Is it worth getting instrument insurance for a child's instrument?

My youngest son very kindly stepped on my eldest son's viola case with the result that the viola inside became damaged beyond repair. The case is hard enough, it's just not designed to be trodden on by a sturdy 5 year old.

The instrument is worth about £260 - should I get insurance for the replacement that I have ordered? How much does insurance generally cost? Would there be an excess to pay etc.? I have insurance for the house and the cat, but I'd never considered having any of the instruments insured. I can't claim on my household insurance because the excess is £100 and the premiums would also go up by a percentage ultimately making it unworthwhile.

What should I do?

Best thing would be to get an online quote from Allianz, and you can then decide if it's cost effective for you.

I pay £4 per month for my insurance through Allianz
I have a bass insured (sum £1300)
and the violin (sum £700)
there's no excess to pay and the insurance includes the facility to pay up to £500 for any accessories (in this case my bows would be under accessories as both together are less than this sum).

it's worth considering

I never had insurance until 3 months ago when I read of someone's acciden with the cello and it made me think....if any of my instruments were 'trodded on' or something else, I would NOT have the money to replace them.

perhaps also consider a hard case; they're not cheap, but you can keep the case as you upgrade the instrument. if a child standing on it was enough to damage the instrument, it sounds like your existing one is not all that hard.

Thanks river, I'll think about that. It wasn't so much the fact that he'd stood on it, so much as the pressure that was exerted on the little twidly thing that holds the bow in place pressing onto the instrument. The pressure on that small bit of plastic managed to cave one side of the viola in. I'll get my husband to remove the next one and keep the viola in a safer place.

I'll take a look at that insurance site as well.