Sometimes… All of Your Stuff Gets Stolen: Tales from Touring | brokeGIRLrich
So this last week was one for the books. Besides having an unusually rough and hectic schedule, on Friday, our van was broken into.
Good-bye best little black dress ever… it was a good 5 months with you.
In typical tour style, all of us had overnight bags and a big bag with pretty much all of our belongs in it. Since we were just staying at a stopover during a long drive, everyone had their overnight bags – and so pretty much all of our possessions were stolen.
Suffice to say, Fresno, California is not my favorite city right now.
And their police are definitely not my favorite, as they have been essentially useless.
So what would your first thoughts be if your luggage was stolen out of a van while on tour? Because mine were definitely that it would be covered by insurance.
Funny thing though, I don’t have any. Well, I mean, I’ve got car insurance, but no other insurance.
I also thought it was likely to be covered by our company’s insurance or the car rental agency that the van was from.
Wrong.
WRONG. Our handbook, which of course none of us really read (actually, tiny fib, I did read the whole thing at orientation three months ago – but apparently only retained the information I use daily), clearly states that the company is not responsible for any lost or stolen items while on tour.
FYI – if you are on tour, this is the common company stance. We’ve heard so many stories from friends varying from tiny children’s tours to first national tours – when your stuff is stolen, it’s just gone. And it is in no way your producer’s responsibility.
At least my cast has a sense of humor. And the stupid thieves left the scary homemade puppets and Girl Scout cookies behind.
So this leaves us with our own insurance to cover these losses and, turns out, I don’t have any. So in the process of filing the police reports, I itemized what I could remember and my total losses came out to about $1,200…. which was actually the lowest amount of the entire group by far. And pretty much none of us have insurance.
What kind of insurance does cover car burglaries and theft?
Renters and homeowner’s insurance. You will often need to provide proof that you owned the items through receipts, credit card statements, etc. Don’t forget that you will also need to pay the deductible, which can be so high that your claim may not be worth it.
You can also look into travel insurance, which will often cover baggage theft, as well as other incidents that can occur on the road, including medical coverage. Just know that travel coverage costs rise the longer the trip, so it’s likely that having renters or homeowners insurance is the better way to go on a long tour.
Other tips for touring performers and technicians:
- Don’t bring anything with sentimental value that you would be devastated to lose on tour (seriously, even if you don’t lose it, it’s way easier for things to get destroyed out here too).
- Make an itemized list of what you’ve got in each bag – just in case.
- Always bring anything irreplaceable into the hotel with you each night – one of our girls is now trying to figure out how to get an expedited passport for when we go to Canada in three weeks.
- Back up your stuff in the cloud – I just lost 3 hard drives of information and it’s just gone. I was super relieved to realize the hard drive with 10 years of stage management information and papers was the only one in my backpack, because that was the one item with me that I probably would’ve actually cried over losing.
- Double, triple, quadruple check whether your vehicle is locked and park in brightly lit spots that would be difficult to burglarize.
- Make sure you have a decent emergency fund, so you can buy more underwear when all of yours is stolen.
- GET RENTERS OR HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE.
Mel! I’m SO sorry to read about this. Majorly terrible.
And yet you turn your terrible moment into a learning experience for others. So generous.
Emi {aiparoundworld.blogspot.com} recently posted…Noni Fruit
Thanks, I definitely wish I’d read a post like this before leaving. I probably would’ve made sure to have some sort of insurance.
Oh no, that super sucks!!!
I’m glad you’re not in as bad a situation as the rest of your group but that still sucks the big one for everyone.
I will be interested to hear how getting renter’s insurance goes wgoes when you dont have a permanent address.
Anne @ Money Propeller recently posted…The Cost of Living in Winter â Heating and Such
Well I do technically have a permanent address at my parent’s house, so I suppose I’d use that. It’s also where all my other stuff is stored, so it might not be a bad idea to have it covered.
That’s terrible to hear Mel. Our house was broken into and items taking that could not be replaced. It’s a sickening feeling to say the least. Hopefully you can get some type of insurance to cover this in the future, but really doesn’t help you now. Sorry. 🙁
Brian @ Debt Discipline recently posted…Revisiting the Bucket Lists
Oh lord, that is awful news! I’m glad you kept your most important hard drive…but eesh, so scary! And of course expensive and a giant pain to replace everything 🙁
C@thesingledollar recently posted…Let’s discuss my new boots
Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. that is terrible. Thank goodness you had your computer in your room. I travel with one little suitcase on tour so everything always comes in with me. But even then, things could easily get stolen.
