Insurance question

[Camplet]

I am currently in the process of having a boat surveyed and i am wondering how the insurance process works. If the surveyor gives me an idea of the value of the boat and it is different from the purchase price, do I use this value to insure the boat? What then happens when I do improvements in the future, how do I get the insurance to agree an increased value, does it need another survey? Any advice would be appreciated

 

[demonboy]

Our insurance company, Haven Knox Johnson, insisted on insuring the boat for the amount we actually paid for it, despite our surveyor telling us it was worth considerably more.

 

[robmcg]

I have come across this problem before. One insurer I tried would only insure for the value that I paid for the vessel. They could not conceive of any reason why the value could be higher than that. When I explained that the veseel had been osmosis treated and significantly refitted since purchase, adding to its intrinsic value then they were more accomodating regarding price. Having said that, there are plenty of marine insurers about - just use one that will accept the current market value of your boat in its current state. You can always ammend value at renewal time if you have increased the overall value of the boat.

 

[mormargh]

Marine insurance is based on agreed value (unlike household or motor). Therefore you can only insure it for what you paid plus any betterment you can prove (so worth keeping invoices for major work or gear). If there was a fire tomorrow, you are only out of pocket by what you paid, not what she is actually worth.

 

[sailorman]

Then the Mast goes over the side & HEY PRESTO your all of a sudden UNDER Insured /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
Then the Insurer offers a 60% pay-out /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[mikehibb]

My boat is insured at purchase price plus other extra declared additions (ie new tender and outboard etc)

The Survey was used to negotiate the purchse price, the surveyor had three categories, essential work needed, reccommended work, and routine maintenance work.

In the end the price did not change much at all as the seller agreed to fix all essential items at their cost, plus some of the reccommended items too. The routime maintenance items were things that I was going to do anyway myself.

 

[doug748]

The asking prices for my class of boat went up significantly in the late 1990s. My insurance company were happy to accept this when I upped the insured value; so they should, they increase the premium to reflect the new figure.