INSURANCE

[PEPPER10]

Who do you insure your boat with and how much do you pay?  My home owners covers it in my drive way.  How much coverage do you need?

[Glenn Basore]

I have Boat USA for my Eclipse21, about $130 a year.

On my other boat (Hunter 170) it was $125 a year. I was really surprised there was much difference in price.

Glenn

[curtisv]

Glenn,

That sound very inexpensive.  Did you check to see what limitations you have?

Most inexpensive policies restrict you to some distance from shore, and don't cover you if you are beyond that limit.  Some won't insure you if you are beyond the 3 mile limit but mostly its 15 miled or 20 miles or 30 miles.  You can extend it to 200 miles but for most people 30 is more than enough.  You can also keep a less expensive policy and extend it when you need to.

Curtis

[Glenn Basore]

Curtis,

Yes, I too was very surprised at the low cost.

I don't have any restrictions.

The boat is insured at an agreed upon value ($20,000 in my case).

I do recall reading something about boats being insured in Hurricane areas and freeze areas none of which applies to Southern California thank God !

Give them a call 1-800-937-2628 cant hurt !

Glenn

[Gil Weiss]

Boat US offers good coverage at reasonable prices and they are good to deal with. I have been using them for the past 10 years and never had any claims. Currently my 1983 ComPac 19 and a new 6HP Merc motor are insured for 7,500. Also on the policy is a new 2,700 trailer and road side towing insurance.  We are looking at a total insured amount of $ 10,200.  I sail on an inland lake. Total per year is $ 176.

Gil

[curtisv]

I will give a call since my insurance is over $400 but ..

I got my insurance through West Marine which at the time was the same as getting it through
Boat US.  My prior insurance had a 15 mile limit that was clearly spelled out.  The insurance I got referred to a "Navigational Warentee" which I couldn't find anywhere.  So I called and it turned out that a code on my declaration page which was not explained anywhere indicated that it was a 15 mile limit and only within a few hundred miles of the state I registered in.  I extended it to 200 mile and my insurance went way up (it goes way up going from 15 to 30 and not much more to go to 200).  As written its good for continentla US, Alaska, Hawaii, US territories, Canada, to 200 miles out.  The overland (towing) coverage is good to 250 miles from the billing address on the insurance and can't be extended.

Read your policy carefully.  Also look on the declaration page for the heading "limits on use" or "endorsements" followed by codes.  This is an shady but common insurance practice where they never send you the translation of the codes but it severely restricts your coverage.  My limits on use section says "See Navigation Warranty MA-BTS01".  My endorsement codes are ALL20887, ALL2101, MA-14558a, [... etc] and nowhere are they explained.  Its also not on their web page.  If you don't call and ask you'll never know.  Apparently this is legal.

So if I sail to the Bahamas I'm not covered.  Its a long way from Cape Cod so I'm not expecting that to be a problem.

Thanks anyway for reminding me on this.  I keep forgeting to notify them of winter layup which essentially suspends the insurance coverage and payment until next season's launch.  That might also be a reason mine is so high - no layup listed.

Curtis

ps - I changed car and homeowners insurance last November and my former insurance company still hasn't reimbursed me.  The agent sent some paperwork to sign and hopefully we'll get that back soon.  Car insurance with two young drivers makes the boat insurance look like small change.