Want to insure sewing machine

gsxr1000

My wife wants to insure an expensive quilting machine which will be on loan from a Community Interest Company. It's not a charity - people voluteer to make quilts for donation to sick babies/infants in hospital. Our house insurer refuses to cover it, and I've had a quote for ~£300 which is plain silly as she is only making quilts in her front room. Anyone any ides? The CIC won't loan the machine unless they have proof it's insured.

a.turner

Have you phoned any brokers?

Aylesbury_Duck

As above, try a broker, but on the broader point, why are the CIC not insuring it themselves? Whoever they lend it to is going to face the same problem so it would seem sensible for them to insure it on and off their premises, including for damage in transit. It seems a bit mean to expect people to donate their time and effort AND pay to insure the equipment they need to do it.

gsxr1000

a.turner wrote: »

Have you phoned any brokers?

Not yet. I was so gobsmacked at the difficulty and cost when she's doing this for free.

gsxr1000

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

As above, try a broker, but on the broader point, why are the CIC not insuring it themselves? Whoever they lend it to is going to face the same problem so it would seem sensible for them to insure it on and off their premises, including for damage in transit. It seems a bit mean to expect people to donate their time and effort AND pay to insure the equipment they need to do it.

Thay don't have 'money' as far as I can tell as everyone donates time and material for free. Who bought the machine originally, don't know. We will be emailing them for advice.

ashe

I'd assume this comes up every time and you wife cant be the first?

Id be wary of any charity that doesn't have 'any money' - lots of charities are lean but they generally are ran with a view to covering costs and donations etc. Read their report on charity commission. Lot of people will donate time and material for free, but assume they have other costs which also need to be met and must get donations or grants. i.e who bought the expensive machine?

Jackmydad

Just looking online, and it appears that you can get what is considered to be quite a good quilting sewing machine for sub £300.
Now I know not everyone had £300 to spare, but if it's something that comes up regularly, might be worth considering.
I'm neither much of a borrower or a lender, partly because of who is to blame if anything happens.
Mind you, if I did buy a machine, I wouldn't be lending it out!

gsxr1000

ashe, They genuinely aren't a charity. Community Interest Companies aren't allowed to be a charity. They all volunteer time effort and materials for free. I think someone ultimately 'owns' the quilting machine (very expensive btw not anywhere near £300, try timesing by 40!) but will pursue the broker option.

rach_k

Ask the CIC who their volunteers usually get insurance from. If they're insisting on seeing proof of insurance, they must know what companies are being used.

Jackmydad

gsxr1000 wrote: »

ashe, They genuinely aren't a charity. Community Interest Companies aren't allowed to be a charity. They all volunteer time effort and materials for free. I think someone ultimately 'owns' the quilting machine (very expensive btw not anywhere near £300, try timesing by 40!) but will pursue the broker option.

Fair enough about the cost, TBH though, if it's 12000 quid, I'm not surprised the premium is £300.
I will say that I'd want the terms and conditions of any loan for a very careful read first.
Stuff that's been borrowed, has a nasty way of "showing any faults" when returned.

greyteam1959

£12000 !!!!
Somebody is having a laugh I think.