By Trevor Drake, “Insurance Professional”
When you purchase coverage for your DJ equipment as part of your policy, you will see it listed on your certificate of insurance under the “Inland Marine” heading. You may ask, why would equipment coverage be listed as Inland Marine? Well, let’s take a look at exactly what this coverage is: Inland Marine insurance was first created to cover the transport of goods over water however, the definition has now expanded to cover of goods in transit on land, the property of others at your premises and goods being transported to or from your premises. The advantage to you is, Inland Marine insurance provides coverage without regard to the location of the covered property, and are sometimes referred to as “floater” policies. By writing your equipment coverage under the Inland Marine heading, we are able to provide you with coverage while your equipment is in storage, in use, and in transit.
Some clients tell me that their homeowner’s policy provides coverage for their DJ equipment. While it is true that many home owner’s policies will include your equipment, as soon as you take the equipment out of the home, the coverage stops at your front door. Your homeowner’s policy may have an “adjustment provision” known as A.C.V or Actual Cash Value. Which means in the event of a claim, when the value of an item is being determined, the insurance company will take into account the depreciation of the item. There are also “replacement cost” policies out there where the value of the item is determined by the current value of the item today not taking into account depreciation of the item. Obviously a replacement cost policy is more expensive than an ACV policy. Our Inland Marine coverage is always adjusted on a replacement cost basis, therefore you always get the maximum return in the event of a claim.
When we write the coverage for your equipment, we require a list, known as a “scheduled equipment” list, for each item that you want covered. We need a good description of each item with its serial number, if available, and a stated value for each item. In the event of a claim, we will review the scheduled equipment list to make sure that the lost / damaged items are listed on the schedule to determine their value based on the information you provided in order to settle your claim; minus the $250 deductible on your policy. Please be aware that if we do not have your schedule on file, there is No coverage.
For more information regarding all of your insurance needs, please contact Brown & Brown of Pennsylvania at (844) 334-7877.
