insurance rates

Hi folks,

My insurance expires on my 42' Formosa trawler in a week. I'm living aboard in Boot Key Harbor. The renewal amount is $2260 and a friend here told me that was outrageous.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm trying to live on my SS alone and it's essentially not possible. Start full time on Tuesday at Worst Marine. At least I'll get some great discounts on my new electronics..

Broke on a boat in the Keys... could be worse.

My liveaboard policy is $1749...not in a hurricane area.... most of the East coast as nav waters, $500,000 liability and around $50,000 hull.

It is with New Hampshire, same as Sea Insure.

Insurance

psneeld said:

My liveaboard policy is $1749...not in a hurricane area.... most of the East coast as nav waters, $500,000 liability and around $50,000 hull.

It is with New Hampshire, same as Sea Insure.

Click to expand...

I AM in a hurricane area and I think my liability is only $300,000 but it might be 5.. Sounds about right. I think my friend may have some less than top notch coverage...

Thanks again

I would send a PM to Pau Hana and talk to him.

Robert, we have Geico and it is $1,200 a year for our liveaboard policy. We told them that we lived aboard in Boot Key and they had no problem with it.

insurance

READY2GO said:

Robert, we have Geiko and it is $1,200 a year for our liveaboard policy. We told them that we lived aboard in Boot Key and they had no problem with it.

Click to expand...

Hey Mike! I thought I recognized that boat!! Thanks. I've got Geico for my car, I'll call them tomorrow.

Thanks again!

Liability isn't all that much..the hull insurance was up around $1200 for only abut $50,000...double that and up around $2000 for insurance doesn't sound all that bad.

My guess is my insurance would be about $1500 or a little less if not a liveaboard.

Paul can give some good advice.. After dealing with traditional insurance companies, even if they have better marine underwriters for their policies just doesn't sit right with me.

The better insurers are usually all close in price....policies falling way outside those prices up or down scare me.

I like Geico, (Seaworthy) but I have not had a claim though. The only thing I didn't like is they will not insure me in the Bahamas since we are a single engine.

Insurance Rates

READY2GO said:

I like Geico, (Seaworthy) but I have not had a claim though. The only thing I didn't like is they will not insure me in the Bahamas since we are a single engine.

Click to expand...

I am insured to the Bahamas and it's with Lloyd's of London which I'm guessing is a reputable firm... The hull's insured for $50k but I'm not thrilled about the $3000 deductable that wouldn't have covered my dinghy when I thought it was stolen... Fortunately, the line had parted and it just drifted off in the night while at anchor. Some guy retrieved it and I got it back a week later..

Pay $2k for $500K liability and $300K property damage loss. Have an exclusion to stay out of FL between 06/01 and 11/01 (no named storm coverage for that time period in FL). This is with Ace American Insurance Co through International Marine Insurance Services in Grasonville, MD.

Ted

O C Diver said:

Pay $2k for $500K liability and $300K property damage loss. Have an exclusion to stay out of FL between 06/01 and 11/01 (no named storm coverage for that time period in FL). This is with Ace American Insurance Co through International Marine Insurance Services in Grasonville, MD.

Ted

Click to expand...

Thanks Ted! I just got a fulltime job here so can't leave during the hurricane season. I had to submit a pretty detailed hurricane plan last year when I was docked at the Boatyard docks. They'd pull me out and put me on the hard in the case of a storm but now I'm out on a mooring ball so I'd think that would be a different rate too.

Most of the cost of my Ace policy is hull value. My total annual premium is 0.75% of agreed value.

READY2GO said:

I like Geico, (Seaworthy) but I have not had a claim though.

Click to expand...

Same with me....Quite reasonable. $550 for my $50K value..(in hurricane country too)

Just saw this. Gieco bought BoatUS.

Ownership of BoatUS transferred to Geico | Trade Only Today

READY2GO said:

Just saw this. Gieco bought BoatUS.

Ownership of BoatUS transferred to Geico | Trade Only Today

Click to expand...

Wow...My boat US quotes were 3 times higher than Geico....
Admittedly they got hit pretty hard from the last storms...

This is interesting news..

Heron said:

Wow...My boat US quotes were 3 times higher than Geico....
Admittedly they got hit pretty hard from the last storms...

This is interesting news..

Click to expand...

Yes a quote from BoatUS is astronomically higher than a Gieco quote. Makes me wonder if the BoatUS prices will come down or it the Gieco prices will go up, or both.

MYTraveler said:

Most of the cost of my Ace policy is hull value. My total annual premium is 0.75% of agreed value.

Click to expand...

Really? Less than 1% of agreed value? That's pretty much self-insured!

angus99 said:

Really? Less than 1% of agreed value? That's pretty much self-insured!

Click to expand...

Perhaps I misunderstand the term "self insured". My deductible is 1% or 2% of agreed value (so I am self-insured to that extent, but that is comparable to a $50K auto with a $500 deductable, and would not consider that to be self-insured), but beyond that it is the insurer's risk. It is the premium that is less than 1% of agreed value, but I don't see how that relates to self-insurance. I must be missing something?

