Do some countries require liability insurance?

[nordic-beluga]

Spain does for sure . I live here on Beluga and when you visit a harbour for the first time they require the "segura" certificate . If they have a computerised system they will bring it in so that on your next visit the paperwork is simplified.
Jack

[Canibul]

Originally Posted by Schooner Chandlery

. But you're incorrect to assume that you can't get a home owner's policy w/o a home. Turns out you can. And, you can put that blanket "umbrella" liability policy right on top of it.
.

Not according to any of the half dozen or so insurance companies I contacted, including the one that insures a motor vehicle and travel trailer we keep in the US.

Try contacting ANY homeowners insurance company in the US and tell them that you don't own a home in the US, and you are not a resident of the US , and then ask how you can get blanket liability. The universal answer we got across the board was that we would have to get insurance on our property in the country where we are a resident.

Well, the insurance companies in the Turks and Caicos don't have liability riders. Period. Not for us. Not for anybody. Dead end.

I'm sceptical of a claim that renting a storage unit in Colorado allows us to carry liability insurance on a boat to several million dollars. If that were true, everyone in the world could rent a cheap storage unit in the US for fifty bucks a month and solve all their liability insurance issues. There would be an insurance business popping up where you could rent a square foot of storage and buy a liability rider. Australians and boaters in spain could rent storage units in the US for the insurance. People are not doing that. But it would sure be good news if this worked.

[Canibul]

I just checked, again, with insurance agent and he says that misrepresenting a storage facility as a home for homeowner's or renter's insurance basically means that you don't really have insurance if you try to file a claim and they look into it. Which they will.

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by Canibul

I just checked, again, with insurance agent and he says that misrepresenting a storage facility as a home for homeowner's or renter's insurance basically means that you don't really have insurance if you try to file a claim and they look into it. Which they will.

Misrepresenting is NEVER a good idea and pretty much a sure way to void the insurance.

This is digressing from the liability umbrella info, but worthwhile:

In the case of my homeowner's policy, when I called to cancel it upon selling the house, asking if Fireman's Fund offered a renters policy, etc. THEY (the agent, but who is a trusted FF agent) set up the policy with my primary address of the storage unit and secondary location where we were rebuilding our boat--I did have to inventory what was with us vs what was in the storage unit. They had a liability umbrella policy that worked for boats smaller than our cruising boat so we picked up a BoatUS liability policy for our boat. FWIW, I don't think hull policies are worth it in many cases, but absolutely believe we all should carry liability insurance for the risk we impose to other boaters, it's not all about what "we" need, sometimes you have to think about others, too.

That FF household goods policy became inconvenient when we lent some scheduled art and a piano to a friend and we couldn't have 3 locations listed (storage, us, and the friend). We then turned to USAA, the company we have our car insurance with for over 30 years--and they gave us a world-wide renter's policy with unlimited locations for all our stuff. The primary location listed tends to be the location of the piano and art (scheduled items) but they (USAA) really don't care what the primary location is -- and when we traveled up to Alaska last year, we scheduled all our photographic equipment, just in case we dropped it overboard (unscheduled items are theft and casualty based, not oops-I did something dumb--based claims) and went through all our policy limits, locations, etc, again.

Bottom line--we discuss our needs with our insurers and we come up with something that works for us and isn't going to void our policy. If anyone here is eligible to use USAA renters' insurance (former military, etc) you might want to check it out since they really don't care where your stuff is.

Best regards,
Brenda

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by Canibul

Not according to any of the half dozen or so insurance companies I contacted, including the one that insures a motor vehicle and travel trailer we keep in the US.

Try contacting ANY homeowners insurance company in the US and tell them that you don't own a home in the US, and you are not a resident of the US , and then ask how you can get blanket liability. The universal answer we got across the board was that we would have to get insurance on our property in the country where we are a resident.

Well, the insurance companies in the Turks and Caicos don't have liability riders. Period. Not for us. Not for anybody. Dead end.

I'm sceptical of a claim that renting a storage unit in Colorado allows us to carry liability insurance on a boat to several million dollars. If that were true, everyone in the world could rent a cheap storage unit in the US for fifty bucks a month and solve all their liability insurance issues. There would be an insurance business popping up where you could rent a square foot of storage and buy a liability rider. Australians and boaters in spain could rent storage units in the US for the insurance. People are not doing that. But it would sure be good news if this worked.

It's more costly to obtain an umbrella liability policy (per million) than it is to obtain liability policy for a boat alone. So--no reason to have a home owner's policy rather than a boat policy. As I mentioned, Lloyds will insure just about any seaworthy (and some unseaworthy IMO) boat worldwide (hull insurance) and you have many other options if willing to pay.

Those home insurers in the USA aren't going to insure you for small potatoes in household goods--you're going to be insuring enough stuff that it's worthwhile to the insurer. Then they work with you. Otherwise, not. It's a home owners policy first that you'd get (or renters, depending upon the insurer) and then you'd get an umbrella policy on top of that. It adds up.

When I looked at the umbrella liability policy I had with FF, it wasn't comprehensive is the same way that a yacht liability policy is. So I never used it for my boat--but if my boat had been smaller, they would have been fine with it.

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by conachair

Any links to back that up?

Of "countries" requiring insurance, not marinas or ports?

As someone previously mentioned--Mexico is a place that requires you to carry liability insurance. There, you can go w/o it but if you get into a problem with marina, other boat, etc, they'll throw you in jail for not having Mexican liability insurance. Period. Doesn't matter if you avoid marinas, because it's a MX thing, not a marina thing.

Luckily in MX it's easy/cheap to insure a boat with MX insurance (per year cheap that is, if you're just wandering through as I recall the 1 month rate was costly.)

[model 10]

We have been to every country in Central America, Mexico, Columbia and the Bahamas. We have only needed insurance in Pacific Mx and it was easy to get a MX insurance policy and you only need that if you are southbound from the US. We did not need insurance to go through the Panama Canal.

[zeehag]

word of caution. about sailing mexico without third party insurance--if your boat is hit by a mexican's boat, you lose yours pending investigation and the mexican is able to claim your boat as his property if you can not prove insurance. it is a good idea to keep your third party insurance active in mexican waters. you only NEED it for marinas .. and being hit by mexican boats. resolution of the accident an take a very long time, and you do lose your boat and contents. there was a boat in one port i have visited here wherein the victims boat had been confiscated 10 years prior, case still pending. yes keep insurance.
the only places you willbe asked inmexico for insurance is in ensenada checking in, as anchoring is disallowed, and in marinas.
and yes the port captain in ensenada asks you for insurance on checking into mexico in ensenada. and yes he gives you time to buy and show proof.

[Canibul]

So, forgetting totally the idea of US homeowners or renters insurance, since we are not residents of the US, who sells boat liability insurance?

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Canibul

So, forgetting totally the idea of US homeowners or renters insurance, since we are not residents of the US, who sells boat liability insurance?

Lots of people - try pantaenious f.eks

[zeehag]

mariners group.
they are good . not pricey and not difficult to contact. no survey on liability policies. i have used them now 3 years. good folks.

and if you travel to mexico, they DO have feet in mexico and are usable here. many insurance companies are not usable in mexico as they do not have feet here. mariners group are truly international insurers.