Cruising Insurance Company for the Carribbean

[Don1500]

Most of the boats I have had cost less than the insurance would. I would just like to know a "Ball Park" figure for a 35' sailboat, liability only. Is it $500 a year or $5000?

[Ellis McKinley]

I used IMIS for years for all of Caribbean, South America, Panama Canal, Pacific Central America and Mexico. They also allow a crew of two for all your passages.

[teejayevans]

Originally Posted by Ellis McKinley

I used IMIS for years for all of Caribbean, South America, Panama Canal, Pacific Central America and Mexico. They also allow a crew of two for all your passages.

Singlehanders need not apply...
Tom

[Don1500]

Originally Posted by Ellis McKinley

I used IMIS for years for all of Caribbean, South America, Panama Canal, Pacific Central America and Mexico. They also allow a crew of two for all your passages.

So ball park answer = $???

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Don1500

Most of the boats I have had cost less than the insurance would. I would just like to know a "Ball Park" figure for a 35' sailboat, liability only. Is it $500 a year or $5000?

Don, liability is usually quite cheap. Our broker (RBS in South Africa) quoted $250/yr for $1M of liability coverage if we decided to start chartering, but that's added on to our existing policy. I don't know what a liability (only) policy would cost. Typical premiums for hull insurance run 1-2% of insured value per year.

[Don1500]

That's what I was looking for. It sounds reasonable at least, but that is for some coverage that I may not need. Chartering is not on the table right now. Anyone have a figure for Liability and Hull coverage, pleasure boat, East Coast of the US to the Carib.

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Don1500

That's what I was looking for. It sounds reasonable at least, but that is for some coverage that I may not need. Chartering is not on the table right now. Anyone have a figure for Liability and Hull coverage, pleasure boat, East Coast of the US to the Carib?

Go ahead & ping Chandre Stemmers at RBS. She doesn't bite. Usually, the side issues (dinghy, theft, liability, etc) are a small fraction of the basic boat premium, but a lot depends on your deductible (ours is $5K, which is just over what we lost in the last lightning strike). If you're looking for a ball-park figure, it's usually about 1.4% of whatever value you want to insure your boat for. Do you need more accuracy than 2 digits?

The Caribbean brings up special issues, as very few companies will cover you during hurricane season. RBS quoted us an extra $1K for Caribbean coverage during hurricane season. Some places are not happy insuring us Yanks because of our sue-happy history. US underwriters simply charge us (WAY) more.

While we're talking about insurance, you might consider DAN evacuation insurance. Dirt cheap (they're non-profit) - they'll cover a family of 4 for only $140 for their full meal deal. They paid for me to fly from Seychelles to Jo'burg for emergency eye surgery (they even paid for the surgery) & they also helicoptered our son out of the Himalayas when he got altitude sick. Highly recommended.

[Don1500]

This was what I was looking for. The observation that a US company would charge more is telling. The numbers you mentioned are about what I was looking for. They come out to around $140 per $10000 of valuation, which is not prohibitive. I will check out Chandre Stemmers as soon as I know which boat I will be buying and how much insurance I will need.

[Jon Hacking]

Good Luck! Feel free to tell Chandre you got her name from us.

[ErikFinn]

Sent an email to IMIS and Commandeur on (Wednesday) asking for approved or recommended surveyors; IMIS replied almost instantly but until today (Friday) Commandeur has not replied.
Erik

[colemj]

Originally Posted by grunzster

I know this is a really old thread, but I think some people need to read their policies more closely. I got a quote from Commandeur just a few days ago, and it has the same clause as described earlier.

With all the toys I have aboard...laptops, cameras, bike, kayak, dive gear, etc. that one could be a deal breaker.

Even worse it excluded passengers aboard the dink, and while boarding or un-boarding both. Considering I plan on chartering, I think this may be an even bigger deal breaker for me.

Sorry I didn't respond to earlier requests, but have been cruising in areas without internet coverage and haven't been on the board much.

Commandeur told us that a locked boat was considered locked up storage, so forced entry through our locked hatch would fit the bill. I don't know about anything stored on deck like kayaks.

Grunzster, if you are going to charter, you will need to tell your insurance company that and you will have much different rates. Our Commandeur policy specifically excludes chartering, and I imagine most others will also.

Mark

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by colemj

...if you are going to charter, you will need to tell your insurance company and you will have much different rates...Mark

You're right that one needs to tell your insurer if you intend chartering, but it's not too bad. Our policy has a no-charter clause, but when we asked what it would take to allow chartering, it was pretty minor - basically just increasing liability coverage, which is pretty cheap.

[speciald@ocens.]

I used Hodgens insuranc for my power boat - full time in the Caribbean. I got a LLoyd's policy that was remarkably inexpensive - all risk at ~2%. Chubb insurance covers the Caribbean in their standard off -shore policy (<1%)

[off-the-grid]

Thanks! So as long as it's all locked in the cabin it's covered. You have me reconsidering them now. I still don't like that they don't provide coverage for passengers. Some of the quotes I've been getting really aren't much more than my current policy.

[SharAndy]

Watch out for the fine print in any policy.....such as clauses about maintaining the boat, etc. which is a fall back should something go wrong...After thorough investigation among a # of policies/companies, including those mentioned in these threads, I settled on Offshore Risk Management (ORM) w a policy from Marine Insurance Co.which give good coverage for hurricane damage with the least deductible, etc. & fewer 'gotcha' clauses. Contact Susan A. Coates sac@offshorerisk.com