Mariners' Odyssey Yacht Policy--Seaworthy Insurance

[svHyLyte]

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this Company. An acquaintance of mine has gotten involved with the Company and is pushing me to switch insurers. The same coverage I have now is quoted at roughly 52% of my current premium which is about $4k per annum (as we live in the hurricane zone). As I know my current carrier well and have faith in its capabilities, I am reluctant to consider changing. However, the savings is not insubstantial. Comments by anyone having had experience with the Company will be appreciated.

s/v HyLyte

[dennisjay]

Seaworthy Insurance is based here in Annapolis. They were acquired a few years ago by Berkshire Hathaway, the same holding company that owns Geico. Seaworthy is highly rated by the rating agencies. They likely are a solid company. However, just as important is to understand whether their coverage fits your needs. Some boat policies are very narrowly written and don't cover everything, especially if you plan to cruise offshore or keep a boat in hurricane-prone areas.

You might also want to contact the Florida Dept. of Insurance and ask for a copy of the company's complaint history. It will indicate whether Seaworthy pays claims fairly.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by dennisjay

Seaworthy Insurance is based here in Annapolis. They were acquired a few years ago by Berkshire Hathaway, the same holding company that owns Geico. Seaworthy is highly rated by the rating agencies. They likely are a solid company. However, just as important is to understand whether their coverage fits your needs. Some boat policies are very narrowly written and don't cover everything, especially if you plan to cruise offshore or keep a boat in hurricane-prone areas.

You might also want to contact the Florida Dept. of Insurance and ask for a copy of the company's complaint history. It will indicate whether Seaworthy pays claims fairly.

Dennis--Thanks for the note. I am aware of much of what you mentioned but I am wondering about anyone's actual claims experience. The policy terms are reasonably clear but a few of the provisions seem a bit nebulous and subject to interpretation. It would not be so worrisome if we were not in the Hurricane Zone. (We were actually pondering the possibility of taking the yacht up to Oriental, NC next season, just to get out'a the zone, until Irene.)

N'any case, maybe someone will turn up with prior experience. We have quite a bit of time yet.

[ebaugh]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

N'any case, maybe someone will turn up with prior experience. We have quite a bit of time yet.

Probably too late to help you...and I don't have any claims experience.

I switched to this policy this year to get coverage in the Eastern Caribbean. We have no geographic limitations during hurricane season, just the normal huge deductible for named storms.

I found the policy wording superior to the Lloyd's based policies, which were the only other options.

In the US, I'm told disaster claims are handled by the Boat US team.

Bob

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Bob.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by ebaugh

Probably too late to help you...and I don't have any claims experience.

I switched to this policy this year to get coverage in the Eastern Caribbean. We have no geographic limitations during hurricane season, just the normal huge deductible for named storms.

I found the policy wording superior to the Lloyd's based policies, which were the only other options.

In the US, I'm told disaster claims are handled by the Boat US team.

Bob

Bob--

Thanks for your response. We are going to switch insurers as soon as we get done with the insurance survey (which is in process now) as the feedback on the Company seems pretty positive.

Regards,

s/v HyLyte

[hellosailor]

HyLyte, it often pays to be unabashed. Call the insurer, or the broker, whichever is in the picture, and ask to go over the two policies, line by line, provision by provision, and see how each one compares. Sometimes they will say "Oh, we didn't offer that" or "Your other policy omits this" and sometimes it will just be coverage limits.

As to how well who actually pays and makes you whole...isn't that another bag of sea urchins?

[jkrohn]

SeaWorthy insurance is a joke of a company, you cannot do automatic withdrawls for payments... These people are stuck in the 80's. PLEASE read below. I have never had a claim with this company, and they have always been paid over the past two years... If this is how they treat people in general. I don't even want to know what they are like dealing with when it comes to a claim!

Dear Mr.XXXX,

I have had an opportunity to review your account with InsGroup (your agent) and with our Accounting Department. Certainly we feel that it is regrettable that your experience with your agent and with Seaworthy has not been a positive one. It is always our goal to provide the highest level of service while treating our customers with utmost respect.

There are some instances, however, when parties come together and they are just not a "fit" from a business standpoint, that appears to be the situation in this particular case. For this reason we have made the decision that we will not reinstate your policy that was cancelled for non-payment on 4/23/12.

I don't believe there is a need for any further contact but if it is necessary, please direct those inquires to me.

Regards,

Suzanne

Suzanne B. Redden
Director of Agency Operations
Seaworthy Insurance Company

From:
Sent: Monday, May 14, 2012 5:22 PM
To: Suzanne Redden
Subject: about my boat policy

Hi,

My name is Jason Krohn and I hold a policy with Seaworthy for the past two years. I received notice that my insurance was overdue, but when I logged into your site, it said it was fine. Now I received a phone call today stating it was cancelled and needed to be enstated again. I don't know who I need to talk to at SeaWorthy, but I damn well better get a phone call from somebody today or tomorrow! I'm flipping tired of dealing with this... what company in this day and age cannot do automatically withdraw my payments? I don't know who the third party agent is who handles my account, but they were suppose to call me when payment was due, and from time to time that hasn't happened. My experience with Seaworthy has been nothing short of being a complete pain in the ass. Please reach out to me asap tomorrow morning by 9am. If you are not the person who handles my account, then please call me with the contact information of the person I need to speak with.

Here is my info:

firstname last name
address
1995 Sea Ray 370 Sundancer

[hellosailor]

jk,
"what company in this day and age cannot do automatically withdraw my payments?"

Your complaint seems to come down to only that. And frankly, there are many companies that are not yet up to the times in terms of being able to fetch your money on demand.

If you've indeed somehow always paid them for two year running and now somehow expect them to be able to take payment by a means they never offered...well that would be silly. If I were the insurer and got a nasty letter from a customer telling me someone had better call me or else, then I might very well say that's a potential problem I just don't need. And let the cancellation for non-payment stand, as they did.

If indeed you'd paid an insurer, or an agent, in a timely manner and then you were cancelled for non-payment, at least in the US there are laws about that kind of thing. Fraud, wire fraud, insurance fraud, all sort of regulations and regulators to complain to.

If you don't complain and press charges, and the company did wrongfully cancel you, then you're contributing to the problem by letting them get away with a crime.

But you just don't give us enough information to guess about all that. How you paid, whether you paid, whether someone absconded with your money, whether an independent agent misbehaved. Leaving a bottom line of...nothing.

[440sailor]

Interesting posts.... Guess jkrohn has never logged into the internet.

Seaworthy insurance DOES offer online automatic payment and account access. I know because I have it. And who doesn't do online banking these days? Don't you set up payments via your banking institution? Welcome to the 21st century...