So I’m living in an apartment, right? And I need to insure my pipes, right? I know what I paid for them four years ago. Right?
So how do I judge what they’re worth now? I have a half-set in D, made by Joe Kennedy. I spoke to the insurance company and they asked for a current price (after asking all the regular questions like “So you mean a set of bagpipes that isn’t really loud? Aren’t they just broken?” and “yew-leean? Uh…”) but I’m not sure how to go about that. I live in a UP isolation zone; no other pipers for at least eight hours worth of driving. Even if I lived amongst the teeming/piping masses I wouldn not know how I would go about doing this. Should I just give them the price at the time of purchase, or should I give them a ‘purchasing as new’ price?
Thanks for the reply, Nico. I’d thought that contacting the maker might be a little questionable in the insurer’s eyes as it’s the market value, not the list value that they seemed to indicate they wanted. Thinking about it I’m sure that talking to Joe should be good enough for them.
Presumably the market value would be higher anyway with his wait time. You could make a case by showing them other makers’ websites and some of Master D’Arcy’s past classified ads to demonstrate this, however Joe’s pipes don’t come up for sale too often, so it might not work.
And would you look at that, I’m finally well over 1000 posts. Darn.
I checked the good Mr. D’arcy’s site a few days ago, but I could only find a chanter of Joe’s up for sale, and it was a couple of years ago. I was surprised that I could only find one chanter, but I’m guessing people are keeping what Joe makes. I’m certainly keeping this set. The idea of showing them other maker’s sites is a good one, I’ll do that as well.
Well. I guess I’m going to have to hit ‘submit’ something like 670 times. Here I go -
There was a Kennedy 1/2 set in C# advertised on D’Arcy’s site in 2005. The asking price was 3,500 euros, approx. CA$5,700.
Unless you find other sales to establish what the market value is, you should go by Joe’s quote for replacement cost. Also, check the terms of the insurance policy. Sometimes the insurance company will only offer “new for old” replacement.
Regarding insurance, I recommend Clarion (1-800-VIVALDI). Whomever you choose as the insurance provider, a letter from the pipe maker stating the current value of the instrument should be sufficient. A good guideline is what the maker would charge for a similar order TODAY. It’s that simple. In the case of Clarion, insurance for an instrument valued at I believe $5000 or more requires a makers’ letter or formal appraisal. No better man for an appraisal than the pipemaker himself.
Most makers will probably provide this info. The maker of my C set told me, without my asking, what it would go for if he were to sell it today when I told him what I’d paid for it. I got a deal, let’s just say that! I think he was so surprised that he just said it!
you can insure it for just about any amount you want but the bigger your replacement check the higher your premium.
if you over value it at say $10,000.00 and it never gets stolen you will have paid to much to insure it. Conversly if you under value it at say $1,000.00 your premium will be lower but if its nicked your replacement check will be insuficient to purchase a set of equal value to replace it and then of course there would be a wait time. if your maker has a long waiting list you would do yourself a favor if you over value the set to create a monetary value for time spent waiting. Some sets are of course pricless to the owner and could never be replaceed by a check from the insurance company YMMV
Another thing to remember is that if you over-value, the insurance policy will often state that it item will be insured for market value upto a stated amount. If your pipes are worth $10,000 and you insure them for $12,000, you’ll only get $10,000 if the pipes are lost or stolen.
Also, I’ve very sceptical that an insurance company would agree that a waiting list increases the market value.
Just as an aside, when I was still living in the UK I was a member of the Musicians Union. One of the benefits was that if your instrument was stolen the union covered part of the cost…I don’t remember how much but it may have been one hundred pounds (this was mid 1990s). The purpose of this was that you could get an insurance policy more cheaply by agreeing to a 100 quid deductable but through the union you were still covered 100%. I have no idea if there are similar schemes in North America but it might be worth looking into.
Wow… I go away for a couple of days and lots of good ideas. Are there Keebler elves handing out gooey-chocolate ideas somewhere? I will be checking with the local musician’s union (high time I joined, anyway) as well as contacting Joe Kennedy for a letter. I’ll look at which possibility will be (ahem) cheaper. Clarion I will check into as well, but I had heard that their costs were a little high.
I’m really not sure what this means, PJ. Care to clarify?
I’ve insured a variety of instruments with Clarion, Allstate my home insurer, and checked pricing with Heritage.
Cheapest coverage is Allstate for non-professional use.
Best coverage is Clarion. They will reduce quotes to match Heritage.
All require a bill of sale or an appraisal over a certain value. Depending on the policy they will replace with new (if that is a higher value) for old, or the lower of appraised value or actual replacement cost.
The appraisal can be from anyone credible, but in the case of UPs it’s likely to be the or a maker.
Used value is based on the market. Maybe a long waiting list affects that or maybe it doesn’t, depending on the maker.
Get an appraisal, Shop around. Read the fine print.