Mandolin Insurance?

[Undercover Brother]

Hey y'all!
I expect to be the new owner of a custom mandolin in the next few weeks, and I'm wondering what some of you do to protect your instruments from theft and/or acts of God.
While mine is not a $10K+ mando, it will probably be the most valuable thing in the house! (Car, kids & wife not included!)
So... I know many Cafe go-ers have more than one mandolin, and I'm sure many of those are cherished heirlooms. Do you add something to your Homeowner's Insurance, or just roll the dice and hope your F-5 Loar doesn't get sucked into an F-5 Tornado?

Chris

[BenE]

Will you be playing it for money? If so your homeowners will probably not cover it if it is used as a source of income.
I use Heritage...here is a link Heritage (http://www.heritage-ins-services.com/aboutmusic.htm)

[Brookside]

My father spent 35 years in the insurance business. #(geez, can you imagine that?) #All you have to do is call the agent that insures your home. #He will gladly answer your questions. #Contents of your home are covered in your homeowners policy and particularly pricey items are usually documented by what it is, value, and a photo. #Theft of the mandolin from your home would be covered, a tree branch crashing through the roof and into your mandolin should be covered, etc. #A tornado sucking it out of the bar you take it to would not be covered. #Ask the agent to be sure.

Sorry, I should have read Ben's comment. He's right. If the mandolin is the asset of a business, the above may not apply.

[grsnovi]

If you own an antique/vintage instrument, you had better have an explicit rider, however when I moved from MI to OR and set up a new policy here, I specifically asked about extra insurance for my instruments. I do not use them to make money, nothing I own is vintage (all are easily replaced). I was told just to make sure that I had enough to cover their value and to keep documentation. So I have a spreadsheet of serial numbers and a set of photographs.

[jeff_75]

My homeowner's insurance company added it on as a rider. Very simple, fairly inexpensive procedure.

[Paul Kotapish]

Please note that many--if not most--homeowners insurance policy musical instrument riders will not cover your instruments if you use them to perform professionally.

Double check this with your insurance company before you assume that you are covered.

PK

[Bradley]

I recently had a laptop computer stolen out of my locked car...long story short you'd better fully know what the fine print says about your personal items.I found out the Hard way that the security "I thought I had" with State Farm insurance was not there.The insurance companies are there to collect premiums and to pay out as little as possible regardless of how legitimate your claim is.

A seperate coverage for (1) item sounds alot more "accurate" of a coverage.

[ShaneJ]

If the property is not business-related (playing for money is a business, even if it's not your main source of income), you would still be wise to buy a personal articles policy rather than relying on the personal property coverage of your homeowners policy. Your homeowners policy may not provide replacement cost coverage for personal property, and the perils insured against are limited. A personal article policy will give you much broader coverage and will likely be replacement cost coverage. They're usually fairly inexpensive policies. If you have valuable jewelry, guns, collectibles, instruments, etc. talk to your agent.

[fatt-dad]

Been down this road with my insurance carrier. And, yes you should call them first. In my case, with no rider at all, my homeowner's policy would have covered my instruments (up to the maximum value listed for house contents). If I had taken any instrument out of the house, and it was lost, stolen, damaged, vandalized, etc. there would be no coverage (unless it was from my automobile policy). If you have a rider to your homeowner's policy, you pay an additional premium, based on the value of the instrument. If you have a $25,000 mandolin (I don't), your premium would be 10 times greater than if you had a $2,500 mandolin (I don't). I just guessed on the value of an A3 (I do) and an HD-28V (well I didn't guess) and purchased riders. Now if they are lost while out and about, they're covered.

f-d

[danb]

I use heritage insurance as well. Worldwide cover for professional use, ask for Ellis Hirschman there.. I referred a number of people to them and continue to hear back that people are treated right etc.

It doesn't actually work out that an instrument worth 10x another means insurance premiums 10x higher, by the way.