Insurance Claims

[tome]

So what would you claim for?

Accepting the fact (hopefully) that none of us would want to claim for a whipping coming undone on a mooring line, but all of us would want to claim for a total loss of our boat

Where do you draw the line? I'm very surprised to read that one of us is even contemplating claiming a replacement forestay

 

[BlueSkyNick]

depends on the cost. we have a £500 excess anyway, so it would have to be over that to bother claiming.

It also depends on how the damage can be repaired. If its a DIY case or cheap tradesman fine, if it needs a professional job to maintain the integrity and value of the boat, it has to be done.

We biffed the pushpit rail on a fishing boat in Portugal, and have no intention of claiming for reshaping when we get home.

If the hull had been damaged, it would be different.

 

[DanTribe]

It would depend on monetary value and whether it was my own loss or to a third party. If I've damaged someone elses boat, no question, claim.
For my own losses, was it avoidable on my part?
I lost a forestay because the roller gear was faulty. My fault, bad maintenance, no claim.
I lost all electronics due to lightning. I would have claimed but:~
Simrad repaired the brand new VHF free. [Thanks Simrad]
Garmin replaced GPS with cheap updated unit.
All other stuff [2 sounders, log, repeater, fluorescent light, antenna] was elderly and probably due for replacement.
If I had got the yard to sort it, there would probably have been a claim of £1000 +

Boatyards like insurance claims, I suspect.
Dan

 

[FullCircle]

They never pay me anyway, weasels.
I simply don't trust them.
I pay because I have a forlorn hope that if I lost the lot, they *might* entertain me with lengthy correspondence telling me why I am not covered, then not pay me.
With all my cheap boats, I only had 3rd party, just for liability. Which they would probably also wriggle out of.
2 bent stanchions and counting.

 

[fireball]

I claimed for an accidental capsise in a dinghy which resulted in being swept into a mooring and loosing the whole rig.
We also claimed for a lightning strike (or close by) resulting in the replacement of all electronics and in-mast wiring.

 

[tome]

What, only £500 excess for you, Nick? You silver tongued devil!

 

[jimi]

loss of a rudder on a laser when I capsized

repair to side after whacking a pile

 

[BlueSkyNick]

well I could have had the £250 option for an increased premium but the odds weren't worth it.

It was quite simple - one of the questions was about knowing sailors from Emsworth to which I obviously said No, so we are considered to be a safe bet. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[BlueSkyNick]

[ QUOTE ]
repair to side after whacking a pile

[/ QUOTE ] that was a genuine accident, and big bucks - any of us would have claimed for that, I think.

 

[Norman_E]

Given a £500 excess it would have to be something serious.
I have just had to incur the cost of a lift out and re-launch because a crummy brass ball valve on an underwater skin fitting broke up when I tried to close it. I had not even thought that would be insured, but my insurers have confirmed that as the lift was done to protect the boat, the cost would be covered if I was to claim. I will not because the total cost including the replacement will barely exceed the excess.

 

[boguing]

Doesn't matter what I insure, I go for the biggest excess available. It brings the premium down so low that it's ridiculous. I suppose that I'm hedging on the fact that most people are doing by opting for minimas. Try it on any online insurance calculator.

So far (awaiting tomorrow's big disaster) it's worked for me. Cars, boats and houses.

I did once think about a fraudulent claim. 'Twas the ex's idea. The plan was that I'd film the kids onshore from the cockpit, and then keep filming as I walked down the boarding plank to join them. Then I'd film myself falling in. The (washed) tape would then prove that my old video camera was accidentally damaged.

I still have the camera, unwashed. Would you deliberately fall into Preveza harbour?

Suspect that the ex had taken samples and knew that it would be fatal.

 

[StugeronSteve]

£250 excess and ncd means that a claim would have to be at least £750 to be viable.

 

[wotayottie]

never claimed for anything myself but been very surprised to see friends, people I would unhesitatingly trust with anything, doing their best to claim for problems which were wear and tear, and padding out claims whilst doing so. Seems that the insurance companies are bracketed along with the taxman as someone its perfectly legitimate to screw.

I suppose its a bit like second hand cars where Joe Public, pious as he is about car dealers, pulls far more dishonest trcks than a trader would dare do.

 

[ChrisE]

I've had the joy of making 5 claims over our 13 years of boat ownership

claim 1. Loss of dingy and damage to deck in storm in Atlantic, when being skippered by delivery skipper
claim 2. Loss of forestay, furling gear and genoa in Altantic, when skppered by same dleivery skipper (!)
claim 3. Huge scrape down side when hit by 20 ton gaffer, I was in change that time
claim 4. Damage to hull and rudder when RS hit rock, when being skippered by delivery skipper (another, but pattern emerging here!)
claim 5. Damage to gear and theft of fishing stuff off fishing boat.

All claims paid in full ex excess (£250-500) 1-4 by Pantaenius, 5 by Haven Knox Johnston.

Things that I haven't claimed for: broken forestay, stolen deck gear, stolen dinghy, ontold number of dinghy inlficted dings in hull.

 

[Judders]

Well I've had a fair few claimable incidents already, but funnilly enough, I haven't claimed. The first was the storm in January but the Marina sorted it because they had moored the boat badly. My dinghy's got a hole in it where I failed to tie it down and a big wind blew it against a railing in the dinghy park. I gave a pontoon a right old prang the other week too and the repair might be a couple of hundred.

 

[jonjo]

I used to look after the home insurance system of a high street UK bank. The accidental cover claims logged on the system were an eye opener, since then I have never ticked the accidental cover option because I don't wish to subsidise stupid greedy people.

Regarding a yacht insurance claim. Have not made one todate and the likelihood of doing so would depend on how embarrassed I felt writing out the claim details.

 

[Poignard]

I claimed for a boom that broke whilst at sea. It had been ok'd by a surveyor not long before and I had no reason to think it was likely to break.

On the other hand, I didn't claim for repairing a cracked masthead fitting because I found it before it caused a problem but, if I had been unaware of it, and it had failed in use, I would have claimed for the resultng loss.

 

[fireball]

[ QUOTE ]
I have never ticked the accidental cover option because I don't wish to subsidise stupid greedy people.

[/ QUOTE ] Do you think they allocate the money like that? They're not interested in anything except making as much money as possible from our gambling.
Ok - they may have some nice Customer Service type ppl, but at the end of the day, they are in business for their benefit, not ours ....

 

[Judders]

[ QUOTE ]
...would depend on how embarrassed I felt writing out the claim details.

[/ QUOTE ]

You would be amazed how many people make up a huge, and blatently transparent pack of lies to cover up their own failings. The irony kicks in when they make up something that is not covered to cover up something that would have been.

 

[pyrojames]

ONly ever claimed for a break in and vandalism and when the boat was hit on its by another boat that broke away in storms.

I didn't claim when I hit a rock and then had to haul out. I didn't claim when a mooring line broke ina storm and removed some toerail and the pulpit despite the repair quote being around £3k. Mostly because I could fix it faster (1 month instead of 6) and cheaper (~£500) myself.