UPS - High prices to insure full value

Boromedic

Hi all, just trying to arrange shipping for a guitar and I know the general advice here is to use UPS as they cover the full value of it. However when I insure the guitar to it's value I'm looking at £45 all in for £500 of cover. That seems to be a high price, is that kind of normal or am I missing something? That's either through Interparcel or Parcel2Go.

Cheers,

Al

JezWynd

That seems about right. I use Transglobal Express / UPS and they just quoted me 45ish to insure a 1200 guitar. Then add 30 for the courier. TBH, I don't bother with insurance nowadays, I invest the premium in additional packaging materials. It's worked so far (touching wood as I type).

Majorscale

Also, while they are happy to take your money for insurance, many of these brokers have a "restricted item" list where the largest compensation payable for musical instruments is some low figure like £50. Always check the t's and c's

webrthomson

I shipped a guitar last week and £1000 of cover was £38+VAT = £45.60, that was via interparcel with the carrier as UPS.

£45 for £500 cover seems high to me, if the £45 was just for cover? If it was for shipping and cover that is probably right.

IvisonGuitars

Go direct through UPS, it may be not be any cheaper but you can specify what it is (as @Majorscale says, I’m sure I read once there is some clause that the brokers use to wriggle out of guitar insurance) and delivery instructions etc. I’ve used them twice like this to ship high value vintage guitars to Europe and it’s been no more that £100 for the full value.

Boromedic

webrthomson said:

I shipped a guitar last week and £1000 of cover was £38+VAT = £45.60, that was via interparcel with the carrier as UPS.

£45 for £500 cover seems high to me, if the £45 was just for cover? If it was for shipping and cover that is probably right.

Yeah it's all in, shipping and cover, still think they're taking the piss.

Boromedic

IvisonGuitars said:

Go direct through UPS, it may be not be any cheaper but you can specify what it is (as @Majorscale says, I’m sure I read once there is some clause that the brokers use to wriggle out of guitar insurance) and delivery instructions etc. I’ve used them twice like this to ship high value vintage guitars to Europe and it’s been no more that £100 for the full value.

Will try their website direct and see what I get then.... Cheers

Boromedic

Majorscale said:

Also, while they are happy to take your money for insurance, many of these brokers have a "restricted item" list where the largest compensation payable for musical instruments is some low figure like £50. Always check the t's and c's

Yeah they've said in the terms that it's £100 for damage and £1k for loss. They always seem to win don't they!

JezWynd

I think the advantage of going via a broker is that they provide the insurance cover (or arrange it) and will cover items that many couriers will decline (such as musical instruments). Transglobal Express have a good rep, although I've never had to make a claim.

webrthomson

Boromedic said:

webrthomson said:

I shipped a guitar last week and £1000 of cover was £38+VAT = £45.60, that was via interparcel with the carrier as UPS.

£45 for £500 cover seems high to me, if the £45 was just for cover? If it was for shipping and cover that is probably right.

Yeah it's all in, shipping and cover, still think they're taking the piss.

Yup - all in my shipping, cover and VAT cost me £70, which I agree was taking the piss

On the other hand I've had damage done in transit to a guitar that went to Germany, and interparcel covered the entire cost of the damage and they then fought with UPS, who were not going to pay out.

Nightswan

I shipped a Daemoness from Northern Ireland to Bristol fully insured for £2500 and that was around £75 all in.

webrthomson

Nightswan said:

I shipped a Daemoness from Northern Ireland to Bristol fully insured for £2500 and that was around £75 all in.

Who was that with @Nightswan?

SlopeSoarer

Boromedic said:

webrthomson said:

I shipped a guitar last week and £1000 of cover was £38+VAT = £45.60, that was via interparcel with the carrier as UPS.

£45 for £500 cover seems high to me, if the £45 was just for cover? If it was for shipping and cover that is probably right.

Yeah it's all in, shipping and cover, still think they're taking the piss.

It is really because you are buying insurance because they might lose it or damage it: )

goldtop

Boromedic said:

webrthomson said:

I shipped a guitar last week and £1000 of cover was £38+VAT = £45.60, that was via interparcel with the carrier as UPS.

£45 for £500 cover seems high to me, if the £45 was just for cover? If it was for shipping and cover that is probably right.

Yeah it's all in, shipping and cover, still think they're taking the piss.

This is the result of low-price courier services. The margins on shipping are low, so they make a huge margin on insurance instead (and limit the ability/amount to claim in many cases).

I have a UPS account, ship many hundreds of packages a year and never buy the extra insurance. Because it is priced as if there is a 1 in 20 to 1 in 50 chance of a total loss. Obviously, they do not lose 1 out of every 20/50 packages. So I 'self-insure' and add about 1% to all orders for insurance. If a package goes missing, it's a PITA, but I just send it again and will recoup that loss from future orders.

Unfortunately, this isn't available when you're shipping individual guitars. If it goes AWOL or is broken, we've got no choice.

A more enterprising person than myself would create an app that allows individuals to buy shipping insurance to cover the risk at a much better rate than charged by couriers. The maths is easy and obvious. (Fraud prevention would be the biggest risk, of course.)

MLten80

you had better insure it with ups. months later we still don't know what happened to a 1500£ mayones they lost recently.
  how a guitar sized boxed can disappear is beyond me

FreddieVanHalen

Or you could have a look at my FedEx thread about how they lost and smashed a custom shop Gretsch!

Nightswan

webrthomson said:

Nightswan said:

I shipped a Daemoness from Northern Ireland to Bristol fully insured for £2500 and that was around £75 all in.

Who was that with @Nightswan?

UPS.