Renting With Metropolitan Music
Renting an instrument is one of the best ways for an aspiring musician to get started.
When you rent an instrument with Metropolitan Music, you get a quality instrument that will help ensure a positive music learning experience and long-term success.
All of Metropolitan Music's rentals are Rent-to-Own at no additional cost to our customers. It's a passive benefit built into all of our contracts so our customers get the most out of their money. Each time a payment is made, the Base Rate of your payments accumulates as Purchase Credit toward the retail value of the instrument you are renting.
Instruments for Rent
Flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, alto saxophone, snare drums, bell kits, violins, violas and cellos all available for online rentals.
Metropolitan Music also offers a number of speciality instruments in limited supply: piccolo, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, french horn, baritone saxophone, tuba, euphonium, baritone, bass trombone, and upright bass. These instruments are only available in-store. Please give us a call for rates and availability.
Rental Plans
Metropolitan Music offers two kinds of retnal plans, a Standard rental and the Ten-for-Nine. All rental plans are rent-to-own.
A Standard rental is basic month-to-month billing. You'll be charged once a month for the duration of your rental, until you return or pay off the your instrument. A Standard rental has a three month minimum requirement.
With a Ten-for-Nine, you would pay nine months of rent in a lump sum up front and get the tenth month free. After ten months, billing automatically reverts to basic month-to-month payments. You can renew the Ten-for-Nine at any time. You get nine months worth of Purchase Credit from your lump sum payment.
Breaking Down Your Monthly Payment
With a Standard Rental, you will make a monthly payment that consists of multiple parts.
The Base Rate
The Base Rate is the majority of your monthly payment. The Base Rate is what goes toward Purchase Credit.
Maintenance Fee (Mandatory)
The maintenance fee covers basic wear and tear on the instrument. Over the course of playing your instrument, some parts may come loose, stuck, out of alignment, or any number of other things that are a result of day-to-day use. Metropolitan Music will fix these issues for you at no additional cost. The maintenance fee does not cover accidental or malicious damage. It does not cover the loss or theft of the instrument. The maintenance fee does not go towards Purchase Credit.
Optional Protection Plan (OPP)
What Is It?
For a small additional monthly fee, you can add the OPP to your rental plan. The OPP protects your instrument in three different cases of theft:
-If the instrument is stolen from a locked locker.
-If the instrument is stolen from a locked bandroom.
-If the instrument is stolen from your home.
The OPP does not cover the instrument being stolen out of your car. (Please do not leave any instrument in your car unnattended for long periods of time.) The OPP does not cover the loss of the instrument.
Do I Need the OPP?
Most people don't get the OPP to start. Elementary schools typically do not have locked lockers or locked bandrooms, and homeowner's insurance covers theft from the home, making it redundant for that particular instance of theft.
Our customers in middle school, high school, and college are the renters that typically opt for the OPP. You can add the OPP to your contract at any time, just give us a call.
The OPP fee does not go towards Purchase Credit.
What Happens If My Instrument Is Lost or Stolen?
If the instrument you are renting is lost or stolen, you as the rentee are responsible for the retail value of the instrument. If you have the OPP, and the instrument is stolen from one of the three places that the OPP covers, you must submit a police report. If the police corroborate the theft, you are not responsible for the retail value of the instrument.
...and finally: Tax
Something, something, death and taxes.
Tax does not go towards Purchase Credit, but with each payment you are reducing the total sales tax on the retail value of the instrument. If you rent your instrument long enough to pay it off, there is no additional sales tax when you make your final payment.
Using Your Purchase Credit to Own the Student Model Band Instrument You're Renting
Used student model band instruments have low monthly rental payments, but take a longer amount of time to pay off. For example, a used trumpet will be have a lower monthly payment than a new instrument, and it will take about 4 1/2 years to pay off.
New student model band instruments have higher monthly payments, but they pay off faster than a used student model instrument. For example, it takes about 3 years to pay off a new trumpet.
Intermediate and Advanced Step-Up Band Instruments
Over the course of their playing career, the musician may advance beyond their entry-level student model instrument. Metropolitan Music offers a variety of intermediate- and advanced-level instruments to meet the needs of the improving musician. You can apply the Purchase Credit that you accumulated on your student model instrument towards the retail value of the step-up instrument that you exchange for. This can provide a significant discount towards owning a nicer instrument.
Using Your Purchase Credit With Orchestral Instruments
Instruments like violin and cello come in fractional sizes: 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 4/4 (full sized). Violas come in a series of different lenghts: 11", 12", 13", 14" etc.
The instruments come in different sizes to accomodate the varying statures of student musicians.
For example, if your child starts on a 1/2 sized violin, they will eventually need to step up to the next size, a 3/4 sized violin, when they grow. If they grow some more, they will ultimately need a full sized violin.
Metropolitan Music makes the transition between sizes seamless. You simply exchange your current instrument for the next size up and your Purchase Credit transfers over too.
Changing and Returning Instruments
What if the musician wants to switch instruments?
Sometimes the first instrument a musician picks out isn't always the right one, or the musician decides to change to a related instrument, like switching from trumpet to baritone.
If, upon teacher recommendation, the customer wishes to exchange the instrument for a different type of instrument of equal or greater value, Metropolitan Music will transfer six months worth of Purchase Credit to a different instrument.
At Metropolitan Music, we strongly encourage all new musicians to give the instrument they initially chose a fair chance. It takes time and effort to learn how to play music, but if things aren't working out we are happy to work with you to find a good alternative.
What If I Want To Stop Renting My Instrument?
If you want to stop renting your instrument, you must return it to one of Metropolitan Music's locations. As long as you have the instrument, you will continue to be billed.
If your instrument is returned in poor condition, you may be charged for the repair.
If you return your instrument, your Purchase Credit is voided. We encourage customers to rent through the summer so the musician can practice and so that you retain your Purchase Credit.