I am not sure if this is the relevant area for this. We have had
Boat US
insurance since we have owned the
boat. We had to leave the boat for the last 3 winters covered at our boatyard due to life. When we left the boat the last time we were on it she was just fine. We bought her the same time life happened so the
survey we had was brand spanking new. This year we made it to the boat and are now attempting to
live aboard. One snag, we unwrapped the boat and had a severe case of POX above the waterline on both sides. The POX as I call them are all dry as a bone and there is a rust like discoloration mixed into the
gelcoat of the same area. Just because the 12000 dollar estimate to fix the POX was a bit steep for us we thought maybe our
insurance would cover it. We made a claim on June 16th. One day in July we thought well it has been awhile since the auto response told us not to authorize any
repairs until they told us it was alright. The response we got then was it was busy due to July 4th claims. We did get an
email of the requested
survey report from that call. We then got ignored the next two times we called. The third time we were told it was in for management review and we would be contacted again that day or the next. We waited again and then when we called the next week to ask for an update we got a rather strange response when we asked for a supervisor. The person responded that we were now declined in our claim and that she was trying to get it approved was what was taking so long. I could care less at this point about the claim being approved or declined if it was done correctly. However if your going to decline someone 35 days later after receiving the survey report doing so on assumptions is not a great excuse for taking so long. They assumed the discoloration was due to heat gun damage. I am an ex firefighter the discoloration is not heat gun induced. They assumed the boat was not ventilated while stored. Is ventilation a normal procedure in shrink wrapping of a boat for
storage? Our marina did the same job they have done with boats for years and ours is one of only two boats the
surveyor has ever seen have this issue. Our boat was not wrapped any differently than any other boat in the yard. The
surveyor said it was wear and tear how does wear and tear cause pimples in
gelcoat? Again this is not something seen often and the excuses are weak. If your going to deny a claim ave some facts about the cause that are not assumptions. I have been involved in many an arson investigation and if I ever said "Well I assume this is what happened" an insurance company would have laughed at me and a homeowner would have my ass in court. Why do the boat insurers have the ability to make assumptions and refuse a claim on boats? If homeowners were treated with such disdain and contempt for their time on claims there would be hell to pay. Again I am not mad about being denied my problem is having to track down my adjuster and then as soon as I make a complaint the supervisor tells me it is denied due to what she makes up. Is this normal operating procedure for Boat US? is this because Geico is the owner? If I have fire damage from a heat gun why are they not covering my damage? Is there a better insurance company out there? Am I just being sensitive due to not having my boat available for 35+ days because they didn't want us to approve
repairs? I just hope this isn't what happens when I have a covered issue. Although if fire damage is not covered damage I don't think I am paying for the right coverage.