Will I be charged for normal wear and tear?

No, not for normal wear: strings wearing out, rosin used up, bow hair breaking strand by strand, a case zipper giving out. That is expected, and it is never charged to you. Damage is different: dents, cracks from drops, a broken bow, carved initials. We always tell you which side of the line we think something sits on before any chargeable work happens, and the insurance exists for the genuine accidents and the gray areas.

Think of a car. Brakes and tires wearing down are wear and tear. A dent in the door is not, no matter how it got there. Instruments work exactly the same way.

Not wear and tear: a dent, a crack from a drop, a bent key, a broken bow, initials carved into the varnish. And here is the honest part: “my child didn’t do it maliciously” is absolutely true and also not the test. A big dent is a big dent. Accidents are accidents even when nobody is at fault, which is precisely what the insurance is for.

The line can feel subjective from the outside, so our commitment is simple: before any chargeable work happens, we will tell you what we found and which side of the line we think it sits on, in plain language. And we encourage every renting family to take the insurance. It exists exactly for the gray areas and the genuine accidents.