Insurance - tell PBO your experiences

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Andrew Brook

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Hello all,

We're working on an insurance article for an upcoming issue of PBO and are looking to hear from people about their experiences.

For example, why did you choose your insurer? What is covered? Have you ever had any problems getting cover or getting a payout?

These questions are for starters, but feel free to let us know about anything that you think might be interesting or informative to a fellow reader.

Many thanks,

Andrew.
 
My 22 foot Macwester Rowan was built for someone in Alderney, and is Part 1 Registered in Guernsey. For several years I only used her in local UK waters, and was third party insured through a Broker. That insurance cover cost me about £100 13 years ago, and about 4 years ago the Brokerage changed. The new quote - still for third party - was nearly £200!!

The Macwester Owner's Assn recommends GJW Direct, but they refused third party insurance. So I looked at Saga and others. Reasonable quote from Saga, but when I asked about using her in the Channel Islands, they refused cover, even though I told them that's where she is Registered and that I would be happy to pay an additional 'one off' fee for a week's use in the Islands, as I had previously done with my original insurers (the excess was £15). One or two others also refused, saying that they would only cover boats of 24 foot or more.

Eventually I contacted Nautical, who gave me a quote of £70 (about 4 years ago). At first they too said they couldn't cover me for the Channel Islands until I explained about the Registration. No problems, she is covered for UK waters and 'the other side', at no extra cost. This year's premium is only £80, and I am very happy with that, which is still less than the Broker was charging me 13 years ago!
 
Andrew Brook said:
Hello all,

We're working on an insurance article for an upcoming issue of PBO and are looking to hear from people about their experiences.

For example, why did you choose your insurer? What is covered? Have you ever had any problems getting cover or getting a payout?

These questions are for starters, but feel free to let us know about anything that you think might be interesting or informative to a fellow reader.

Many thanks,

Andrew.
Click to expand...



I have seen many folk here complaining about insurance terms and conditions. Too many folk seem to think these are cast in stone. I have found over the years that insurance companies are prepared to discuss issues and adjust terms to suite either at no cost or by adjustment of the excess in the even of certain events happening. I have raised issues about such matters as single handed sailing. Night sailing, rigging replacement, and
cover above certain ages of insured. We have always reached a satisfactory agreement.

I am with GJW.
 
Andrew Brook said:
Hello all,

We're working on an insurance article for an upcoming issue of PBO and are looking to hear from people about their experiences.

For example, why did you choose your insurer? What is covered? Have you ever had any problems getting cover or getting a payout?

These questions are for starters, but feel free to let us know about anything that you think might be interesting or informative to a fellow reader.

Many thanks,

Andrew.
Click to expand...
Im with Haven Knox Johnson, they do a deal with the Beneteau Owners Association so that members get a discount. It costs £20 to be a member, I saved over £30 this year on my insurance and £90 last year, I also get 2 free boat show tickets! A deal!
Stu
 
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as a result of new insurers

My renewal this year looked expensive so I cast around and got a quote which I accepted for over 25% less but covering more but this new insurance was on the understanding I got a survey. I'm glad they did 'cos the surveyor was more than friendly and helpful, encouraging me to follow him round as he explained what he was checking and why. I had a survey carried out before I bought the boat in 2006 (an expensive survey by a well known surveyor) but this new survey found things which had been missed including rubber gas pipes dated 1986, the date of manufacture of the boat, which should have been replaced after 5 years. So I'm more than happy with the price and level of cover and greatful they insisted on a survey.
 
When our syndicate acquired Cherry Ripe last year we went to Simon Winter Marine Insurance, whom I had dealt with before, and he sorted us out a policy with Haven Knox-Johnson. Premiums well within the range of other quotes we saw. When we suffered storm damage while tied to a marina berth in the great gale of 3rd January they agreed very promptly to meet the cost of repairs. The repair is now complete and we are awaiting settlement, but I understand that the 'marina benefits' clause applies and that we will neither have to pay any excess nor lose our no-claims discount when we renew.
Regards
 
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Insurance

Why are they not loyal to their existing customers? I wonder how much it costs to "get" a new client.
If they offered competitive quotes to existing clients it must surly pay dividends rather than be competitive on the initial quote only to be stung the following year.

