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Posted by tubby on Dec-01-2005 02:54:

Insuring your equipment

After some little weasel broke into my house yesterday, I'm looking at insurance, locks etc. Does anyone have specific policies regarding sound gear? Some policies require you to list everything over a certain value individually. How do you keep proof of all your gear? Photos? Receipts?
and what about records? They're worth more than the hardware all up (at least in terms of replacement costs), how do you prove to insurance companies that you really had thousands in records? Do they limit claims on things like a music collection?

Posted by Orbital32 on Dec-01-2005 03:29:

hey thanks for reminding me.. i was actually thinking of doing this this month. I'll find out the best way through the insurance company. Acutally they are the best people to ask.

Posted by pkcRAISTLIN on Dec-01-2005 03:32:

im sure it would differ depending on which country youre in.
but, as youre an aussie ill post my experience. having discussed this with the RACT (im sure NSW has an equivalent) i just had to buy a policy with an amount that i felt covered my gear.

it was only specialist items; like jewellery or goods that dont have a clear market value that need to appraised by a third party for the purpose of cover.

we got $100K cover for less than $400/year.

Posted by tubby on Dec-01-2005 04:02:

insurance companies are suspicious of everything, I can imagine they would easily refuse to accept how many or how much records were worth. how do you prove that? I plan on starting a spreadsheet on them all, but cannot think if that will do.
normal house insurance covers that value anyway.

Posted by Dj_Aaron_P on Dec-01-2005 22:56:

My girlfriend is an insurance agent, so this comes from her.

It does vary from insurance company as well as country (so I'm speaking for TX, USA).

In TX, you can take out a personal articles policy for any amount you want $500-$100,000 or whatever, and your premium is based on the amount, your credit, etc. You will have to list large items individually (i.e. laptops, turntables, generally anything worth more than $100) so that in the event of disaster or theft they will have record of items which are missing.

As for listing records individually, thats unnecessary. You would just list a dollar amount for records, so your list would be:

1. SL-1200MK2 - $500 (or whatever)
2. Records - $2000 (again whatever you estimate they're worth)

The insurance company just wants a rough idea of what theyre insuring. But generally they will pay out whatever your maximum coverage is in a total loss situation, or what you tell them is missing and they come and can prove. Pictures are ALWAYS a good idea. Some companies require a hard copy of photos of the items being covered.

I hope this helps!

Posted by PersianMafia on Dec-02-2005 08:01:

Last time we ever insured any household items, was when we lived back in South Africa...