Yacht Insurance

mrplastic

mrplastic

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having just bought a new Southerly 110 I now am looking to insure her. I have obtained quotations from Pantaenius (£1325), GJW (£797), Haven Knox Johnson (£757),Craft Insure (£851) and Bishop Skinner (£757) via the RYA discount scheme. With the exception of Pantaenius and Craft Insure, prices were broadly similar. My question is which one to go for. Looking through the policy wording it is difficult to make a decision as the variation in policy wording is subjective and to me at least, open to interpretation.

My question therefore is has anyone out there any horror stories (or praise) about any of these insurers? Who would you recommend and why?

Your wise and worldly comments would be much appreciated!
 
Only used GJW and have no complaints - quick claim settlement and waived my excess for a 3rd party claim when an unmanned craft caused an accident.
 
For me the discriminators included, in no particular order, single-handed sailing, cruising area, 24 hour, price, dinghy and outboard, no restriction on mooring/marina/anchoring, and how knowledgeable the voice on the phone was. If you don't need anything outside the basics, then price is probably the driver.
 
Whilst wording differs between insurers, the actual coverage you get is at least as dependent on how well you can demonstrate you took care to shelter the insurer from a claim. A boat that is well (conservatively?) sailed, competently crewed and maintained with good records / invoices trail will satisfy the loss adjuster more readily. Only you are in a position to judge this, no insurer in any insurance market can be relied on to take a lenient view if there is no sign that due care and attention has been paid to securing the property against forseeable risk.

As for the mechanicals, it's a piece of string. From which direction would you expect your risk to appear? If you keep your vessel in crowded south coast waters, mooring in rafts etc where the chance of a mishap is higher, you will probably not want to take advantage of a high excess discount, otherwise a higher excess might make sense. With a new vessel the chances of mechanical failure (rig etc) are lower; if you are not going out of home waters in the insured year why pay for extended geographical cover? etc

PWG
 
Used GJW for years. One claim (when the rigger dropped the mast). One when some scrote nicked our mooring warps. They were very helpful on both occasions and we had no complaints at all.

Switched to Pantaenius when GJW decided they needed a full survey every 7? years. Slightly better cover (they accept single handing, even at night) but have not yet had to make a claim.

I think both have a (deserved) good reputation and would be happy to use either.
 
Bishop Skinner are excellent and are run by very knowlegable sailors. One claim (for problems in the Cape Verdes) all dealt with by two telephone calls and three faxes.

Personally, we've always found Pantanius very expensive but can't understand why they should be for the same cover. Many years ago I even went into their office in Plymouth to check the 'problem' at first hand, they checked and confirmed their quote and were still nearly double other quotes.

The only difference (at that time) was that they did include for full rig cover for racing, which I didn't want but couldn't get excluded! There was no way we were going to pay for others rig failures and that's how it felt to us. As I say, it was a few years ago now and things have probably changed, but we've been with the RYA insurers (even before Bishop Skinner) and are very happy.

As always, each to their own.
 
Over the past 7 years of ownership of Temptress (gosh is it really that long) we've been insured with three companies; starting with Pantanius who put up the premium by almost a grand without any reasonable basis after 9/11 so lost our business (my husband had insured boats with them for almost 10 years without any claims).

St Margarets were stars when we suffered serious damage in a Spanish marina in 2002 with advice available on the telephone in the early hours of the morning when we thought our pride & joy may be liable to sink on its berth and helpful dealing with the Spanish authorities later.

Unfortunately they wouldn't later cover masts & spars for racing on our return to the UK so we are currently insured with Bishop Skinner. This last company were extremely easy to deal with following damage caused by a 3rd party earlier this year.

S
 
As others have said depends on what kind of cruising you intend to do, as apparently minor restrictions/extensions can decrease/increase your cost of cover.

We've used P for 12 years and with 4, 3 outside of EU waters, claims (all nothing to do with me, honest!), they paid up with no quibbling. In one case they advised me that I could claim for more than I had.

As I've said before P are expensive but they deliver and like liferafts it's service not cost that drives the decision for me.
 
we use Pantaenius for our boat based in France. It is more expensive BUT they have no little clauses that could catch you out especially if you are sailing single handed . They cover you without the need for a survey or to tell them where the boat is kept (although I do keep them up to date).
 
I am with Pantaenius. They are expensive, but their flexibility does save some money. For example, they will adjust the premium from month to month if you move area, whereas many others want a whole year's premium for the most expensive area you will be in, even if you will only be there for a month. Having said that, we are now shopping for an alternative, but we need worldwide coverage, and that is hard to find.
 
[ QUOTE ]

(they accept single handing, even at night)

[/ QUOTE ]

GJW have allowed me to single-hand( /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif) at night with a double excess.
 
I jumped from GJW when they said I couldn't singlehand, tow, or be owed ( except "in emergency" or "where it is customary" whatever they mean. I want to know if I'm covered If I render assistance, accept assistance or find myself sailing alone in the dark.

I used to use KC Powells Quadrant Policy and they dealt with claims very well (burglary and mast damage) but hes gone over to GJW too, so I use Mercia for a Quadrant policy.
 
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