You could offer to pay her the usual hourly lesson fee for her time if she's driving to a shop and helping you. If she declines, a nice gift and thank you note.
I think it is more ethical on the shop's part and more straightforward for you to offer to compensate your teacher for her time at her lesson rate.
Personally I do not charge my students for this kind of assistance but I don't turn a fee down if they insist...and our local shop is five minutes away from my house so there is that. 40 miles away is quite a drive so I think it would be fair for you to offer to pay your teacher.
A fair amount would be her normal hourly lesson fee, times the amount of time required -- not just the time you spend in the shop, but the commute time also.
Often a shop pays the teacher commission. If you are going to view an auction in the hope of bargain, of course only the student could pay the teacher. In a shop, a risk of the secret commission system is that a teacher may lean to a more expensive instrument which is no better (bigger commission).
Not that most teachers know much about violins. Of course we all know what we like.
My thoughts, for what it is worth: until you know what you want in a violin and why, be patient? After all, the relationship between quality and price is notoriously loose.
Another thought: "I would expect her to go with me to a shop at least 40 miles away and spend an hour or two playing for me and listening to me." Of course you will sound best on a violin relatively similar to the one you have, so your plan may be a way of guaranteeing that you the new violin is not *too* much better than what you have. A very different violin is a challenge. If there is an undiscovered Strad in the mix, your method of choosing will probably ensure that it is knocked out of the competition in the first round.
Tricky, choosing a fiddle! A few hundred on a setup and a good set of strings can make a world of difference. $5k would pay for a good setup, and a nice bow, which (depending on what you have) might make more difference.
I often do this service for free if it's a good student, but I would be offended if a student *expected* me to do it for free.
Teachers can actually increase the comfort level of most parents by spelling out (perhaps in a studio policy document) the fees for various things, obviating the awkward conversation.
"Instrument Evaluation. I do not accept sales commissions from dealers because I consider that practice unethical. Instead, I charge my clients my usual hourly lesson rate for this service. A child's (fractional) instrument can usually be evaluated quickly during their regular lesson time so that a separate appointment is not needed. For long evaluation session (e.g., one that might exceed two hours because there are several violins to evaluate or because we need to travel to visit a dealer), a modest discount can be negotiated so that your evaluation remains affordable."
It's hard to find a teacher with this good personality (40 miles drive!) and you should reward her. Unfortunately (maybe it's just my luck) there're plenty of teachers with superb techniques but are just plain a*holes.
I can't do it.
I generally don't charge students who show up with several violins and want an opinion. We just make it part of the lesson. They have that much less time left for the actual lesson.
Most people here seem to agree: if driving, it should be hourly lesson time plus X amount for mileage. A typical amount for mileage is something like .50c per mile. Whether that .50c is for each one-way or round-trip will vary from person to person, but seems to be typical for in-home service professionals.
Remember, you have to account not only for the teacher's hour, but for the hour he/she CAN'T teach while driving or sitting in traffic. It's a student that can't be scheduled.
Important fact to consider: the shop is very near to the place where I take classes with him, so he can spend almost that hour with me and still arrive in time for the next student.
In a situation like yours, I think it would be best to follow Mary Ellen's advice if the shop lets you take the violins with you. I've been told this is not common practice where I live, as the shopkeepers have had bad experiences by doing so. If the latter is the case, then I would simply ask the teacher, or pay her proportionally to the time spent with you, taking the price of a class hour as the base for the final pay.
And, as others have said, you can even give her a small gratitude present (I did this with my piano teacher long ago, and gave her a book she enjoyed). Of course, what to gift depends a bit on who you are giving it to...
This situations were common enough to make music shops stop "lending" equipment for trial periods.
For less expensive stuff, shops sometimes have those items trialed "on approval", which is effectively a purchase with a return policy.
But the norm in the vast majority of US shops, as far as I know, is either an unsecured trial (where you don't pay anything and they don't take any form of payment from you), or a trial that's simply secured by a credit card, with no money up front.
What I have done, and would do again, is buy a new or nearly new violin. Generally prices are the same from a shop or direct from the maker. You'd struggle to get a master-made instrument for $5000 in most shops, aside from an amateur, or a professionally trained maker just starting out. However, a new individually made violin may not be completely out of reach, and may be better than a high-grade older workshop (as distinct from master-made) instrument which you might expect for that price. Resale value is poor on new instruments compared with an older instrument, aside from the most famous living makers. However, the upsides of buying new is that it can often give you a better instrument for the price than an antique, and a lower chance of cracks appearing and so on, it is almost the only kind of violin where you know it is what it says on the label, and you have the satisfaction of experiencing the insturment's sound opening up (unless you disbelieve that kind of thing). It is also rather fun of course, buying direct from the maker.
Of course this is all too general and my suspicion but would be interesting to hear what everyone has to say.
As a student myself, I would pay for the teacher's time and for incurred inconvenience. But I wouldn't like the idea of a teacher not being impartial owing to an obligation she would have towards the shop.
But, sadly, the conclusion on the now deleted thread was, go to a reputable store and look for a quality workshop violin.
The shop's insurance company may however want to recoup that money they had to pay out to the shop by going after *you* for it, especially if they think there was some negligence involved.
Many assume that because "the violin is insured" that they're covered as well, but it's really the shop that is covered.
You might want to consider adding the instrument(s) to your musical instrument or homeowner's policy during the trial week(s) that you have them, so that you also are covered in the unlikely event something bad happens. For a couple weeks, the amount of money is very small, and all you need to do is submit appraisals (from the shop) to your insurance agent.
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I've performed this service many times for my students over the years and I've never expected to paid for it. I consider it to be part of my job.
I have received things as a thank you, mostly gift cards, and my students and their families usually take me out to lunch or something like that. But to me thats all extra.