Transportation Insurance

[Anne Acker]

Mark,

I deal with this situation all the time.  There are several ways to insure these instruments just for the trip.    One, you should probably have some sort of business insurance, and it does exist for people such as us.   They are set up to include coverage for instruments being transported as part of your business, whether owned by you or somebody else.   It is wise to have people's instruments covered while they are in your workshop as well.  Workshops do burn down from time to time.  A colleague's went down when roofer's were replacing the roof on the building next door, started a fire, it jumped, went down the ventilation and hit the lacquer cans....BOOM!  Not pretty.  

Another option I use for my own instruments, is that I have them covered as part of my large collection.  The insurer specializes in musicians and instrument owners, and expects they will be transported and sold.   There is no deductible, as on a homeowner's policy.  If a hurricane washes away all my pianos in Savannah, I get a check for their full value.  My homeowner's policy would not be so kind.

The price is quoted on a yearly basis, and I pay up front, but I get a refund pro-rated when something is sold.  I don't transfer ownership to the buyer until it is safely delivered.

If the piano is not yours, you can have the instrument owner keep their own instrument covered.  I have this required on every restoration contract, whether they are covered in my shop on my policy or not.    Get some legal language, and insist they sign off.    It is an easy matter for them to add the rider to their homeowner's policy.

Finally,  those year long prices you were quoted are for year long coverage.  You can cancel it when you deliver the piano and they will have to refund you the prorated difference.  

Quite honestly, consider the amount of investment and your net worth you have in those pianos.  You need to have them covered all the time.  It isn't that expensive in the long run.

AA





From:		Erwinspiano at aol.com  [ Save Address ]
Reply-to:		Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
To:		pianotech at ptg.org
Subject:		Re: Insurance rider for transportation
Date:		Thu, 10 May 2007 23:08:35 EDT

  Mark
  If you were the one insuring these pianos what would you charge? However perhaps a temporary rider of some kind on your home owners or business insurance might work.  How bout guild insurance.  That's what we use currently
  Just a thought
  Dale
  I need to move 2 restored S&S B's out of state to a recital hall for 
an "on site selection", and wanted to take out a temporary rider to 
cover their value during transportation. When I called my own insurance 
Co, I got a quote of $605 for $105k, which gets me coverage for an 
entire year (I only need three days). Has anybody ever had to deal with 
this? Is this the best I can do? I've heard from customers who routinely 
transport high value artwork that this is routinely done for far less.

- Mark Dierauf