Contents insurance, covering a guitar?

garybryan

Hello everyone,

I'm moving house so need to amend the details for my contents insurance, and I thought I'd check the policy and see if anything needs changed while I'm at it. I'm with Endsleigh, and I'm living in rented accommodation so I have their tenant's insurance.

I'm a guitarist in a band, so I'd like to make sure that my equipment is covered. I've heard too many stories about guitars going missing from venues and from vans. From what I gather, the Endsleigh policy covers me for up to £1000 of personal effects when away from the home, but up to £500 for one individual item. Which for most of my gear is fine, but I own a nice ESP guitar that's worth at least £1300 (although I got it second hand for 800). And maybe in the future I'll upgrade to a better amp, and they can easily go into the thousands.

Should I add the guitar to the "Personal Effects specified by You, whilst away from Your Home" section of my policy? Or would I be better off going with a special musician's insurance policy in addition to my contents insurance and covering all my music gear (home and away) on that? Maybe I'd save money that way since, aside from music gear, I don't own anything particularly valuable: all my other possessions (laptop, bike, clothes, etc.) don't come to much more than a grand.

Also, when insuring the guitar and other equipment, should I consider its RRP or the price I paid for it?

Thanks, Gary

FlameCloud

You should consider the replacement cost of a new item of the same spec now, purchase price is irrelevant. I would seriously look at other providers- just because you are in rented accomodation should not limit you to Endsligh, and most of the unspecified limits are far higher- eg £5K in total with a £1.5K single article limit.

garybryan

Thanks. I guess I just stuck with Endsleigh at the time because I used to have insurance with them when I was a student, for which they were by far the best deal. My current policy still has 6 months remaining. Although I've been reading their small print, and they have a £20 admin charge for making changes to your policy, and if you cancel you get the remainder of your premium back minus a £50 cancellation fee, so if I could get a much better deal elsewhere then maybe cancelling would be worth it?

*Scarlett

You might find that musical instruments / equipment used in a professional capacity ie if you are playing in the band for money will attract a higher premium. Also you may need to declare this as an occupation (even if only part time) if you are receiving remuneration.

Some insurers will consider this a higher risk - equipment at a higher risk and the policy holder more likely to be absent from the property at night so the contents at higher risk.

I would try a few online quotes to see what sort of prices you are quoted and ring Endsleigh to see how much it would be to add the guitar to your current policy.

theoretica

When I was in rented accommodation I only had specialist musical instrument insurance. I figured I didn't own anything else I would absolutely need to replace but wouldn't be able to afford. It paid off for me - one 2nd hand bike nicked (GRrr) versus 9 or 10 years of insurance premiums. Of course it may not for you, insurance has been described as betting that your stuff will be nicked/damaged and the bet is not always worthwhile.

garybryan

Thanks, I might consider your advice in the future theoretica. The expensive non-musical possessions I have are: snowboard, 600; laptop, 350; bike, 300. Not sure whether insuring these is worth it; I've never had a break-in in the 6 years I've been living away from my parents, but never say never, and the laptop and bike at least I could afford to replace.

musiciansinsurance.co.uk for example say they'll insure £3000 of gear in the UK and Europe for £60 (not including vehicle losses; stupid question but does this mean losses OF a vehicle or losses FROM a vehicle?) which seems reasonable.

Scarlett: my band's pretty small-time and not professional as such; in terms of remuneration for gigs it's usually just a few quid cash in hand or some free beer, if anything.

FlameCloud: I did a gocompare search, and the only two insurers on there that were actually able to provide a quote for my critera were asking for £250ish, while my current premium with Endsleigh is about £140. Wanting to insure items for outside the house seems to drive up the cost a lot.

Overall the option of musician's insurance and optionally a basic contents insurance policy for other belongings is looking like a far cheaper option, unless I'm missing something. Since my policy's still got 6 months anyway, I might as well stick with it, but perhaps reduce the cover amount to the minimum (£3000 I think) and sort out musician's insurance for the instruments?

dogbot

Definaly look arround at Household renewal time for a policy that suits your needs better. A standard contents policy will have some higher limits.

You should have contents to cover the full new for old replacement value of all your items. It isn't just about theft - what if there was a fire and you lost everything? or an escape of water or flood ruins everything? Not only that but if you haven't included all your stuff in the sum insured you are under insured, so your insurer will reduce any claim by the proportion you are under insured.

Having sufficient personal posessions cover will cost a bit more - the risk is much higher. Remember too those policies you have found might well offer better levels of cover that your current policy - tentants contents covers tend to be more simple and lower cover policies, but there is no reason a stand alone contents policy wouldn't be suitible for you.

If you don't take all those out at once then you don't need to have that full level of PP cover - though bikes and sports equipment are usualy seperate.

musiciansinsurance.co.uk for example say they'll insure £3000 of gear in the UK and Europe for £60 (not including vehicle losses; stupid question but does this mean losses OF a vehicle or losses FROM a vehicle?) which seems reasonable.

It means from a vehicle. It is quite cheap but it is cheap for that reason. Fairly standard exclusion because it is high risk.

Have a look here for your guitars etc: http://www.allianzmusicalinsurance.co.uk/

Sounds like at the moment the band is just a hobby so you should be ok, but if it starts to become more you might want to think about declaring or seeking pro-cover.