Insurance

[Sybarite]

The nearest French equivalent to this forum is maintained by a cruising association called, ironically, Sail the World (google STW).

They are acting now as an association to negotiate insurance rates on behalf of their members and, especially, getting quotes for ocean voyagers who have difficulty acting on their own.

Basically they deal with two companies : one for boats insured for more than €70000 and one for those worth less.

Motorcyclists in France went one step further; they created their own insurance company.

The members of the YBW forum, if only they would act together, constitute a very large pressure group in front of insurance companies and marina operators.

Food for thought?

John

 

[ksutton]

A very good idea, but I would be very surprised if we will ever see a large group of British citizens acting in unison to beat the establishment. Most enjoy acting as individuals and steer clear of joining anything resembling an action group. As we have seen in the past the French can be very different in such instances.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

I know what you mean but it's not really "beating the establishment" it's just using market forces and economies of scales to get better rates.

Why re-invent the wheel though? Why not just ask if you can join the STW organisation? If round-the-world sailors can't transcend national borders no-one can. I can't see that an insurance company will worry to much about the nationality of a boat that's currently off the coast of Guatemala or something surely?

Maybe one of the nice Gallic speaking folk on here could write them a letter asking if they would consider a reciprocal membership with YBW (with YBW's permission of course) - maybe the RYA could get involved and provide a/another (depending on viewpoint) tangible and visible benefit for the joining fee? The CA perhaps? There's a few existing organisations that could be leveraged.

 

[wotayottie]

There are lots of organisations in the UK that do that sort of bulk buying inc in insurance. For example, the IAM has an insurance scheme.

personally I think it would work better on items like antifoul or rope where the margins are a bit bigger. But its worth trying on insurance.

 

[Phideaux]

Certainly many of the professional Institutions such as ICE, IEMA, IEEM obtain discounted Professional Indemnity Insurance for their members (and require their members to have PII as a condition of membership, although each member is free to source this from wherever). I'm not sure whether YBW would be able to negotiate similar discounts.