I guess that they assume we are all lazy and will not shop around

Rant over!!
 
Personal Injury Cover

You might want to have a look at the amount of personal injury cover many policies offer and whether it leaves a skipper with a few assets (house with mortgage paid off, a few quid in the bank and the boat) personally exposed if one or more crew get seriously injured in an incident.

If you have crew on the boat and one of them is a middle aged high earner with kids and he gets knocked on the head by the boom and seriously injured you could be looking at a multi-million pound claim which (if successful) may well exceed your insurance cover and so will leave you personally exposed. Would most likely have to show negligence to run a claim but that isn't necessarily difficult. At least one insurer will allow you to pay extra premium to increase indemnity insurance if you hit a ship etc but will not allow you to increase the personal injury cover limit which suggests they are well aware of the possible exposure.

Personally when I changed insurer I spent a lot of time looking at the policy wording and picked an insurer that was at the more expensive end because I felt the cover was more comprehensive.

May also be informative to look and see who the underwriters are for many companies-one suspects that many use the same underwriters so there some of the apparent choice of companies may be partly illusory since the core cover offered will be very similar.
 
I kind of got into insurance after the last trip when I started importing the quicKutter, insurance against debris round the prop, you won't know if it works until you need it.

My experience with an insurer has been posted here before but it is a useful reminder to read the small print of any insurance and not to assume anything. The name of the insurers probably isn't important as I'm sure they all have similar requirements. I still feel they handled it badly but they were within the small print of their contract.

I insured my 40' yacht for an Atlantic circuit with xxxx, the rates seemed reasonable and they are a large established insurer who could offer insurance in the areas we would cruise or possibly charter/work. The rates were divided into sailing regions, so European coastal would take us down to Canaries and then as we were two handed we would not be covered for the crossing but would then have cover once we arrived the other side in one piece. We would have to report our safe arrival and confirm the boat was in the same condition, we would then start paying a higher premium for the Caribbean.

That all went well...

So the return journey again I think we informed them of our departure, and then were required to inform them of our safe arrival in Europe.

So we arrived in Horta safely with no damage and after clearing customs sent e-mails out to tell people and insurance of our successful crossing, as we had no long range comm's. We felt we were in Europe as we'd just cleared into Portugal.

So a few weeks later we sailed off to Spain to continue our cruise, and a few days later lost our prop in Ribadeo. I wasn't sure if we were covered for that, but contacted xxxx to check, assuming we were now paying less by direct debit and were on European cover since checking in in the Azores. What I hadn't read was that the Azores were not Europe as far as insurance was concerned. So we hadn't informed xxxx of our arrival in Northern Spain and hence weren't insured.

If I remember correctly we were still paying the higher Caribbean premiums by direct debit, so no pay out for the prop although it would have been covered and the insurance was canceled.

Reading the small print confirmed that the Azores were not considered Europe for insurance purposes.

So please emphasise that small details like where and when you report can lead to you not being insured when you thought you were.
 
Ive always have to pay my insurance up front as being an Irish resident and not having a British bank acc, insurers in the UK wont accept monthly debits on even a credit card. If they insure in Ireland, they should offer full facilities as they do for UK residents.
I addressed this with my insurer GJW and they say they will review the policy at their next board meeting. But they said the same 2 years ago......
 
Andrew Brook said:
Hello all,

We're working on an insurance article for an upcoming issue of PBO and are looking to hear from people about their experiences.

For example, why did you choose your insurer? What is covered? Have you ever had any problems getting cover or getting a payout?

These questions are for starters, but feel free to let us know about anything that you think might be interesting or informative to a fellow reader.

Many thanks,

Andrew.
Click to expand...

