Insurance Cost and Options

Looks like we are going to finally get our boat. 1982 Grand Banks. I am a USAA member and they don't do boat insurance so they farm it out to Markel Insurance. We were quoted $1600 per year for basic Protection and Indemnity and coverage for the appraised value of the boat (about 100k). We live in Virginia.

I wanted to reach out to other boat insurance companies and get some comparisons.

Recommendations?

Thanks
Kurt

We have used Markel for the pass 15 years. Top notch company with great customer support, especially when I had a lightning claim on my 76 Hatteras.

Give Ace a try. I have been very satisfied in the past. It will be a yacht policy. Marine is there niche.

ACE USA: Contact Us

Ace and Markel are good marine insurance companies, but i would buy insurance from a broker who can advise you of policy differences, shop carriers and pick the right coverage.

Since you are in the Chesapeake, there are two good ones: Jack Martin and Associates in Annapolis and IMIS Corp in Grasonville across the bridge.

David

I second the Ace suggestion. They were very reasonable and easy to deal with. Also, before we selected Ace we got several quotes 9in 2006). I was shocked how much they varied for the same coverage. Our Ace premium ($10K deductible) was about $2.25K for $500K coverage. Similar policy from BoatUS came in at about $14K!!!

Insurance

I would second the broker suggestion. A broker can best assess your coverage needs and can deal with coverage and claims issues that may arise. "Knock on Wood" we have never had to file a claim yet but our broker has saved our bacon on several coverage issues over the years. We cruised internationally for over 10 years, much of the time in hurricane zones. She made sure we had adequate coverage for reasonable prices including forgoing a commission one year when we needed a quick change of carriers because of our summer berthing plans.

Maritime Insurance Int.
Marine Insurance for Boats, Yachts, Charters, Commercial

They are an agency (brokerage) representing multiple lines and offer coverage in a all 50 states. I had several quotes back from them in a matter of hours.

There is another thread with a similar topic also on this site:

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s62/need-insurance-29712.html

Check "D"- all of the above.

The above posts all have great info, and I can personally vouch for IMIS, Jack Martin, and Maritime Insurance International, as I work with all on a regular basis.

Boat/US I just got insurance on my 1984 Grand Banks 42, $100K Agreed Value, 2% Deductible $817

Thanks for all the input.

I received quotes from 4 companies and by far the insurance thru BoatUS was the best deal. All were comparable in coverage. BoatUS policy has $3k per incident towing coverage thru TowBoat US which I thought was very nice.

We have had BOAT/US for 35+ years. Great to work with. They may not be the absolute lowest price, but I like dealing with people that understand boats not just cars.

Started a new policy with Boat US at midnight! Pricing was competitive + the n/c Gold Towing package swayed me.

Jeff

You guys can compare rates all day long, but insurance premiums these days have more to do with your credit score than just about any other factor. So saying you got a better rate here or their means nothing to someone else.

Restarting this thread as we found out the company we were with Falvey Yacht Ins is getting out of the business.
we'll definitely check with Boat US... but also has anyone tried Pantaenius?

Also: need it to work in not only US, but Canada and Bahamas....

Try Charter Lakes and especially Gowrie Group, the latter whom has servred us well. They broker for ACE, who gave us excellent service when we needed it, as well as others.

A lot of people have talked about the coverage on their boat, but I don't think anyone mentioned liability coverage. Most marinas require liability coverage and many require that they be added to the policy. The minimum coverage required for where we will be moving the boat to is $300K.

In this day of lawyers advertising on TV how much they get for their injury clients, a million dollars of liability insurance is not too much. Often you can do this with an umbrella policy.

aboatman said:

.... Most marinas require liability coverage and many require that they be added to the policy. The minimum coverage required for where we will be moving the boat to is $300K.

In this day of lawyers advertising on TV how much they get for their injury clients, a million dollars of liability insurance is not too much....

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Even that is not enough imo. Standard liability cover here is $5-10M AUD, that 4-8M in USD.

Hamrow said:

Restarting this thread as we found out the company we were with Falvey Yacht Ins is getting out of the business.
we'll definitely check with Boat US... but also has anyone tried Pantaenius?

Also: need it to work in not only US, but Canada and Bahamas....

Click to expand...

Yes. We almost went with Pantaenius but we have so much other insurance with Lloyd's that we ended up with a better deal going with them.

My insurance has skyrocketed over the past 4 years.

$130K agreed value when I bought the boat in 2014. I have never had a claim and my first year owning the boat it was $2300.

This year I'm up to $2800 and that is with reducing the agreed value by $10K

You might check with Jack Martin Assoc. in Annapolis. They provided me insurance through ACE at a very reasonable cost. For $500K coverage with a $10K deductible we were paying about $2.5K in 2014 when we sold the boat. Always found them to be easy to deal with and very knowledgeable as they specialize in marine. In comparison my first quote from BoatUS was about 6 times more expensive (14K) when checked in 2006.

I did my own insurance shopping except on speciality items (planes, boats) where I felt it was better and easier to let a broker who knew that specialized field do the legwork. Some good brokers have been mentioned here and I'd recommend using them.

MTOA has also negotiated what appears to be an interesting arrangement with Geico:

As MTOA members, we get the Premier Endorsement, Assumed Liability, Waiver of Depreciation (for boats over 20 years), and TowBoat US towing at substantial discounts. And Geico guarantees MTOA members that our renewal premium will not go up by more than 4%. (After the 2017 hurricane season, we are seeing their rates go up by more than 30% in certain zip codes and a minimum of 10% everywhere else.)

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Might be worth joining MTOA for $65/year just for that.