Insurance for your records?

[djiraffe]

Upon getting some new home owner's insurance, I came across the issue of insuring my equipment and records.

The company said they wouldn't insure any of it cuz its part of a business. Prob is I can't get business insurance cuz I don't treat it like a business (no id, tax write-offs, etc) and I'm taking my equipment to various locations. I suppose I may get legit one day but for now, I'm still uninsured.

Can anyone recommend an insurance co. is uh,.. er, dj-firendly?

[nast]

insure it as your stereo equipment and collection of rare vinyl records. If you dont own a DJ business then its not a business. Although it sounds like the insurance company already knows you are a working DJ so this might be a moot point. You can try the musicians union or ASCAP if you are a member. They do offer gear insurance. But you have to meet there requirements for membership and the union makes you pay dues. See links below.

http://www.afm.org/public/home/index.php - Musicians union

www.ascap.com

[djsteel]

A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued...and won!

In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The Judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable fire, and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."

NOW FOR THE BEST PART... After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

[groovinkim]

that's hilarious.

on the topic of record insurance, i've been meaning to look into renter's insurance for some time. for people whose insurance companies don't know that you are a working dj (or, for people like myself, who are not working djs).. i'm assuming rekkids would be covered under that?

[djsadiablo]

Unless you are good friends with your insurance agent, don't make to much small talk. If you tell your agent you are a dj they will not insure you, no one will. If you get yourself a business liscence that is different (records, needles, decks, mixers, gas, etc. all become writeoffs). No one will insure records unless they think it is purely a hobbie, ie collection. Not for use outside the home.