Insurance for guitars & amps - Heritage? MusicPro? Other?

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

As our homeowners' insurance goes up and up, I'm looking for ways to cut our overall insurance cost without compromising protection. The last thread on this is 2 years old, and insurance has changed a lot over that time. A Google search for musical instrument insurance gets a lot of hits, some from known carriers and others from companies with no visible track record. Several of them exclude coverage on gigs, which is a problem for me. The two that seem most popular on the web and among people I know are Heritage and MusicPro.

I'd appreciate input on your experiences with instrument insurance. Both recommendations and cautions are equally helpful and appreciated.

[paulkogut]

I have Heritage, which was recommended by my luthier. The price is better than what I had years ago through the AFM, and customer service for adding/deleting coverage has been good. So far I've been lucky to not have anything stolen/damaged, so I can't say for sure how they perform in that arena. Best wishes for keeping your instruments safe!

PK

[6stringsam1975]

I've been using Clarion Associates Musical Instrument Insurance for more than 25 years. They're a great company to work with, make me feel very confident, and I had an easy experience when my guitar cracked and I needed to submit a claim. I haven't even considered switching.

[benhatchins]

Always wondered how many musicians actually insure their instruments properly. You don't think about it until something gets damaged or stolen, and then it's too late. Some guitars are worth far more than most people realize. I was reviewing my allstate allstate.pissedconsumer.com/review.html policy recently and it reminded me that specialty items often need extra coverage. It's one of those boring topics that suddenly becomes very important. Definitely worth looking into.

[MarkL]

I have insured through Heritage for about 20 years. Fortunately, I haven't needed to submit a claim. Perhaps there are other ways of comparing effectiveness at protecting against loss, but responses from musicians that filed claims would be useful.

[Danny W.]

I've been with Heritage since 1999 and have filed four claims, two relatively minor and two significant, all from shipping damage. All were hassle-free and paid promptly. Haven't filed a claim in years so can't vouch for how they're doing now.

Danny W.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Thanks, everybody! Heritage got back to me within a day. They quoted me a premium much lower than our homeowners insurance carrier's charges for instruments as scheduled items - it's less than half. So I took them up on the offer, and it's now in effect on guitars, amps, and our grand piano.