Rental Terms and Conditions

• A valid credit card is required and will be automatically charged every 30 days for the monthly rental payment.

• No contracts, rent month to month.

• You may use up to 12 payments towards your purchase of a violin or viola, 24 payments for cello and bass (excluding insurance and tax).

• Insurance is required for cellos and basses, and is optional for violins and violas. Insurance is $10 for cellos and basses, and $6 for violins and violas. Insurance covers strings, bows, fittings and minor damage (catastrophic damage is not covered until after 1 year).

• No charge for trading out instrument sizes at any time.

• Before returning your instrument, please clean it to look as new as possible.  Tapes on fingerboards or stickers on bows should be removed. Built-up rosin dust on the violin should be wiped off.

• You are required to make payments on time, and keep your payment information, current address, and contact information up to date. If no payment is made we will attempt to contact you to rectify the situation. If there is no response within 90 days, you can be sent to collections. Unreturned instruments are considered theft and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Charges Associated with Damage and Loss

As we realize used instruments are subject to normal wear and tear, fees typically apply to obvious damage such as cracks, very visible scratches, and the like. Rentals returned without any obvious or abnormal wear and tear receive no additional charge. However, additional fees apply to damaged instruments in need of our time and cost of repair. If damage is beyond repair, the retail cost of the instrument must be paid minus 55% of any rental credits accumulated. Note that damage beyond repair is a rare occurrence, usually involving a crack in the top or bottom plates of the instrument. 

Rental Credit

When utilizing credit, it will only be applicable to your family line of instruments. For example a customer who rents a violin through Kennedy Violins will only be able to use credit for another violin. A cello rental customer may not use rental credit accumulated to purchase a violin, but for a cello. Any customer who would like to use their rental credit for an instrument outside of their family line may only do so for a maximum of 50% of the purchase price of the instrument.Before returning your instrument, please clean it to look as new as possible. Tapes on fingerboards or bows should be removed. Built-up rosin dust on the violin should be wiped off.

For specific damage fees, please see below:

• Extremely dirty bow hair - $5.00 to clean

• Built-up rosin on fingerboard near bridge - $5.00 to clean

• Tape on fingerboard or bow - $7.00 to remove and clean

• Broken generic strings - $2.00 per string

• Broken brand-name strings - Total retail cost of individual string(s)

• Ripped canvas on instrument case - $16.00 to repair

• Scratch on violin finish (raw wood not showing) - $12.00 to remove or repair

• Scratch on violin with raw wood showing - $25.00 to remove or repair

• Broken bow - $49.00 to replace

• Damage beyond repair (such as cracked top/bottom plate) - Full purchase price minus 55% of total accumulated rental credits

• Lost instrument - Full purchase price minus 55% of total accumulated rental credits.