Musical Instrument Insurance Floaters

Maybe you didn’t get 11 pipers piping or 10 drummers drumming but if your true love brought you a new musical instrument of any sort for the holidays, make musical instrument insurance a top priority in the new year. Then, if a lord happens to leap on your new tuba, you’ll be covered for its repair or cash value replacement.

Musical instrument insurance is typically sold as an add-on to some other insurance policy. If you are an amateur musician, you’ll want to get a musical instrument floater added to your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.  A floater is the industry’s word for coverage of moveable property (like a clarinet or snowboard). If you can take your property with you when you leave the house, the policy floats along with it. Coverage may also be offered as a scheduled personal property endorsement.

If you are a professional musician, you’ll want to purchase your musical instrument insurance as a commercial articles floater. This is usually sold as part of a larger commercial or business insurance policy, but if you shop for musical instrument insurance quotes, you may be able to purchase coverage as a standalone product (often a limited form musical instrument floater). This will usually be issued as a specified peril policy covering loss or damage from fire, theft, lightning, wind, flood, collision and other transportation perils. Note that the theft loss coverage for such a policy does not cover the loss of a musical instrument from an unattended car.

Lest you are tempted to go with the cheaper homeowner’s insurance option, think twice and read the fine print. Your homeowner’s policy floater might exclude or even void coverage if your Fender Stratocaster was stolen or damaged while you were playing a paying gig.

Here are a few more things to keep in mind when you shop for musical instrument insurance quotes:

• Coverage for musical instruments is generally sold on a scheduled basis with policy limits that reflect either the replacement cost or, in the case of rare or expensive musical instruments, an agreed-upon value.
• It may make sense to also include drum sticks, mouth pieces, bows, tuning equipment, cases, sheet music, music stands, mutes and similar accessories in your coverage.
• Musical instrument insurance policies generally do not cover loss or damage caused by wear and tear, gradual deterioration, or insect or vermin. Or, if you’re a budding Jimi Hendrix, intentionally setting fire to your guitar.