Contracts dilemma…

I dont deal with the mobile side of things, so im going off my own logic, if the booking is one you’re interested in etc etc, i think negotiating slightly could be in your favour, maybe amend the contract to say that under the circumstance that equipment is damaged/stolen yakka yakka yakka, you will claim on your insurance however the customer must cover the excess fee. Means you’re not out of pocket at all?

Well, no need to have a customer pay for everything that you are insured for … BUT …

– you CAN (and imho should) add an insurance fee to your quotation (after all, YOU have to pay for the insurance, no reason taking that on yourself right)
– if your insurance has a treshold (an amount you’ll always pay yourself), you should have in your contract that your gear is insured, but there is a “own-risk” of amount x.

At the end of the day it’s about you not having to pay a dime when something happens to your gear during a gig (or transportation!).

Getting your insurance fee covered by the customer helps. This is very common practice with PA rental companies. I usually end up paying 6% insurance fee on top of the rental costs.