Should I sail naked?

[SV Bacchus]

Originally Posted by PuttingDoctor

First off DO NOT CALL BOATUS for insurance.... Call GEICO direct. If you call BoatUS for a quote first it will show up and be locked in at GEICO.

I just found that to be true, the hard way!

[Scotty Kiwi]

Originally Posted by jdaltonpe

If you do decide to sail naked - don't cook bacon.

And don't go to Antartica. Or New Zealand in winter.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by JEschman

This wasn't my experience. Just switched to BoatUS/Geico in July. I quoted both of them (along with several other carriers), and found that the BoatUS quote was just a tad lower than Geico, and with slightly better policy terms as well. Agreed value, replacement cost on partial losses, and while the coverage area is "coastal waters", there is no mileage limit started.

Point being, while they might not be your best option, I would definitely give them a call.

BTW - my experience when I quoted them on my last boat 5-6 years ago was completely different. They were sky high then. But very competitive and good policy terms this time.

This is why I posted earlier you have to do your own leg work. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the answers you get when asking for an insurance quotation. Another thing to keep in mind is that you may wind up changing companies. While I understand about the declining deductible factor you may wind up with your company raising your policy cost for no reason. Folks with no claims have posted they had the amount double out of the blue and when they called another company got a reduction from their old policy.

Whish there was a more straight forward way to do it but along with the suggestions here do an internet search for boat insurance and plan to spend some time on the phone or online filling out forms. Thought I have always had better luck calling than filling out forms on the internet.

[TabbyCat]

Originally Posted by Calif.Ted

Been so long I thought I better check, exact wording is:
I've only spoken with one friend about it and his policy is similar so I'd assumed it was pretty common. Are there other limits common to coastal coverage policies ?

The definition of "coastal" varies by company, so good idea to read your policy. (Or be sure to have an experienced Marine Insurance Agent).
Progressive = 75 miles offshore, unless you pay extra for the limit increase to 125nm (which still doesn't get you to Georgetown Bahamas)
Markel Helmsman- no offshore limit, but they use the term coastal, which is generally accepted by maritime law to mean 250nm from shore
Markel Jackline - no offshore limit, designed for crossing oceans
Geico- same as Markel, stay within 200-250 nm and you should be fine, as long as you don't visit any countries not listed in the navigation
Pantaenius - will list an offshore limit, or more often a latitude longitude restriction
Lloyds and other European companies - will list an offshore limit, usually 150 to 250nm, then if you want to cross oceans will require a third crewmemeber before removing the offshore mileage restriction
Your local home/auto policy company - 12 miles. It's a car insurance policy with just a few edits to change the word "auto" to "boat". Not usually very comprehensive coverage.
All of the above standards subject to the underwriter's review of your qualifications, and may be individually adjusted based on that review.

[TabbyCat]

Originally Posted by tomfl

Whish there was a more straight forward way to do it but along with the suggestions here do an internet search for boat insurance and plan to spend some time on the phone or online filling out forms. Thought I have always had better luck calling than filling out forms on the internet.

Tom,
Your best option (in my opinion, which is surely biased) is to contact one good marine insurance agent and let them do the leg work for you. There are only a limited number of reputable marine insurance companies (about 20); If you keep your boat in Florida, the number of companies willing to write coverage is further reduced to about 5. However, there are thousands of AGENTS (like myself) who will submit your information to the same 5-20 companies, making it appear like you have lots of choices and need to fill out many quote request forms, when all you need to do is fill out one. In fact, speaking on behalf of all marine insurance agents, it really annoys us when send your info to bunch of agents all at the same time, since we get blocked from getting you all the quotes: If Agent A submits your info to Pantaenius, when Agent B submits the info, Pantaenius declines to send the quote to Agent B, saying they've already sent a quote Agent A. So one agent will get you the quote from Geico, another will get you a Pantaenius quote, another will get you a Lloyds quote, etc etc etc. So you end up with 5 quotes from 5 different agents and will be spending hours reading all those policy booklets, deciphering the insurance speak and the differences between them. Also, please also note that if you do decide to go direct to any of these companies, IT WILL NOT SAVE YOU ANY MONEY. They pay the same commission to the agent as they do to their inside sales person who takes your information, so the rates are exactly the same. In contrast, if you send your info to just one agent, they will get you all the quotes, and since it is their profession and they've read all the policies hundreds of times, they will provide you with a comparison between the coverages offered, along with options on how to make the policy more cost effective and their professional advice on which policy best fits your particular situation. I've been doing marine insurance quotes for 14 years now, so when I get a quote request, I usually have a pretty good idea of which company will be the right one for your specific set of circumstances (experience/boat/navigation), so I'll probably pick 1-3 of the best options, rather than spamming you with 10 similar quotes.