Going Uninsured !?

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by capstan

If you carry a million dollars of insurance, you will be sued for a million dollars.
I've sailed for over 30 years without insurance, and not a single mishap. Never even banged a dock. I know I don't have insurance, and it makes me a safer boater.
I've known a few acquaintances who took chances I wouldn't take. When I suggested it might not be a good idea, they said "That's what insurance is for"!

Well, no. If you commit a serious error and someone has legitimate grounds you may be sued no matter if you have no insurance, or 100k or 300k. But MOST lawsuits settle for a lot less. What the injured party asks for is not necessarily what the injured party gets.

[zeehag]

raku--where t...h....is anyone gonna collide in the middle of the ocean when on watch with eyes open... drink the coolade and keep usa healthcare prices outrageously high and insurance lobby open for fleecing all forever.
i use liability only where is necessary and not under normal circumstances.
i was taught correctly how to use a sailboat and i donot place my home(boat) into jeopardy.
please forgive me for having to have belly laughs at your expense at your response.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

The value I pay insurance is stated value of the boat. It's acturally a little more than I paid for it. I don't see how anyone could expect to get a policy for a new replacement boat on their old current boat. I never really have understood the part of a boat survey that givens the cost of a new boat as a comparison, what good is this on a 20 year boat to tell the cost of it as new?

That's how mine is. If the giant foot from Monty Python drops from the sky and quashes my boat I get another older boat, not a new one. But then, that's all I want. I live in a hurricane zone. If Hurricane Brunhilda takes out my boat I want to be able to get a new one. I don't *expect* to cause anyone injury, but people can blame you when they shouldn't, and accidents do happen. Just for instance, I don't go up the mast. I pay someone else to. Sure, he has insurance, but when he's sprawled on the deck at the bottom of my mast I had better have insurance too.

[atoll]

i think what zeehag is talking about is corperate greed,the new facism,
in an ideal system if everybody put in a dollar a week in the us you would have a wonderful health system for all,at a cost of $52 dollars a year.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by shipofools

USAA rocks but you need to be US military (or by association/relationship) to become a member.

What if my father was in the Coast Guard?

[capstan]

Maybe I should clarify. If you have a million dollars insurance, they will sue you for a million dollars, and "settle" for half of that.

[hellosailor]

"In Florida if your car is uninsured and you're in a significant accident, you're in a whole lotta trouble."
In theory. Of course it was only about two months ago that the Florida DMV said it was "too difficult" to keep track of people who didn't have insurance, even though other states have routinely done this with co-operation of insurers for decades. In the Northeast, if your insurance expires or is terminated, it takes about 24 hours for the insurer to notify the DMV, and if your plates haven't been returned, the fines and penalties start immediately and the sheriff gets your plate to add to the "impound on sight" list. If you change insurers and someone gets the wrong side of midnight and you get a 24-hour coverage lapse...Like Ricky Ricardo said, you got a lot a 'splainin' to do.
Apparently that technology is too advanced for Florida to implement. Or more likely, someone is happier to keep the overall cost of living down by not really requiring the required insurance. Dunno about the prosecution, but I heard that since Florida stopped using chain gangs, things have fallen all to pieces. (Not to mention, the price of used chains has plummeted.)

Newt? You formed your own insurance company? And that wasn't an expensive regulated compliance hairball?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

It creeps me out that 27% of the posters here have *no* insurance. If we collide and it's your fault, can you pay? If I'm on your boat and your rig comes down and I am hurt, I guess I'm on my own ...

Isn't that why you have bought insurance?

IME some folks (ashore or afloat) will try it on with others - insured or not, IMO the odd scuff mark is not an excuse to claim a full hull respray ....and no guarantee that any marks were not previously self inflicted.

FWIW, at present I self insure - when I leave the dock (April 2012?!) will upgrade to 3rd party (plus seperate legal protection - so I can sue folks! ).....but really my "policy" for insurance is not to do anything stupid.

[Seahunter]

zeehag;
insurance lobby is number one reason for extremely high costs of health care in usa.

The high cost of health care is the result myopic, outdated views and attitudes and have nothing to do with doing the responsible thing like insuring one's boat.

delmarrey;
A personal attack?

A little butt pucker or paranoia? I say what I sees and sees what I says. I stand by my word(s) edited or otherwise.
Unlicensed + unregistered + unsurveyed + uninsured (boat) = navigation hazard.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

In Florida if your car is uninsured and you're in a significant accident, you're in a whole lotta trouble.

