Insurance advice

[thebundy]

Hi.

I need to get some insurance for my equipment both on and off stage. I am looking for insurance that would cover my equipment in storage, in transit and in use. All my equipment is PAT tested and I have the certification for this but some venues are now asking for insurance details before I can work there. My equipment is PA only, no lights.

 

I do not do that many PA hire's (I'm a small fish in a big pond) so would like to keep the costs down if I can. My equipment is valued at £10'000

 

If anyone has any details of good insurance companies or any advice before I take out some insurance, I would be very greatful.

 

Many thanks

 

Al

[Pete McCrea]

It's considered good form to use the search feature (up there top right) to do a search on the topic, whiuch you'll see throws up a lot of useful information.

[thebundy]

Hi Pete, many thanks. Will do.

[vbm]

I am looking for insurance that would cover my equipment in storage, in transit and in use.

 

Good luck. If you can find somebody who will insure your equipment when its in a vehicle overnight, and don't want to charge you about a third of your annual turnover, please let me know!

 

vbm

[Ynot]

Whilst it's always wise to insure gear anyway, are you sure it's not PLI that the venues are asking for?

It does seem odd that they're asking for your kit to be insured on their premises...

[Jivemaster]

AS Above, venues want to see PLI before they let you in, so that if you hurt or damage, they have some recourse. venues do not care if your kit has hull risk insurance.

[Pete McCrea]

Good luck. If you can find somebody who will insure your equipment when its in a vehicle overnight, and don't want to charge you about a third of your annual turnover, please let me know!

 

vbm

 

Call Doodsons, speak to Heath Currie. We have our kit covered whilst in a locked vehicle, and it's part of their standard equipment policy, and it doesn't cost a third of your turnover, unless your T/O is under £5000.

[thebundy]

Many thanks for all the above advice.

yes, I think it is PLI that I require aswell as normal insurance. I shall make some phone calls on Thursday of this week and report back my findings. Hopefully I shall have some good news.

 

Many thanks

Al

[schooltechie]

I got insurance from DJ Guard, were very helpfull and could all be done online simple to use forms. They insure equipment, on site and away from site and whilst in transit (not sure about overnight) also the policy comes with PLI (£2Mill) and £10000 Personal Accident with an option to upgrade to £5Mil PLI.

DJGuard

 

HTH

 

Alex

[vbm]

Pete- thanks. I already have our PLI/ELI with Doodsons, and they're good, but I have heated discussions with them and other insurers about the overnight vehicles situation. Previously, insurers have only been prepared to insure equipment overnight in a vehicle if it has an alarm, an immobiliser, and is in a locked yard under CCTV cameras. Well, I don't know any van hire companies near me that have vehicles with alarms and immobilisers, and clearly, on tour, you can't leave vehicles in locked yards every night. So, basically, they wanted to relieve me of exorbitant sums of money (quotes in the region of £2-3000 a year) to not insure me against the only theft situation that is realistically likely to happen. However, I will go back and ask them again, maybe the situation has changed.

 

Alex/Schooltechie- thanks also, but if you're "not sure" whether your kit is insured overnight in a vehicle, you'd better check, 'cos that is when its going to get stolen!

 

Its a jungle out there people, take care..!

[Pete McCrea]

VBM - you got me worried there, so I phoned Doodsons, despite being sure I remembered a conversation say it was covered..

 

The lie of the land is that with our Van (VW Crafter) which has a Thatcham Cat 1 alarm fitted, leaving kit inside unattended IS insured. This would also go when e hire in new shape Sprinters which are pretty much the same vehicle.

 

If the kit was in the back of a 40' trailer, parked up with the driver asleep in the cab, the kit is classed as insured as the vehicle is attended. If however the driver was in the hotel and the trailer parked up on the side of a road, there may be an issue. However it's likely that if the truck is parked up with the driver absent, it would be so in the yard at the back of the venue where it would be likely that security and CCTV would be present, thus possibly covering that caveat.

 

The other comment made by the broker was that if reasonable steps were taken, then the insurer may honour the claim. However they're seeking clarification on that point for me.

 

As usual it's probably worth seeking clarification for your policy!

 

Pete.

[vbm]

Pete-

 

Thanks very much, I'll give Heath a call very soon.

 

Let's face it, grey areas like this are where insurance companies make money by not paying out on claims. I don't like the sound of "the insurer may honour the claim". As a smallish company, "may" sounds like the difference between survival and bankruptcy if somebody nicks a dozen of my moving lights out of the back of a tour truck while the driver's in the venue having a shower!

 

Cheers, vbm.

[AceLineO]

hoping not to get such a disdainful response from members, but my query is about insurance covering equipment and costumes, etc - does anyone know if you would you need to specify a clause in the PLI to cover specifics?

[sleah]

Just to add 20p :P

 

I also use DJGuard, but only for the PLI cover.

The harsh reality is that except for PLI, insurance really isn't worth the paper it's written on, unless you're paying nearly what the kit's worth in premiums :(

 

I haven't bothered insuring my DJ kit against theft because it won't be covered at the times when it could be stolen. In fact the only time it would be insured is when it would be near impossibly to steal. I.E when I'm with it! They would have to use force against me to steal it for the insurance to pay out, and the fact is if that happened, the least of my worries would be gear :o my well being is far more important than kit.

 

Before any one asks..... I can't get insurance (from DJGuard) for storage as I have a concrete sectional garage :(

I can't insure in transit, because I would have to have the rear of the van as a solid box with no visability of the gear and no access from the cab.

My van is an ex minibus :unsure:

 

So it could only ever be insured when it's somewhere when I'm actually using it. If I pop to the toilet it would become uninsured.

 

It is different for proffesionals and company insurance, but as folk have said, do they ever pay the price :o

 

Another caveat that may apply to the OP.....

If you have DJGuard insurance (PLI or whatever) and you're providing sound for a theatrical performance, then you probably won't be insured :(

 

Insurance companies defined the word pedantic :** laughs out loud **:

[vbm]

hoping not to get such a disdainful response from members, but my query is about insurance covering equipment and costumes, etc - does anyone know if you would you need to specify a clause in the PLI to cover specifics?

 

Hi there AceLineO-

 

No disdain here, a reasonable question. PLI insurance and equipment insurance are two completely different things, although they are often supplied by the same brokers and insurers. PLI is insurance you must have in case anything you do in the course of your work (whatever that is) causes injury (or worse) to somebody (anybody) else- in our business, that means the public, a performer, or anybody else working on an event. This is usually an insurance capable of paying out a vast sum, up to £10 million per claim is now common. Insurance for any kind of equipment, against theft of, loss of or damage to equipment, is just that. PLI will never cover your equipment against theft, loss or damage. I'm sure that there must already be a thread here on the Blue Room listing specialist entertainment industry insurers for both PLI and equipment.

 

Cheers, vbm.