Has anyone investigated which dorm/renters insurance policy is best if a student is bringing expensive musical instruments to school, some of which will be stored in the music school lockers and some (inevitably) not? In addition, I expect he will have to cover losses to instruments rented from the school for methods courses.
Most homeowner’s policies extend to dorms and off-campus living. Call your agent and check. We never purchased additional insurance as we could do claims under our homeowner’s policy for any loss while she was in college (even in a separate state). However my D was a vocalist so she did not have an expensive instrument (still she had a computer etc). You can check what other instrumental parents say for expensive instruments just in case its different.
Thanks but I want to buy separate insurance. The deductible on homeowners is too high for many losses and I don’t want to take a hit on that policy if something happens. I can cut out the insurance on his phone which would pay for much of the dorm insurance, and it’s only a $25 deductible. It also covers things that homeowners would not.
We bought separate insurance for our S when we bought him a more expensive cello when he was an undergrad. We had insured his previous cello on our homeowners insurance but they were unwilling to cover the cello once it was being used as part of his livelihood when he played gigs.
I don’t remember the specifics of all the companies that I investigated at the time but we ended up going with Total Dollar Insurance. There were little details that made that the best choice for him. You need to ask about the specific coverage in various situations because they are all a little bit different. For example, one of the companies would not cover an instrument if something happened to it while it was stored in a locker at the music building. Since my S routinely stored his cello in his locker at school we needed coverage for that. Also, Total Dollar will cover even if it is stolen out of an unlocked car, not all will. There were variations in other things like damage that may occur due to cold weather and during airline travel.
There are some past threads discussing this, here is one:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1628411-where-do-you-purchase-instrument-insurance-is-there-one-catering-to-music-major-students-p1.html
We also use Total Dollar for instrument insurance. We found their rates to be lower than Clarion, Heritage, and others.
Great thread and questions. D will have an expensive Apple laptop, Yamaha keys, amp, etc. I’ll call my agent and ask about it. Hasn’t even thought about it tbh.
We insure our pedal harp with Anderson Musical Instrument Insurance. It is a company that insures only musical instruments and coverage is good whether the instrument is being used professionally or for pleasure. It is my understanding that some other policies will not cover if an instrument is damaged while being used during a paying gig. We have never had to file a claim, but I’m comfortable with their coverage. They insure many orchestras worldwide. We subscribed online—just needed some photos, serial number, and valuation.
My son’s cello is insured on a personal articles policy connected to our homeowners. Super cheap. The cello was damaged on an airplane flight and they paid the full repair which was almost 2K - no deductible, no questions asked. And never raised our rates.
Your decision on instrument insurance should be informed by the value of the instrument. Homeowners policies can be fine, but they don’t understand the concept of appreciation in the case of so-called fine instruments. An instrument insurance specialist will demand a current appraisal, etc., as part of the application. This could be overkill depending on the instrument.