Insurance

[glocke]

I would like to get my series I bass and some other instruments insured against damage and theft on gigs.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this?  I am currently looking at having them added as a rider to my homeowners policy.

[David Houck]

As I understand it, if you get paid to play, your homeowner's policy will not cover your instruments.  I have my bass rig insured under a commercial policy.  I set my policy up using stated values for each item, which suits my situation and is very reasonably priced.  The values I chose are what I believe I can expect to pay for an equivalent used item.  Everything I take out of the house is on that policy.  I can add or deduct items or change values just by faxing my agent.
 
There have been some previous discussions on this topic you may want to read through; here are a couple:
http://club.alembic.com/Images/394/4384.html
http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/5762.html

[bob]

I do not get paid to play, and there seem to be some great suggestions in the threads Dave mentions above. However, I wouldn't just give up on your homeowners' policy without making a phone call - there are a lot of variations. I called mine just to make sure there wasn't a limit on personal coverage, and they were willing to talk about professional coverage. My guess is it might have turned out to be more expensive than others, but it's worth a phone call.

[David Houck]

I agree, it's worth the phone call.  The agent who has my homehowner's insurance also wrote the commercial policy.  I made sure he knew exactly what I was doing; I asked him lots of what ifs.