And unless YOU have uninsured protection YOU get nothing. What difference to YOU is it going to be that THEY got in a lotta trouble?

Thats the problem!

People saying they don't need insurance because they know to operate their boat is meaningless. No one goes out believing that they will have an accident.

[s/v Beth]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"
Newt? You formed your own insurance company? And that wasn't an expensive regulated compliance hairball?

It was Utah Medical Society that formed the company, but several states have done it with their members support. I have formed a few small businesses in my time- but I put it out there as just one possible solution.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

It creeps me out that 27% of the posters here have *no* insurance. If we collide and it's your fault, can you pay? If I'm on your boat and your rig comes down and I am hurt, I guess I'm on my own ...

And these are the people that can afford computers. That's what self insurance is for, those who live in fear.

I would suggest people stay out of third world countries and away from their transportation, if worried. Life itself is an 'assumption of risk'. "You got to know when to hold them, and when to fold them".

F uture
E vents
A ppear
R eal

Most people, it seems, have insurance b/c they're afraid they're going to get sued. I could tell you of some horror stories and some funny that my ex, a legal secretary, use to deal with.

Also it seems if you have insurance, the opponent goes for the throat. When I had government paid health insurance, my doctors would run up a huge bill if I just came in with some kind of pain. Now they just ask questions and say do you want to pay for.................. If I had self paid insurance I'd go by how I felt. But they never asked when I had gov. paid insurance.

For people who think they are at risk should get insurance, and that's what it is for. But to force people to have it, is manipulation. Loan companies will not lend w/o insurance, and now the economy is still screwed.

It's a lack of trust in people, understandably. That's where the uninsured motorist type policies come in. It all comes down to people not taking responsibility for their own actions. And sometimes it's extortion through criminal acts. It's hard to tell the difference.

[Mr B]

Mine was $1400-00 AUD for full coverage, Agreed value, for $150,000-00.

Restricted to 200 miles off shore, No Blue water cruising, But another $200-00 and they would have given that to me as well.
But I needed to fill in a million forms for the Blue Water extra's. and my experience would probably have negated that,

After Sailing from Fiji to OZ, I probably could get the Blue water extension easily now,

I dont know really,
Because I was in transit at the time of insuring, I could only talk to my Broker when I was in phone coverage areas of countrys I was passing, Less than 12 miles offshore.

It started in Melbourne, Then Fiji, Then Vanuatu, then New Caledonia, then Bundaberg, I sailed from Bundaberg before the papers arrived, They are still sitting in the post office at Bundaberg,

I finally got the papers at Port Stephens, Where I received them by fax at the newsagents, filled them in and sent them back by fax,

Very lucky for me as I wrecked my boat on the way home, Blown ashore while sleeping, And only 700 miles from home,

The Insurance Company and the Broker have been Marvellous,
They had a salvage team at the boat the next morning after I put in the claim in the afternoon, They were right on the ball, They have been so helpfull, They organised the lot,
The wrecked boat was on an Island 12 miles off shore,
Took them a week to get it floated on airbags and towed to Port Stephens where it is sitting on the hard, and awaiting the assessors report and quotes to get it fixed,

As they are such good companys to deal with, they need to be known.

PSC Coast wide Insurance Brokers, Bundall, Brisbane,

Trident Marine Insurance, Mt Hawthorn in Perth,

Insurance for boats is more urgent and required than cars, Sliding in and out of Marina's surrounded by mega million dollar yachts,

Full Insurance is essential.

In the Marina, Your motor stops while moving. That 10 million dollar yacht your sliding towards, Your gonna hit it, even if you drop your anchor,

I was lucky, I was backing out and still close enough to the pier to rety my boat up and secure it,

The linkage fell off the gearbox, I had no forward or reverse gears, Very scary, Sliding backwards out of the berth and no propulsion,

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

And unless YOU have uninsured protection YOU get nothing. What difference to YOU is it going to be that THEY got in a lotta trouble?

Thats the problem!

People saying they don't need insurance because they know to operate their boat is meaningless. No one goes out believing that they will have an accident.

The problem is; boat insurance is not like home or car. It's highly restricted and very seldom pays off what you've lost. Liability seems to be the only way to go unless you have a brand new boat.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

It was Utah Medical Society that formed the company, but several states have done it with their members support. I have formed a few small businesses in my time- but I put it out there as just one possible solution.

Or form a syndicate - at Lloyds of London?! (albeit probably be a bit too small).

- Lloyd's