Musical Instrument Insurance – Do I Need it?

I first purchased musical instrument insurance when I started going on the road.  This meant, people other than myself were handling my instruments more often.  I took extra precautions to pack everything carefully, but I was always very nervous.  Purchasing insurance was a way for me to relieve some of the anxiety and stress.

The other reason you would need insurance is financial.  Imagine a break-in, accident, or natural disaster where you’ve lost all your gear.  If you were to lose all your gear, how much money do you need to get back to work?

It’s probably overkill to insure every piece of gear for its full retail value.  You would pay a much higher premium and it’s probably not worth it.  Instead, you could choose to fully insure a few pieces of essential gear.  Or, you could insure a larger number of items but at a lower insurance value.  The items you insure, and their value depends on the insurance premium you can afford, and your risk tolerance.

Musical Instrument Insurance Providers

Here is a pretty solid list of insurance providers:

Best Musical Instrument Insurance

I had Clarion (Anderson Group) in the past, and currently have MusicPro.  I’ve never had to file a claim and wouldn’t be able to say which is “better.”  I can say that I like MusicPro’s web interface.  You enter the catalog of items you want to insure, and their values.  The web interface tells you how much your premium will be.

Insurance vs Extended Warranties

A couple days ago, I wrote an article saying extended warranties are not worth it.  Why am I saying musical instrument insurance is?

Both are similar in the sense that you’re trying to protect against an accident or unfortunate situation.  But they’re also fundamentally different products.  Insurance protects you against situations that are very unlikely but have huge consequences.  Extended warranties on the other hand, don’t protect against these catastrophic situations.