Hello,

My parents are coming over to England from the states for my graduation this spring and are thinking about buying me the new Yamaha Motif XS and bringing it along. As you know, it's about half price if bought in dollars instead of pounds, plus if it's a gift, they can't be charged VAT on it when they enter the country.

When I moved to England, I bought my keyboard along in an SKB hard case as checked luggage and had no problems whatsoever. However, I'm a bit leary this time as this will be a brand-new, expensive synth.

What do you think? Can they get travel insurance that would cover the cost of the keyboard if it gets lost or damaged? I'd tell them to just ship it across, but it would get stuck in immigration for weeks and weeks as they would try to charge VAT on it. When I shipped my own equipment across, immigration wouldn't let me have it until I paid them VAT, then I had to fight for my money back!

Thanks,

Carrie