I bought my first boat (Fantasie 19 built 1971) just four years ago, and when I first bought her, having come from a windsurfing background I first went with Nobles as they'd done all my board insurance...

In my second year of ownership they asked me for a survey though and give a survey would cost me 20% of the value of the boat I looked for an alternative.....

Based on some feedback at the club I went with Craftinsure as they didn't require a survey as my boat was less than 20'..

Two months after going with them I suffered a dismasting and really didn't expect them to do very much given I only had only just joined,and only had one years no claims to carry over...

Much too my surprise, and delight, they stuck with me throughout, and working with them I managed to come to an arrangement (basically I managed to source some of the parts required second hand) that saved the boat from being written off, got my mast repaired, and me back on the water...

The next year I was expecting a massive hike in my premium, I was amazed to see that it was within £10 of the previous year - I would have renewed anyway!

This year the boat went through her 40th birthday, but they have again offered me insurance with no survey and this year the cost is again within £10 of last year....

I've been delighted with them and have no issue with recommending them to anyone... and do..... :cool:
 
emnick said:
Why are they not loyal to their existing customers? I wonder how much it costs to "get" a new client.
If they offered competitive quotes to existing clients it must surly pay dividends rather than be competitive on the initial quote only to be stung the following year.
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The answer is that they all offer unrealistic / loss making quotes to pinch each others customers.

But I agree with you - its irritating to have to shop around every year.
 
Over the years I have used various insurers and had no really bad experiences (but very few claims!).
I would stress that it is important to read the fine print very carefully though. For example, one policy I looked at did not cover "underwater equipment" against damage from grounding. Another did not cover living aboard - and so on.
 
We bought our boat through a broker in Ramsgate and he recommended euromarine insurance of Broadstairs. It was quick and easy to get insurance through a local firm as the broker had a recent survey and they fixed us up with Aviva Sailplan.

I crashed into a pontoon in the marina and did some gelcoat damage and euromarine couldn't have been more helpful. Claim settled quickly and painlessly and premium not really affected on renewal. Extras like liferafts have been added economically, and extending the cruising rangeto europe was simplicity itself. I recently got some other quotes but stuck with euromarine because their service is excellent.

One insurance issue that all quotes had in common was an extortionate cost for club racing. A PBO article suggested that club racing was a fun way to improve sailing skills and for simple midweek round the cans insurance would be cheap. It isn't. The premium quoted almost doubled - an extra £150 or so. Plus we had to get a definitive quote for mast and spars. Our boat is a Trapper 500 and no one in the Trapper forum could give a price for mast and spars - nobody knew.

So we don't race. But all insurance companies/brokers were the same.
 
My last boat was insured through St Margarets. Over the 20+ years of ownership, I had 2 claims. The first which was damage caused by a drunk ramming me off Cowes, was settled quickly and satisfactorily. The second was as a result of a break-in whilst in a boat yard over winter. The boat suffered a fair amount of damage in the break-in and loss of built in Nav and safety equipment. There was a fair amount of argument over the price of replacement of some equipment as St Margaret do not do a new-for-old . Eventually settled satisfactorily. I claimed for as much as possible on my home policy as that got me an instant new for old replacement, and restricted the claims on the yacht insurance to built-in and damage.

My new boat was already insured through Craftinsure, so I continued the policy. Discussions with the company at the boat show were very open and straight forward about where they considered themselves to be competitive, and where I should seek other coverage.
 
I'm with Haven Knox-Johnston. One year my broker came along with an attractive premium from a big national insurance company (AXA, I think - it was 2-3 years ago). It looked fine, until I started to look at the small print. Now,in general insurance terms, it all looked OK - but it was clear that it had been written by someone completely unfamiliar with yachting. I forget the details, but after ringing my brokers with a long list of questions, I realized that the company simply had no idea about the market they were offering to insure.So, I forgot about them and continued with H K-J. The difference in price wasn't much, and with H K-J I had some assurance that they actually understood what they were insuring! And I am a conservative sort of cruising person, no racing at all involved.
 
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