MYTraveler said:

Perhaps I misunderstand the term "self insured". My deductible is 1% or 2% of agreed value (so I am self-insured to that extent, but that is comparable to a $50K auto with a $500 deductable, and would not consider that to be self-insured), but beyond that it is the insurer's risk. It is the premium that is less than 1% of agreed value, but I don't see how that relates to self-insurance. I must be missing something?

Click to expand...

No, it's my bad; I totally misread your post. I read it that your coverage was 0.75% of agreed value. What I get for trying to rush a post out before a meeting started. Sorry about that.

This...

rochepoint said:

I would send a PM to Pau Hana and talk to him.

Click to expand...

By all means talk to Pau Hana.

As a footnote, it might be useful to ponder why an insurer has low premiums and a "sure, we'll insure you" attitude. It's not like electricity rates, where you definitely get the electricity and it's all 120v, so why pay high if you can shop around.
It is sometimes helpful to find out what claims payment experience people have had with a particular insurer. Chubb is relatively high for premiums; on the other hand, they tend to adequately compensate you when bad things happen. (I'm speaking just on property damage claims, not on the liability claims.)
Be careful. If you have no wealth for a liability lawsuit to target and the boat is not central to your lifestyle, perhaps a cheap premium just to meet a marina's requirement that you be insured is OK. But if you have wealth to protect, and the boat is critical to your lifestyle, you need to pay whatever it takes to get an insurer who will honor its promise to make you whole when bad things happen. And if you have to have the boat, you need replacement value coverage, not actual cash value; and you need insurance that will, if your a live-aboard, provide you with a place to live if the boat is uninhabitable and replacement will take time.
I know about not having the wherewithal to do the right thing, but you probably need to find out about "insurer performance when it hits the fan" just as much as "premium cost." Paying not much for no future value is not really a bargain, is it?

It used be said here that a promptly paid well handled claim is an insurers best advertisement.
We once had a general insurer for which we wrote a proud advertising slogan "All claims paid promptly after receiving a Certified Copy of Court Judgement".

I am surprised how little liability coverage you guys have. ($500,000) I would expect a large coverage would be required in the US due the high rate of litigation over there.


One marina I frequent requires 10 million liability coverage to even overnight at a slip.

AusCan said:

I am surprised how little liability coverage you guys have. ($500,000) I would expect a large coverage would be required in the US due the high rate of litigation over there.


One marina I frequent requires 10 million liability coverage to even overnight at a slip.

Click to expand...

The $500k liability is what's needed to reach the starting threshold of my umbrella policy. The umbrella covers me on everything the boat policy does up to the limit (millions) of the umbrella policy.

Ted

For great rates online go to the General and save some time!

Hi, all,

Been a bit busy with a son getting married this past weekend!

Bigfish, being in a CAT area (Catastrophic damage) will generally have higher rates than one in the Northeast, Pacific Northwest, or Southern California.

The rate that MYTraveler has is not unusual for the type of vessel and navigation area. He is most definitely not self insuring, as ACE is an Agreed Value policy for total loss- and deductible is not factored in.

Post #21- Trawler Forum - View Profile: writerly1 - read this. writerly1 hist the nail squarely on the head, and makes the very points that I've been stressing for years:

• Premium/policy cost must never be a primary determining factor in selecting a policy.
• Do not rely on what the agent states is coverage unless he/she can cite chapter and verse from the policy documents.
• Each insuring company has different rating criteria, and each policy is unique to the policyholder- so when somebody states "you're paying too much" know that there are many factors that may make that statement true ao/or false.
• Liability coverage is cheap- more is better. The difference between $300k and $500k is about $50/year.

Those with Progressive and GEICO- read your policies and see if it meets the critieria set here:

Bayliner Owners Club - BOC Forum - Topic: Vessel insurance 101 (Very simplified!!!) (1/2)

Pau Hana said:

Hi, all,

Been a bit busy with a son getting married this past weekend!

Bigfish, being in a CAT area (Catastrophic damage) will generally have higher rates than one in the Northeast, Pacific Northwest, or Southern California.

The rate that MYTraveler has is not unusual for the type of vessel and navigation area. He is most definitely not self insuring, as ACE is an Agreed Value policy for total loss- and deductible is not factored in.

Post #21- Trawler Forum - View Profile: writerly1 - read this. writerly1 hist the nail squarely on the head, and makes the very points that I've been stressing for years:

• Premium/policy cost must never be a primary determining factor in selecting a policy.
• Do not rely on what the agent states is coverage unless he/she can cite chapter and verse from the policy documents.
• Each insuring company has different rating criteria, and each policy is unique to the policyholder- so when somebody states "you're paying too much" know that there are many factors that may make that statement true ao/or false.
• Liability coverage is cheap- more is better. The difference between $300k and $500k is about $50/year.

Those with Progressive and GEICO- read your policies and see if it meets the critieria set here:

Bayliner Owners Club - BOC Forum - Topic: Vessel insurance 101 (Very simplified!!!) (1/2)

Click to expand...

Any insider info on Geico absorbing BoatUS? Affect on BOATUS policies?

Nothing to speak of. So far, BoatUS, Seaworthy, and GEICO (all Berkshire Hathaway companies operating under the same roof) remain separate business entities.