Musical Instruments insurance - contents or else?

lesterxburnham

I am looking for contents insurance for my musical instruments - mainly guitars/guitar gear/synthesizers. Overall it's all worth about £20k and they never leave my flat.

I would like to mostly cover myself for case of theft as a result of someone breaking into the flat or damage due to flat being flooded etc. Either way, if any of the above happens, I'd like insurer to pay me £20k to cover for my loss.

I'm thinking of getting standard contents insurance as most of them cover for at least £50k in most basic plans. Would it be enough though? I'm asking as I've looked at conditions for contents insurance from Aviva, HSBC or John Lewis and they are very vague with regards to musical instruments.

Anyone can please shed some light whether standard contents insurance will suffice or do I need to look for something specific?

paddyandstumpy

They would be considered standard contents under most contracts, for your piece of mind and to ensure they aren't limited by a single item limit you should declare and specify them (normally you only have to declare valuables in the home, there are some insurers who ask you to declare your most expensive contents item, not just valuable).

However, the insurer will pay replacement value of the items at the time of loss.

If that risk was presented to me, I'd challenge that £50k total contents cover is probably insufficient if you've spent £20k on guitars.

If you're underinsured at the time of loss, the insurer may reduce any payout proportionate to the value of underinsurance.

Rodders53

Call them to check. But new for old cover should be possible, and accidental damage if wanted, and JL do unlimited contents on their 'better' policy.

There are single item limits you need to be aware of and/or declare (itemise with the insurers).

Now, if you were taking these out of the home - then a specialist policy might be better.

You'd be wise to photograph each item, plus take note of serial numbers and keep copies of purchase receipts to aid any claim; even if individual value is below the single item limit!

Aretnap

paddyandstumpy wrote: »

If that risk was presented to me, I'd challenge that £50k total contents cover is probably insufficient if you've spent £20k on guitars.

If you're underinsured at the time of loss, the insurer may reduce any payout proportionate to the value of underinsurance.

This is an important point which a lot of people miss. If you have £20K worth of musical instruments then you're essentially claiming that the total value of your other contents is no more than £30K, which is potentially on the low side (especially if your taste in clothes, hi-fi equipment, furniture etc is vaguely similar to your taste in guitars).

The total sum insured should account for replacing all the contents of the house on a new for old basis - even the things that you wouldn't actually be too fussed about replacing. So you have to factor in the cost of replacing all the old clothes you don't wear any more, all the DVDs you haven't watched for years and all the junk in the loft with equivalent new stuff. It's likely to be more than you imagine.

Some people think that it doesn't matter, and that if the house burns down they'll be happy with £50K and just won't bother replacing the junk in the loft. Which is fine as far as it goes but as above underinsurance affects smaller claims as well. If your instruments are nicked and the assessor decides that you should have been insured for £75K instead of £50K then the insurer might only pay out two thirds of the value of the instruments. So it's best to err on the side of declaring too high a contents value rather than too low. You'll probably find that increasing the cover limit a bit doesn't make a massive difference to your premium.

Rosemary7391

What do you use them for? There can be a few weeks delay for insurance to pay out, then you need to source replacements. If that is going to cause you problems then you might want a specialist policy. Mine (Newmoon) covers hiring an instrument if I've got a concert or exam coming up (where I'd hire an equivalent instrument is another question, but even a student clarinet is better than no clarinet!).

lesterxburnham

just gave Aviva a call, and told them I need insurance on my gear that never leaves the flat and is worth about £20k. They said that they consider musical gear as standard contents and don't require to list anything unless it's worth over £2k. On top of that their cover is unlimited and premium is only about £75 per year. They only advised that I could keep photos of my gear but it's by no means required.

This sounds too good! Anyone dealt with Aviva and can recommend them?

FutureGirl

Although they say you won't need photos of the items, you will need to prove you own them somehow if you need to make a claim.

dacouch

What do you use the instruments for?

If they are used in anyway professionally eg you or others earn money via playing them then they are unlikely to be covered by Aviva or most other Home Insurance Policies

lesterxburnham

it's my hobby, I don't use them to earn money. as for photos, yeah, I have it all pictured.

btw, how does it actually work, anyone ever claimed contents insurance after theft? I mean, I can't imagine people having pictures of all their belongings. does the insurance companies just trust people that they had £X amount worth of goods and just pay people back?

Rosemary7391

I recently had to claim. I gave them as many pictures as I could, and detailed descriptions. My tablet I actually sent them a screenshot of it showing linked to my google account. Electronics and jewellery came to about £1.5k for me though, I guess they might scrutinise a £20k claim a bit more closely. I'd make a note of serial numbers and keep it somewhere like Dropbox (ie not on something that could get stolen/damaged at the same time). Since you have £20k worth of stuff I think it's probably sensible to take a little bit of time to make sure it's properly itemised. You'll keep receipts for warranties anyway? It's an awful lot of money for a hobby, so get it covered

FutureGirl

If you claim, the onus is on you to prove you owned the items. The best way to do this is to prove receipts / order invoices etc.

If you don't have paperwork, then you really should take the time to photograph and catalogue everything. This is what you should do anyway in order to calculate how much contents coverage you will need.

In a theft claim, some insurers will also look at the list you provide to the police, and compare with the list you give to the insurers about what has been stolen.

If you claim for an item and can't provide proof you owned it, then the insurer won't pay up for that item (and I've seen so many complaints relating to this going to the FOS, with the FOS siding with the insurer)