Saga pulls out of boat insurance,

[oldgit]

Just received paperwork to renew my 30 year old UK based motorboat insured with them , been with SAGA for about 10 years.
Did not need a new survey when changing boat 6 years ago.
Made a claim 2 years ago, dealt with efficiently and with some speed.
Damage to sterngear, did most of the work myself to ensure boat was back in the water fast.
Simply not prepared to wait for the marine repair world to grind slowly into action.
The premium has even gone down a little this year
Perhaps they are simply culling non profitable business.
On our moorings which hold about 100 boats only aware of four claims in recent years. .
Two for sterngear damage ,one for vandalism and one when a passing boat hit one of our moored boats.

Are yachties more prone to make "optimistic" claims than motorboaters. ?
Wear and Tear rather than insurable ?

 

[Alfie168]

Just received paperwork to renew my 30 year old UK based motorboat insured with them , been with SAGA for about 10 years.
Did not need a new survey when changing boat 6 years ago.
Made a claim 2 years ago, dealt with efficiently and with some speed.
Damage to sterngear, did most of the work myself to ensure boat was back in the water fast.
Simply not prepared to wait for the marine repair world to grind slowly into action.
The premium has even gone down a little this year
Perhaps they are simply culling non profitable business.
On our moorings which hold about 100 boats only aware of four claims in recent years. .
Two for sterngear damage ,one for vandalism and one when a passing boat hit one of our moored boats.

Are yachties more prone to make "optimistic" claims than motorboaters. ?
Wear and Tear rather than insurable ?

Not in my case. I had a claim in 2011 and did my utmost to keep costs reasonable for them. There was no 'betterment' in my claim as the only truly new parts were to repair the roller reefing foil, and two new shrouds and rigging screws, and the alloy mast tabernacle had cracked, so had a new one.

I think they are just leaving the market to cut their base operating cost in a difficult market. Simple as that

 

[viago]

that's terrible news.

i've been with them for years.

i certainly hope they are not closing the folkestone site down. it's a major employer and where the company started.

 

[peter gibbs]

Saga recently built two brand new cruise ships, both laid up and bleeding vast amounts of money. Perhaps they need to trim back a bit?

Sadly, the Saga concept that found a market niche on launch was over-extended pursuant to floating. Over capacity inthe cruise busines, nil investment returns on premiums ......not a strong situation.

 

[Saltram31]

Today,received our annual renewal agreement for both boats from Saga ,with no indication of transfer of the policies to another company.
Their site does say that they are not accepting new customers though.

 

[ashtead]

Skatt it might be that Saga has negotiated with the underwriters on its panel to renew existing risks but not take on new risks -does happen if the underwriter is pulling out of market or post Brexit has decided not to accept new business if an EU insurer.

 

[Bosunofforth]

WTF? I renewed with them 2 weeks ago !

Same here... Will we retain the cover through the rest of the year, even though we might not get away?

 

[kacecar]

I renewed my Saga policy this week and am relaxed about the future.

Given their announcement about no new business after April 2021, I took the opportunity to ask the lady at the other end of the phone about what would be happening. She made sure I understood that my policy for this year (in my case, February to February) was with Saga, and would be for the full twelve months. However, at some point before renewal next year, and subject to me granting my specific permission, my policy/business will be passed to a new provider. Naturally, I will be able to choose to progress a policy with that new provider or to seek appropriate cover from a fresh alternative.

The process of transfer prior to any future renewal is outlined in the "fine print" accompanying the renewal notice - see the sub-section section headed "Future insurer changes".

Saga's underwriter is MS Amlin, a Belgian company. It is part of the group that acquired Haven Knox-Johnston in 2016, - a group that, reportedly, is in the process of resurrecting the HK-J brand.

 

[UK-WOOZY]

i reccommend GJW, always been happy with them. I have made two claims of £1k to £2k over the past 5 years and they paid up instantly