Recommend boat insurance

Which would you recommend?

  • Curtis Marine

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • Bishop Skinner/Bluefin

    Votes: 8 8.7%

  • Knox-Johnson

    Votes: 10 10.9%

  • GJW

    Votes: 37 40.2%

  • Pantaenius

    Votes: 29 31.5%

  • Saga

    Votes: 7 7.6%
  • Total voters
    92
No one mentioned Navigators and General? Why?
I have been with them since Noah built his ark (well it feels that long) and cannot fault the service or price. Restrictions are minimal and those there are, are clearly explained. - I keep getting other quotes every year but with additional restrictions, costs etc I wind up renewing with N&G
 
cliff said:
No one mentioned Navigators and General? Why?
I have been with them since Noah built his ark (well it feels that long) and cannot fault the service or price. Restrictions are minimal and those there are, are clearly explained. - I keep getting other quotes every year but with additional restrictions, costs etc I wind up renewing with N&G
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I too have been ith N & G all my life. I have made a few claims, all met with no problems. My only criticism is that they will not negotiate on premium based on a competitor's quote. Their attitude is take it or leave it. So they are never the cheapest.
 
oldbilbo said:
One day on, and about one-third are satisfied with GJW and another third by Pantaenius.... I'm hoping the numbers will swell as the days pass, so that something 'statistically significant' might emerge.

I should mention that my selection of contenders reflected my limited, not comprehensive, knowledge of providers. There may well be others worthy of consideration and support.
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If you go back over the recent long threads on this subject, you will see a pattern. The vast majority of people are very satisfied with their insurers (and there are many more active ones than in your list). Satisfaction is around customer service and dealing with claims. However, the consensus is that most claims are quite straightforward and low value and therefore dealt with promptly.

Where problems have been reported it is usually around disputes of liability, use of exclusion clauses to reject or limit claims or arguments over valuations. Disputes invariably happen when the claim is large - not surprisingly as this is where insurers look to reduce their costs. The number of large claims is small, so the number of people who get into disputes is also small in relation to the overall numbers insured and an individual dispute does not necessarily indicate that an insurer is "bad". There is however, concern about some common exclusions, particularly those related to corrosion and latent defects where some insurers are more specific than others about what they cover and one can easily see potential for disputes in large claims where this is an issue.

Don't think you will get anything "statistically significant", no matter how long the poll runs, All you will get is more data showing the same pattern as you have already. That is general level of satisfaction and suggestions of many more satisfactory insurers than is on your original list. Even if the number of posts gets close to those about old stranded fishing boats they will be only a tiny fraction of the 100's of 000's of yacht insurance policy holders - and a tiny (self selecting) fraction of forum members. So while the individual accounts may be interesting they cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered representative of anything other than a tiny number of people!
 
Interesting thread - my renewal is due in a couple of weeks and I'm trying to work out who to go with.

I'm with GJW this year and the renewal has come in at £954 - pretty much the same as last year. As a result of recommendations around here, I've also got quotes from both "Y" and Pants - "Y" are quoting £750 and Pants almost twice that - apparently all for the same level of cover! The terms of Y's policy seem to be acceptable - others round here seem to approve of them - anyone think of a good reason why I should pay Pants well over a thousand?
 
maby said:
Interesting thread - my renewal is due in a couple of weeks and I'm trying to work out who to go with.

I'm with GJW this year and the renewal has come in at £954 - pretty much the same as last year. As a result of recommendations around here, I've also got quotes from both "Y" and Pants - "Y" are quoting £750 and Pants almost twice that - apparently all for the same level of cover! The terms of Y's policy seem to be acceptable - others round here seem to approve of them - anyone think of a good reason why I should pay Pants well over a thousand?
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Pants are only slightly more that Y for me but talking around about the claims adjusters they both used kept me with Pants. Also Pants do not restrict my solo sailing.
 
doris said:
Pants are only slightly more that Y for me but talking around about the claims adjusters they both used kept me with Pants. Also Pants do not restrict my solo sailing.
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Hmmm, wonder what they have got against me? I've just rechecked their quote and they want more than £1,100 vs. £750 from Y for, apparently, the same level of cover.
 
I've been insured with various people over the years, but never claimed so don't know how any of them would have performed when it really mattered.

I can give praise to Pantaenius on the basis that many years ago they were willing to insure my 22 footer for singlehanding across the Channel & Western Approaches when my previous insurers and all the others I rang wouldn't, and had few of the common restrictions about geographical area, in commision period, single-handed sailing etc. They were more expensive than the alternatives but gave me the cover I wanted. Unfortunately, they have since instigated a minimum value they will insure, and my boat is too cheap for them.

I also had briefly a 'third party only' cover from some company that then advertised in PBO (because at the time I needed urgently needed insurance 'cover' without getting a survey), but the terms seemed designed to exclude almost any possibility of ever claiming for anything, so it gave me the necessary piece of paper but no peace of mind.

Recently left Haven Knox-Johnson, partly because of the terms/exclusions that JFM had identified in previous threads on here, but largely because it appeared they couldn't be trusted - the HKJ boss had come on here and said the wording in question was a mistake (a rather serious one it seemed to me!) that would be corrected imminently, yet a year or so later nothing had changed.

sailorman said:
HKJ (changed due to exclusions)
Present insurer, Y Yacht (due to exclusions & YBW recommendations )
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I looked at Y Yachts, as there were a number of comments on here about how good Barry (?) was, but when I looked into it it turned out he was selling the same Amlin/HKJ policy with the same wording.
 
Why have you not included my insurers in your poll? Surely you must have heard of them:-

The East Coast Mutual Yacht Insurance Association Ltd
 
LittleSister said:
Snip


I looked at Y Yachts, as there were a number of comments on here about how good Barry (?) was, but when I looked into it it turned out he was selling the same Amlin/HKJ policy with the same wording.
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The Y Yacht Policy terms are not the same as HKJ's in the important cases of Latent defect and consequential losses. They are both underwritten by Amlin @Lloyds, but otherwise the Y policy is much better. jfm has said many times to that effect. BArry was MD at Pants before setting up Y Yacht on policy terms similar to Pants.
 
Tried GJW for a quote as insurance is due for renewal but they dont do 12 months in commission on a half tide swinging mooring despite being on swinging moorings with various boats for 40 years with no problems.The premium was only £15 less than I pay at present.
 
I've asked, time and again without sensible response, why on earth 'BREST-ELBE'. No-one I know has ever gone anywhere near the Elbe, and no-one I know has the slightest intention of so doing. I've mentioned several times to would-be insurers that I'd happily have UK/Ireland/French Coastal Waters, as far south as La Rochelle, but no Belgium-Elbe or beyond. I tell them that French insurers have no automatic inclusion of the hazardous shoal waters of the eastern North Sea, and are cheaper in consequence. They don't seem to understand or be willing to think this through.....

Do they all still think in terms of Carruthers and 'Dulcibella'....?
 
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