Public Liability Insurance

simonk

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

We use these guys.

£69 covers the whole band for a year.

https://www.ampband.co.uk/

 

We've just signed up with these guys too. So far so good, although we've not had to use the cover yet...

DartmoorHedgehog

Ampband is looking the most likely for us as well I think.  Should be sorting it out in the next few days.

John_P

I'm just about to take out a new policy for a new band.      Is ampband still looking like the best deal?    

DartmoorHedgehog

John_P said:

I'm just about to take out a new policy for a new band.      Is ampband still looking like the best deal?    

We went with Rees Astley (http://www.insurance4performingarts.co.uk/) in the end.  Ampband does look like a good deal but you have to sign up to be a member of their club with loads of terms and conditions, which suggest that they only cover professional or semi-pro bands.  They actually got back to me in the end saying that they would cover amateurs, but was too late by then.  Rees Astley was much simpler process.  Ampband offer £10m cover by default though, whereas Rees Astley charge extra for more than £2m.

ash96

EDIT - Just re read and saw everyone beat me to it!

John_P

Thanks chaps - I went with ampband in the end - only took 2 mins to fill the form in and when I compared with Rees Astley the cost was cheaper (extra £20 admin fee with Rees Astley).

DartmoorHedgehog

John_P said:

 (extra £20 admin fee with Rees Astley).

Yes, bit sneaky that.  If it's still up to me to sort it out next year I may well go with Ampband (although the terms and conditions are rather extensive and in places a bit odd - "members must use professional quality equipment"... not sure if some of our mic stands etc would qualify )

rsvmark

Just reading this as we are likely to be asked for PLI. Is ampland still the go to favourite here?

We are a 7 piece so £79 seems a good price for £10m cover.

There was mention of PAT testing. What's the score here? What is it, and how do we go about getting it? And how much might it cost?

DartmoorHedgehog

rsvmark said:

Just reading this as we are likely to be asked for PLI. Is ampland still the go to favourite here?

We are a 7 piece so £79 seems a good price for £10m cover.

They still look good - I think I'd go with them if I had to renew now (they were just a bit vague about whether they'd cover non-professional acts when I was looking before and took a long time to clarify that, so I went with Rees Astley).

rsvmark said:

There was mention of PAT testing. What's the score here? What is it, and how do we go about getting it? And how much might it cost?

PAT (Portable Appliance Test) testing is just a basic electrical safety check for any mains-powered kit - make sure the leads are secure and wired correctly, earths are connected where appropriate, etc.  One of my band mates works in a local college and we had our kit tested there for nothing, so I don't know what people charge to do it, but I doubt it would be much.  It doesn't take long - couple of minutes per device.  You'd need to get all amps done and any other mains-powered devices like PSUs for pedals - and don't forget the leads if they're removable kettle type.

hotpickups

I was charged about £5 per item for PAT testing. Still think it's a waste of time really but some venues still insist on it

DartmoorHedgehog

hotpickups said:

PAT testing. Still think it's a waste of time really but some venues still insist on it

I agree really - it's like an MOT on a car, only says the device passes the required check at the time of the test.  Anything could have happened since then.  Nobody's ever looked at the PAT stickers on our kit, or even asked whether it's been tested, but as it cost us nothing to have it done it seemed like a good idea just in case.

ICBM

hotpickups said:

I was charged about £5 per item for PAT testing. Still think it's a waste of time really but some venues still insist on it

You *know* it's a waste of time when you see stuff like this - the sticker was still valid at the time I took the pic:

http://i.imgur.com/9cdW8Sp.jpg

Danny1969

£5 per item wouldn't be worth it. A new kettle (IEC) lead would cost less and wouldn't need PAT testing

We have about 200 things in the van that have to be PAT tested, I do it myself but in the past it's been done by another company for around 79p per item

shaunm

Just a quick note on this, I am an insurance broker (because I'm not good enough to make money from playing guitar).

I am going to try and speak to some underwriters from some of the insurers on here to see if there is anything they can offer to forum members. I have seen offers in place previously on other chat rooms (not musician based admittedly).

rsvmark

@shaunm

Did you get any joy? Just about to bite the bullet but if you managed to source something, please let us know....

crunchman

Danny1969 said:

£5 per item wouldn't be worth it. A new kettle (IEC) lead would cost less and wouldn't need PAT testing

We have about 200 things in the van that have to be PAT tested, I do it myself but in the past it's been done by another company for around 79p per item

79p per item sounds a lot more reasonable than the £5 that was quoted above.  It is cheaper when you have lots of stuff that needs doing.

At our church we gave away or chucked out some surplus Kettle leads and 4 way extensions before the last round of PAT testing to save a bit on the bill.

jpfamps

ICBM said:

hotpickups said:

I was charged about £5 per item for PAT testing. Still think it's a waste of time really but some venues still insist on it

You *know* it's a waste of time when you see stuff like this - the sticker was still valid at the time I took the pic:

http://i.imgur.com/9cdW8Sp.jpg

I once saw a PAT sticker on a pedal.

Apparently, someone in a rehearsal studio insisted that all the band's gear was tested!

jpfamps

ICBM said:

hotpickups said:

I was charged about £5 per item for PAT testing. Still think it's a waste of time really but some venues still insist on it

You *know* it's a waste of time when you see stuff like this - the sticker was still valid at the time I took the pic:

http://i.imgur.com/9cdW8Sp.jpg

Two errors there. Makes you wonder..........

DartmoorHedgehog

jpfamps said:

ICBM said:

hotpickups said:

I was charged about £5 per item for PAT testing. Still think it's a waste of time really but some venues still insist on it

You *know* it's a waste of time when you see stuff like this - the sticker was still valid at the time I took the pic:

http://i.imgur.com/9cdW8Sp.jpg

Two errors there. Makes you wonder..........

Cable grip, and fuse rating not matching sticker?

I was always taught that the earth cable should have more slack in it so it's the last one to pull out if the cable is yanked out of the grip, but that may be just being petty.  And apparently you're supposed to position the PAT sticker so the fuse can't be changed without tampering with the sticker (because technically the test is then invalidated) but that just seems massively petty to me - although this would be a good example if the user changed the fuse after the test (and could have messed with the cable grip as well for all we know).  It's just like a car MOT - anything could have happened since the test was done even if it was done correctly.

Danny1969

Well this comes up all the time but technically :

Any Competent person can PAT test an item, but there's no hard and fast rules to who's competent. 

There's technically no need to do it annually - it's only suggested it might be a good idea to do it regularly, perhaps annually 

There's no legal reason to keep a record or put a sticker on it  - it's only suggested it might help if you do

If your competent do it yourself, make a spreadsheet of it so you can email it to venues