How much insurance do we need?

[Cathy*]

It's an expensive time of year. Berthing fees and boat insurance are both due in the same week. My current insurance includes £5 million liability. This part alone is costing £40 more than £3 million liability. Under what circumstances am I going to find myself having to claim this much? I have an oldish boat insured for £95k. Top speed 16kn which we rarely use. We don't travel far and never at night. Is the risk that we might somehow write off a £5 million super yacht?

 

[BruceK]

You'd be surprised. Recently someone clipped the sill gate electricals / hydraulics at a local marina. The marina sill gates then could not close and an entire marina dried out. I wonder if 5 million covered it.

 

[petem]

You'd be surprised. Recently someone clipped the sill gate electricals / hydraulics at a local marina. The marina sill gates then could not close and an entire marina dried out. I wonder if 5 million covered it.

I doubt the boat owner would be held liable for this as the occasional clipping of a sill gate is a predictable occurrence and therefore should be allowed for in the design of the sill.

 

[BruceK]

Possibly, I dont know the finer details, the point being an innocuous mistake can actually have dire consequences and then of course there is life and limb. Another local example is on a river mooring when one boat's mooring ropes went across a pontoon causing it (pontoon) to flip during a storm and sinking 3 boats and damaging two more. All with the best intention of trying to secure the boat more in the face of the storm. It may all have been alright except the sixth boat decided to leg it to the marina leaving the pontoon unbalanced.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

A different way to answer this question might be to look at the insurance requirements where you operate your boat. You may find that your marina has a minimum third party liability requirement, for example.

That all said - my own policy has a third party limit of £3m.

 

[Bandit]

Think if you inadvertently got embroiled in the death of one or two people, claims flying around etc.

 

[petem]

A different way to answer this question might be to look at the insurance requirements where you operate your boat. You may find that your marina has a minimum third party liability requirement, for example.

That all said - my own policy has a third party limit of £3m.

I imagine that's the same for all of us who insure with 'Y'.

With regard to increasing it, where would you draw the line, £5m, £10m, £100m?

 

[Cathy*]

My marina requires £2 million. My current insurer is the one recommended by the marina.

 

[petem]

My marina requires £2 million. My current insurer is the one recommended by the marina.

Cathy, 'Y' Insurance are generally regarded hereabouts as the most comprehensive policy with the fewest exclusions. Personally speaking I have found them to be competitively priced and excellent to deal with.

I would be rather wary of using a policy recommended by your marina who may have an ulterior motive for doing so.

 

[Cathy*]

Cathy, 'Y' Insurance are generally regarded hereabouts as the most comprehensive policy with the fewest exclusions. Personally speaking I have found them to be competitively priced and excellent to deal with.

I would be rather wary of using a policy recommended by your marina who may have an ulterior motive for doing so.

Thanks I'll ask for a quote.

 

[Portofino]

I think it’s recently compulsory in IT waters , which inc when in there marinas of course , of a min of € 6 million and an odd figure from memory approx €6.150M ??
Happy to be corrected on this .
I know I have an IT translation cert to this effect ( amongst other translations)

Hopefully MapishM will add some clarity :encouragement:

 

[bedouin]

Think if you inadvertently got embroiled in the death of one or two people, claims flying around etc.

In fact death is quite cheap - what is really expensive is causing serious injury short of death that leaves someone needing full time care for life.

 

[Momac]

£3Million seems to be quite normal/usual cover offered and is the sum required by C&RT for inland waters - where there are plenty of things to hit or burn.
However the £3M sum has been so the entire 10 years I have been boating .

 

[westernman]

3M seems to be the usual limit for your car insurance as well.

 

[Cathy*]

I've been speaking to the marina manager about the limit. All of the scenarios we insure against are unlikely to happen and he threw another one in the mix. If we have a fire on our boat while it's out on the yard, and the fire spreads, the bill could run to millions. I've had quotes from 3 companies, looked at the benefits, as far as I can, and have decided to stay with GJW.

 

[Momac]

All of the scenarios we insure against are unlikely to happen.

Indeed. You can't get insurance for things that are certain to happen .