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted…Can Underindulging Make You Happier?
UGH!!!! This is awful!!! And it’s crazy to think that there is pretty much no insurance to cover this. It seems like you should be able to contribute to the car insurance or something to get coverage for your belongings while they are in them.
Shannon @ Financially Blonde recently posted…Music Mondays – If I Had $1,000,000
Agreed, I really thought it might cover it since my insurance is generally awesome, but no such luck.
Oh, nooooooo! That is awful! Your post did remind me to add something important to my to-do list: take pictures of our more valuable possessions just in case we need proof in a similar situation (we do have renter’s insurance). It’s something I keep putting off… thanks for the reminder! But so sorry this happened to you!
Ms. Mintly recently posted…February 2015 Budget Check-In
Oh, yes, definitely! And make sure you have serial numbers of electronics written down too.
Oh no! That totally sucks. But you learned a good lesson and now know more for the future. Kind of crappy that your employer doesn’t cover it though…
Kayla @ Everything Finance recently posted…Three Places to Buy High Class Home Decor on a Budget
That blows. When we first moved into our house our cars were broken into….talk about a “welcome to the neighborhood” moment….
Joe Saul-Sehy recently posted…Is Gold a Great Hedge Or Should You Look Elsewhere?
This is just so sad. I feel for you. I don’t have anything to add except when I was single and had renter’s insurance it was pretty reasonable. I bought it after a friend’s apartment building had a fire.He lost pretty much everything from smoke and water damage. Fortunately I never had to use it.
Savvy recently posted…5 Things I Learned From my Mother’s Audiologist
Yeah, the one cast member who does have insurance said it’s about $250 for the entire year and her deductible was only $100… she’s pretty much the only one who isn’t completely screwed.
Still has me incensed! I’m so sorry this happened to you! I have a policy that’s around $130/year without any deductible…so worth it especially as I had to use it once.
femmefrugality recently posted…BYOB Wedding (for the hosts, not the guests!)
Yeah, I am definitely likely to look into renters insurance for next time I go out on tour.
That is a bummer and I know. Same happened to us a couple of hours into reaching San Diego. Too early to check into the hotel so went to Sea World. Went out a couple of hours later to grab our prepared lunches for us and the kids and the van had already been broken into and all our kids clothes stolen, the stereo, some tools and few other things like our toiletries and some food items. They hit ours and another dozen or so cars in the Sea World parking lot. We should have checked our bags at the hotel first even though they wouldn’t let us check in. I have never been back to San Diego. Insurance paid for most but a month later. Pretty expensive vacation because of a bunch of thieves who cruise that parking lot daily and somehow can’t be caught or stopped. That was 25 years ago and it still burns my keister.
LeisureFreak Tommy recently posted…Role Optimism Plays in Early Retirement
I’m so sorry that this happened to you! It can happen anywhere I guess. When I was in Hawaii last year they had consumer alert commercials telling people not to leave anything in the trunk of the car at any time. I had this habit of leaving my purse in the trunk thinking that was a safe place. I took heed because my sister was ever watchful and making sure I didn’t do it.
At the same time I want to thank you though for the information because I too do a glance over on those rental agreements and then just assume if anything happens our insurance would cover it. I’ll be looking that over before I travel again.
vickie recently posted…Free Kindle Books for Today 2/2/8 Plus Rewards Saturday
Yup, insurance can be a little tricky, it’s definitely best to take a few minutes and look over the terms of your coverage.
Oh my gosh, this is horrible!! What the heck?! But at least they did leave your touring stuff (and cookies??? Random… full thieves, apparently). It sucks that you have to pay for insurance you DON’T use 99% of the time… so you either don’t get it and cross your fingers, or you get it and never use it. Ironic. 🙁
Melissa @ Sunburnt Saver recently posted…Sin Stocks: Investing for the Wicked
I know! Who leaves the Thin Mints?!?!? Madness.
No!!! I’m so sorry. I’m glad nothing irreplaceable was stolen.
Rebecca @ Stapler Confession s recently posted…Nobody’s Perfect: Thoughts on Choosing the Right Path