm]

Originally posted by bbl Have you considered LoJack?

 

Never heard of it... what are the details?

[Sixgun77]

When my Custom Shop bass comes in I'll be insuring it.

[catphish]

All my gear is insured. I use a company called Clarion.

[L-1329]

 

Originally posted by catphish All my gear is insured. I use a company called Clarion.

 

 

How does that work? Do you insure for more than just theft? Also, if something is stolen how is a value determined in a claim? Lastly how are the rates, are they reasonable? I'm really interested because a little quick math of all the stuff I have piling up around here is turning up a rather large amount.

[catphish]

 

Originally posted by L-1329 How does that work?

 

 

the only thing not covered is "Mysterious disappearance". So if my bass just disappears, I'm SOL. However, if it falls off the stage, or dropped out a window, or my car gets smashed into, it's covered.

 

I have $7000 bucks (full retail value) worth of gear covered for about $500 a year.

[bassman1956]

Carvin used to brag about all of it's instruments now having some sort of imbedded ID chip. I don't know what it actually was, what it involved, or if they still do it. But I think it would be more like that passive ID chip they put into your dogs, rather than the LoJack active locator transceiver.

[Rippin' Robin]

Insurance rates here are phenomenal.

 

They charge rates as a percentage of the price when the article was NEW and only pay a little bit of what the instrument is worth NOW when it gets stolen/ripped/etc.

 

Besides, you need to have the original proof of purchase, and since all my gear is second hand, well... No go, I'm afraid.

 

My homeowners insurance only covers 200 bucks in musical instruments, so does my travellers' insurance.

[Dragonlord]

 

Originally posted by catphish I have $7000 bucks (full retail value) worth of gear covered for about $500 a year.

 

If you were saving that up, if you had 1/3 of your gear completely destroyed or stolen in the next five years you'd be completely covered (which I doubt with an insurance company).

 

Chances are that it's money down the toilet. If it wasn't, insurance companies would be bankrupt.

[NeonVomit]

I've been thinking of that, a lot of people in my music department at university have their instruments insured. But my Ibanez only cost me like the equivalent of 550 GBP, so not sure it's worth it. My upright bass is at home in Cyprus, and it's covered by the house insurance (as I very rarely take it anywhere else).

[fretless]

I have renters insurance , covers everything anywhere . Also if you are a ASCAP member they offer some cheaper insurance .

[Bassius]

Originally posted by greenshag bassius has something very similiar on his conklins....he told me about it one day when I pretended to run off with his blue/green one.

 

 

http://www.snagg.com/

 

 

[JacieFB]

A buddy of mine from HS is my insurance guy at Grange Mutual. He has my gear insured as an addition to my homeowner's policy. It's for "professional equipment", though. Funny/tragic thing is that I got that stuff insured AFTER some low-life walked out of the back of Sudsy Malone's (Cincy club) with my rack (including Mesa/Boogie M-Pulse 600, Furman Power Conditioner, Korg tuner, a custom strap, 3 Shure Beta 58's, and a bunch of strings and cables.) I got burned badly.

 

My policy did include almost all of my basses, my amps, my cabs, my PA stuff, my guitar rig, and my Tele (both of which were used by the guitarist in my band at the time). I've since found people to work with that actually have their own gear, so I only have my 2 cabs, my replacement M-Pulse(ouch), and only the basses that I play live and in the studio covered. It almost came into play last tour when we wrecked, but miraculously, all the equipment survived.

[spiltmilk_2000]

my basses are insured on the home contents... any item up to

[One Bad Monkey]

 

Originally posted by fretless I have renters insurance , covers everything anywhere . Also if you are a ASCAP member they offer some cheaper insurance .

 

 

+1

 

I even had the store in town do appraisals of everything that was to be covered and included a copy of that (along with serial #s and physical descriptions) in my file, so it's all on record.

[Banta]

Don't think that you're covered if you carry renter's or homeowner's insurance. Check with your agent to make sure that your gear is covered. If you use it for gigging, technically it can be classified as business property and you could be denied coverage. And if you are covered, make sure you are covered for replacement cost! There is a difference between replacement cost coverage and standard coverage which allows for depreciated valuation at the time of loss. If you aren't paying the extra few dollars on your policy for replacement cost, you don't have it. That can mean the difference between receiving a check for $5000 or one for $200 if you have a loss.

[takeout]

 

Originally posted by Banta Don't think that you're covered if you carry renter's or homeowner's insurance. Check with your agent to make sure that your gear is covered. If you use it for gigging, technically it can be classified as business property and you could be denied coverage. And if you are covered, make sure you are covered for replacement cost! There is a difference between replacement cost coverage and standard coverage which allows for depreciated valuation at the time of loss. If you aren't paying the extra few dollars on your policy for replacement cost, you don't have it. That can mean the difference between receiving a check for $5000 or one for $200 if you have a loss.

What Banta said. Also, even if you do have set your band up as a business (LLC, etc.) and want to get coverage that way, most carriers won't insure a band as a business because of the risk profile. This from my friend of almost twenty years, who is also my agent.

 

There are music instrument specialty insurers out there, and if you are an ASCAP or BMI member (if not and you perform originals, what are you waiting for?), they offer it too.

[LO_RYDER]

 

Originally posted by JacieFB A buddy of mine from HS is my insurance guy at Grange Mutual. He has my gear insured as an addition to my homeowner's policy. It's for "professional equipment", though. Funny/tragic thing is that I got that stuff insured AFTER some low-life walked out of the back of Sudsy Malone's (Cincy club) with my rack (including Mesa/Boogie M-Pulse 600, Furman Power Conditioner, Korg tuner, a custom strap, 3 Shure Beta 58's, and a bunch of strings and cables.) I got burned badly. My policy did include almost all of my basses, my amps, my cabs, my PA stuff, my guitar rig, and my Tele (both of which were used by the guitarist in my band at the time). I've since found people to work with that actually have their own gear, so I only have my 2 cabs, my replacement M-Pulse(ouch), and only the basses that I play live and in the studio covered. It almost came into play last tour when we wrecked, but miraculously, all the equipment survived.

 

 

Sounds like he made more than one trip! Where was evryone??

[pbass_groovin]

this thread is making me want to play SXs exclusively

[Banta]

 

Originally posted by pbass_groovin this thread is making me want to play SXs exclusively

 

You can get affordable insurance in the US, just don't assume you're covered just because you have some sort of generic insurance.

[Rippin' Robin]

 

Originally posted by Banta Don't think that you're covered if you carry renter's or homeowner's insurance. Check with your agent to make sure that your gear is covered.

 

 

Yep.

 

My insurance covers up to