A friend of mine was recently astonished to hear that I don't have insurance for my bass, and seeing as I'll be playing a gig with him this weekend I thought I should look into sorting this out, so he won't be tempted to kick my arse or anything.
Any tips for musical instrument insurance in the UK? Ideally ones that cover rehearsal rooms/gig venues/cars and vans and all the usual band-related escapades.
And when valuing instruments, I should go by what it would cost to buy a new replacement, right? And what about vintage and out-of-production instruments? Do I need to tell them that my '77 Rickenbacker only cost me £600, but a new one will be £1200 or however much they are?
And any fun stories on claiming money are welcome too.
― Bocken Social Scene, Sunday, 22 July 2007 22:48 (seventeen years ago)
Wouldn't mind hearing some details on insurance also since I discovered that one of my guitars is worth a whole heck of a lot more than I thought.
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 21:18 (seventeen years ago)
The last thing you want to do is tell the insurance company your original purchase price. With vintage instruments, you need to get them appraised (different insurance companies have differing requirements for this). Make sure you have the appraisal approved by them, preferrably in writing. Then check the value every 6 months or so, and reappraise it if it climbs and (obviously) ignore it if it drops.
They will, of course, still try to fuck you out of your money if at all possible when/if you try to make a claim.
Your coverage (at least in the states) also varies depending on where the bad thing happens to it (i.e. home insurance for burglary fire, auto for crashes/break-ins, etc.) which makes this even more of a nightmare if you have multiple insurance companies.
If you tell me what model yer Ric is, I can get you a rough USD value range depending on condition, which should get you started, although remember that these values fluctuate in various markets (probably higher in Britain, though.)
― John Justen, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 21:02 (seventeen years ago)
cheers John, I do keep an eye on eBay, just in case, but it's hardly a reliable barometer. It's a 1977 4001, Jetglow, well mostly. It's the sort of condition a 30yr old bass should be in - it's never going to pass for showroom (cos Rickenbacker don't make Relics do they), but I have seen worse. Used, basically. No mods as far as I can tell.
Does the silence from UK posters mean we're all in the same boat, or are you keeping a big secret silent from me. Just so you can turn up at my next gig and steal my uninsured bass that is worth whatever John says it is. Hmph. It'll be sleeping with me in my tent this weekend.
― Bocken Social Scene, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 22:32 (seventeen years ago)
2007 Vintage guitar guide places excellent value between $1400-$2000. Do keep in mind that the qualifications for excellent become less stringent as instruments grow older (i.e. weather checking not detracting from price, etc.) The value is accentuated if you have the original case, hangtags, and so on, so include those in the appraisal. A different, less reliable Blue book puts the value at $650, but that's just inaccurate and stupid IMHO.
Now contrary to what I said earlier, if you do discover that the instrument is in some sort of slumping vintage price correction, then you would want to establish replacement value until the appraisal goes up enough to exceed new price. Above all, do your best to overvalue in any way possible, because insurance companies are crafty evil bastards when it comes to this sort of thing.
― John Justen, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 22:42 (seventeen years ago)