Allstate Won’t Cover My Stolen Instrument Because Sometimes I Get Paid To Play Music

Image courtesy of (frankieleon)

Jonathan is an amateur musician, but not so amateur that he doesn’t play the occasional gig for pay. He didn’t think that this should matter if anything happened to his instrument, and Allstate didn’t say anything when he took out an additional rider on it as part of his renter’s insurance, with theft protection. When his car was stolen, he recovered the car but not the instrument. In theory, it should have been covered. Jonathan says that they refuse to pay because he does play for compensation on occasion, and the company refuses to budge.

Just wanted to report on a tragic story of Allstate trying to get out of their financial obligations.

So when I moved into an apartment in a town known for its crime (though in a nice part of the town) I took out renter’s insurance including theft protection. Because I am also a musician, I took out a special provision to cover the value of my instrument for $5000 with Allstate. Well, my car was recently stolen and subsequently crashed, with the instrument inside of it. The thieves took the instrument, and I’ve been battling Allstate ever since. They are now telling me that because I occasionally use the instrument to play semi-professionally (read: paid gigs) they will not pay out the full value of the instrument, or even close. They are now trying to cap the insurance value at 4% of the cost of the instrument. Regardless of the fact that at the time the policy was made, there was no discussion or question about what the instrument was used for.

So Musicians: be warned! If you EVER use your instrument to gig, and you want to insure it against theft – don’t use Allstate! Even if you take out a special extension for the instrument, they will not pay you.

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