 

[Step1]

Why do people regard boat insurance more of a liability risk than car insurance?? You have a minimum liability clause from your home marina and beyond the value of the boat that's it. Please let's not start trying to make sure we as boat owners begin to define every possible risk to then price an insurance premium. That's the job of the insurance company.

The marina in North Wales will have insurance against someone accidentally clipping a sill. It's called 3rd party. I'm pretty sure if I tried I could cause more damage in my car than I will ever do in my boat. Yet the insurance company determine that risk, not me.

Cathy - as you do with car insurance phone around for boat insurance and select the policy that is the cheapest but also likely to back you up in the event of an 'Accident'. And Y insurance is a very good start. (And probable finish)

 

[Step1]

So let's compare with the recent car park fire in Liverpool that took out over a thousand cars. I don't know the details but apparently one car started that. I'm pretty sure one insurance policy won't be covering a thousand cars. Each owner will claim on their own policy as 3rd party damage (more likely fire) but the scenario is the same. No-one insures their car thinking it might catch fire in a car park and take out a thousand cars. That's the insurers risk. So why would we insure boats, houses or anything else that could catch fire any differently??

 

[Cathy*]

Cathy - as you do with car insurance phone around for boat insurance and select the policy that is the cheapest but also likely to back you up in the event of an 'Accident'. And Y insurance is a very good start. (And probable finish)

The Y insurance quote was £47 more than GJW ( roughly 10% ) and offers less cover so I'm sticking with them.

 

[jfm]

I doubt the boat owner would be held liable for this as the occasional clipping of a sill gate is a predictable occurrence and therefore should be allowed for in the design of the sill.

Two thoughts Pete. First, it depends entirely on the facts. If the clang was caused by skipper negligence then you have trouble. If the design was so bad that a non negligent skipper could hit it then you have less trouble. Second, litigation is such a tough game if you're not rich that a mere claim can hurt you badly long before you have got to the win/lose moment.

My current insurer is the one recommended by the marina.

Counts for nothing.

In fact death is quite cheap - what is really expensive is causing serious injury short of death that leaves someone needing full time care for life.

Depends who you kill. 40 year old hotshot making £5m a year with spouse and a few young kids will cost more than a lifetime of healthcare.

Why do people regard boat insurance more of a liability risk than car insurance?? Because it clearly is. Look at the cost of insurance. . You have a minimum liability clause from your home marina and beyond the value of the boat that's it. Please let's not start trying to make sure we as boat owners begin to define every possible risk to then price an insurance premium. That's the job of the insurance company.

The marina in North Wales will have insurance against someone accidentally clipping a sill. Yes. And the marina's insurance policy will ( in the small print) subrogate their claim against you to their insurers. Their insurers will then sue you. Don't ever think that because the person you damage has insurance you won't be pursued and held liable. You will. It's called 3rd party. I'm pretty sure if I tried I could cause more damage in my car than I will ever do in my boat. Yet the insurance company determine that risk, not me.

Cathy - as you do with car insurance phone around for boat insurance and select the policy that is the cheapest but also likely to back you up in the event of an 'Accident'. And Y insurance is a very good start. (And probable finish)

Comments inserted above in red

So let's compare with the recent car park fire in Liverpool that took out over a thousand cars. I don't know the details but apparently one car started that. I'm pretty sure one insurance policy won't be covering a thousand cars. Each owner will claim on their own policy as 3rd party damage (more likely fire) but the scenario is the same. No-one insures their car thinking it might catch fire in a car park and take out a thousand cars. That's the insurers risk. So why would we insure boats, houses or anything else that could catch fire any differently??

That may or not be correct. It depends on whether the owner of the first ablaze car was negligent. The basis of most 3rd party claims is negligence . Typically the owner of the first car would not be negligent in this case so he owes nothing to the owners of the other cars. But if he left a cigarette lit in his car he was negligent and is tortuously liable to the other 1000 car owners. The key test is whether negligence (or some other tort, but negligence seems most likely) occurred.

The Y insurance ...offers less cover [than GJW]

As documented at length on here, that is just not correct. There are significant real-life boat owner risks that Y covers but GJW doesn't. All documented previously, so I won't repeat it.