Gear insurance?

[Lee Blaske]

Post 9/11, any kind of insurance is difficult to get, and costs are going through the roof. Often, insurance needs to be secured to other, larger policies, or the insurance companies are simply not interested.

I could be wrong, but I doubt that you'll be able to find insurance (at reasonable cost, that is) that will cover rental equipment while it's under the control of the renter. Just make sure the renter signs a document that makes them completely liable for returning the equipment in good condition.

Whatever you do, make sure that the insurance you get completely and accurately spells out what you actually plan to do with the equipment. Otherwise, you probably won't be able to collect. Also, keep in mind that if you ever do collect on a policy, getting continued coverage at a reasonable rate can be very difficult.

Good luck with your quest. Finding reasonably priced insurance these days (especially for music/studio/band related equipment) is enough to make you pull your hair out.

Lee Blaske

[tld]

I got my insurance from MusicPro Insurance (musicproinsurance.com), but I believe that recently, in their standard policies, they stopped covering gear that you plan on renting out. Not sure if they offer anything for that or not.

Tom

[Nick Batzdorf]

I used to insure my gear through the Musicians Union, but MusicPro is the same price for the same coverage and you don't have to join the union. (I haven't done any union work for years, so it didn't offer any other benefit to me.)

MusicPro is not hard to get post-9/11 as far as I know, and it's very reasonable - somewhere in the vicinity of $325 a year for $40k worth of coverage.

[Lee Blaske]

That sounds like a great deal. I went to their site, but they didn't have any policy specifics listed. Obviously, it would pay to have that examined closely by someone in the know.

I'm surprised that they offer so many different types of insurance, too. The agents I talked to when I renewed my studio/home insurance last year made it sound like insurance companies didn't want to touch recording studios with a ten foot pole (and I've been insured for twenty years without ever making a single claim).

Lee Blaske

[l anthony johnson]

While this doesn't apply to gear for rent, it might be useful to someone.......In 1992, I got Allstate to add the value of my gear to my homeowners policy by having a friend at a music store prepare an informal appraisal for most of the more prominent pieces, making a list of serial numbers and also providing them with pictures of the entire room with the gear clearly visable. I periodically update what I have. It's surprisingly low cost. And since this is figured into my mortgage, I hardly notice I'm paying it at all [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] .

At first, the underwriters declined. But my agent convinced them that this would keep coming up with other clients being that this is, after all, Nashville; where every 3rd house has a project room of some sort. I suppose it's possible other areas of the world wouldn't be as agreeable. But you never know.....it might be something that's actually available but no one thought to check into........

anthony
http://mp3.com/ziggy_johnson

[Nick Batzdorf]

I've tried many times to get equipment covered as a floater on our homeowner's insurance, but no go. Insurance companies are afraid of what they don't understand.

[El Goodo]

Hey all,

I need insurrance for my HD rig. It's a mobile system and may also be used for rentals. I'd like some recomendations for insurance companies and maybe a rough idea of what it will cost.

HD3, Sync I/O, (3x) 192's

Any info/comments appreciated. Thanks.

[Paul Turpin]

Here's the guys I use :

Arts & Entertainment Insurance

Totally Pro - good price. For the serious professional.

Tell 'em I sent ya.

[tld]

Originally posted by Lee Blaske:
That sounds like a great deal. I went to their site, but they didn't have any policy specifics listed. Obviously, it would pay to have that examined closely by someone in the know.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">It's definately worth checking out. They're an underwriter for Firemans Fund. I believe mine costs around $7 per $1000 coverage. Short of actually vandalizing your equipment yourself, there doesn't appear to be anything you're not covered for, and the equipment is covered whereever it is. As I mentioned above, they recently ammended policies like mine to not include equipment you loan out or rent, which didn't affect me.

They require an itemized list of everything you want to insure. You're even covered up to $25,000 for new equipment that you've not yet told them about for 30 days after purchase, so new stuff can't fall through the cracks.

Tom

[El Goodo]

Thanks for the info, guys. I'll be checking both companies. Sounds like rentals will be risky, though. Anybody here renting out their rig? Are you insured or relying on the rental agreement liability?