A round of applause for GJW Insurance & DorsetMarine.co.uk

[Mikehp0]

My boat was damaged on the way home from the Bournemouth Airshow last year.

I ran over a rope which stalled my starboard engine and threw a belt. The excellent Pete Moore wearing his Sea Start hat solved that problem and between us, we removed the rope. She then ran beautifully all the way home and I got an underwater camera inspection rather than a lift-out - which seemed to show no damage. Luckily I didn't use her much after that.

When she was lifted for anti-fouling, we discovered that the starboard P bracket had been bent around 5 degrees off vertical and had to be replaced. The prop shaft was professionally inspected and was fine.

I contacted GJW Insurance via my broker Mid Cornwall Brokers and got a couple of repair quotes. I filled in a claim form and GJW sent Peter Desty, their very professional surveyor within 48 hours. He authorised the work which was done speedily and very professionally by the same Pete Moore's Dorset Marine business (http://www.dorsetmarine.co.uk/). The total bill (just under £2k) was submitted, I paid Pete and GJW paid me within 48 hours.

The whole process (from first contact with the broker) to reimbursement of the bill took exactly one month. It would have been quicker if bad weather and a backlog of lift slots hadn't delayed things by a week.

I've been really, really impressed with Mid Cornwall Brokers (http://www.mcbinsurance.biz/), Dorset Marine (http://www.dorsetmarine.co.uk/) and GJW (http://www.gjwltd.co.uk/) and can't recommend them highly enough. Thanks to you, I'm back in the water ready for some good weather and not out of pocket.

(PS Do you think will this be enough to ensure that Pete does my engine services ahead of everyone else next year? )

 

[rafiki_]

Sounds like an excellent result from a very frustrating problem.

 

[David2452]

We've had two claims with GJW over the years, both hit whilst moored, both were handled to our entire satisfaction, Excess was also recovered quickly by them from the third parties. That is the primary marker of choosing an insurer foe me, not price (within reason). I was happy enough because of previous experience that I changed my Marine Trades Policy to GJW.

 

[freddy the frog]

We've had two claims with GJW over the years, both hit whilst moored, both were handled to our entire satisfaction, Excess was also recovered quickly by them from the third parties. That is the primary marker of choosing an insurer foe me, not price (within reason). I was happy enough because of previous experience that I changed my Marine Trades Policy to GJW.

GJW True proffesionals had a claim a few years ago after an incident in france while on holiday they could not have done more for me.

 

[Rocksteadee]

Had a claim couple of years ago, pipe burst and took on 2 feet of water, blew a few electrical bits by submerging
Claimed for all replacements and they stopped my excess by 250. Pointed out to them that there was no labour only parts on the claim as had done all the work myself and if I had got engineers to do it the claim would have been twice that of my claim
Month later the full amount by check
I was impressed

 

[jfm]

GJW's willingness to pay out on smallish claims seems exemplary. It cannot be a flash in the pan because my father made a claim when his boat was crunched by a neighbouring boat about 30 years ago, and GJW paid in full qithout quibble way back then

The problem is that their current motor cruiser policy just doesn't cover enough things in my view. I mean, it doesn't in my view cover well enough the full range of things a typical motor cruiser owner is exposed to. So while GJW seem very good indeed a paying claims that they are liable for, if you suffer a loss that they don't cover then I expect they won't pay (and indeed they will be entitled not to pay). That's what you need to be careful of.