Boat Insurance Price Hike - Not Happy

[BozSail]

My boat is 1981 Endeavour 37. I've had Geico/Boat US insurance for several years at, I think, reasonable prices. The agreed upon value of the boat for insurance purposes has been $45,000. Last year the annual premium was $1,350. This year's premium quote is $1,966 for the same coverage, a 45% increase. When I called the company, they said age of boat and repair costs in my area are driving the premium. The only way they would lower the premium to around last year's level is to lower the agreed upon boat value to $20,000 and increase the deductible from $0 to $1,000. I don't like this option.

Can anyone recommend other insurance providers that may have lower premiums?

[Pandor]

Hmmmm. I’ve never heard of someone carrying a policy with $0 deductible before. I don’t understand how that would work. The idea behind a deductible is there must be some dollar figure where you don’t mind forgoing the insurance payment and will just dig into your own pocket to keep from having to file a claim. Otherwise, filing smaller claims will certainly make the company raise your premium (best case) or drop you entirely.

What is your claim history like? This will have a bearing on recommendations.

But you can try Progressive.

[Mike OReilly]

Canadian experience: I've just gone through similar insurance hiccups. Last year my insurance jumped a considerable percentage; something like ~30%. And then this year my broker simply dropped us, saying they'd switched underwriters and the new one wasn't covering boats older than 40 years old.

I switched broker, and after some trials and tribulations they found an underwriter to take us. But it certainly seems like us older boat owners are being arbitrarily dropped by an increasing number of underwriters.

[sailingunity]

I just tried to get insurance with Gieco / Boat US and they declined me because of the boat age, apparently 30 years is their limit as of very recently. Existing policies are grandfathered, but my guess is they are trying to push those boat owners out with premium increases.

[flyingfin]

I crew on vessels that stay in Florida during hurricane season. Their deductible is the same as your agreed upon hull value. Dont complain, just pay the bill.

[BozSail]

The reason my deductible was previously $0 is the policy had a 25% reduction of deductible (started out at $1,000), for every year of no claims. Now, in order to lower the agreed upon value to reduce the premium, they require starting over again with the $1,000 deductible. I don't mind increasing the deductible to $1,000, but I don't want to reduce the agreed upon value down to $20,000. And that's where the premium reduction comes from.

I think a previous poster is correct that the company doesn't like the fact that it's a 40 year old boat.

Oh well... I'll try getting a quote from Progressive.

[newhaul]

Had our 1966 spencer with markel

https://www.markelinsurance.com/boat

One of my customers suggested trying hagerty

https://www.hagerty.com/insurance/boat-insurance/

My 1963 columbia is insured with progressive 325 a year with $500 deductible and 5k agreed value.

https://www.progressive.com/home/home/#l

[sail sfbay]

Originally Posted by BozSail

...........Can anyone recommend other insurance providers that may have lower premiums?

BoatUS/Geico appears to have decided avoid insuring older boats.. They declined to quote on my 1984 Symbol motorboat due to its age. You can find competitive insurance rates through marine insurers like Chubb and Markel and rv/trailer insurers like Progressive.

[basssears]

Sigh. Shop around shop around shop around. It's a total PITA, and I feel for you, but that's the only answer I have. We got dropped two years ago based solely on boat age. Then we had a claim (large claim) and were not surprisingly dropped by Travelers and it took me six weeks of talking and talking and trying different brokers to find someone who would cover us. It was a better price than I'd had before (oddly) but lower agreed value.


You're welcome to read through this post:
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ss-246297.html
... for a collection of names of agencies to try, the original post I made was sort of Pacific Northwest specific but I don't know why most of those ideas wouldn't work for you.


-- Bass

[jfischgrund]

Try United Marine Underwriters -- all they do is marine insurance. They will require a recent survey. Price hikes and dropping older boats seem to be the trend throughout the marine insurance business.

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by BozSail

I think a previous poster is correct that the company doesn't like the fact that it's a 40 year old boat.

Oh well... I'll try getting a quote from Progressive.

In a previous thread I cautioned against progressive insurance for the fact that they cheated me out of over $1000 when I totaled my motorcycle.
They may ensure your boat and the premium may be OK but beware if you have a claim.
BTW - they know nothing about sailboats.

All, S/V Finlandia

[Poeme]

Red Shield Insurance, I think serves PNW, don't know how much further afield.

[BillKny]

$0 Deductable???? What are you thinking?

They are pricing that policy high because they are on the hook for every single $100 repair you might ever have! Raise that to $1000, or better yet $5000 and save a BUNCH of money!

Be REALLY careful about dropping the agreed value to lower costs. Read your policy closely.

Dropping the "agreed value" is a tasty bait that can have a really big sharp hook in the middle of it. If you insure the boat for half of its fair market value, the insurance company will assume you are self-insuring half of the risk, so they will pay HALF the value of the value of all claims. SURPRISE!

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by svfinlandia

In a previous thread I cautioned against progressive insurance for the fact that they cheated me out of over $1000 when I totaled my motorcycle.
They may ensure your boat and the premium may be OK but beware if you have a claim.
BTW - they know nothing about sailboats.

All, S/V Finlandia

Unfortunately the only underwriter I could find for the older sub 40 length was progressive.

[Letterkenny]

Originally Posted by BillKny

$0 Deductable???? What are you thinking?

They are pricing that policy high because they are on the hook for every single $100 repair you might ever have! Raise that to $1000, or better yet $5000 and save a BUNCH of money!

Be REALLY careful about dropping the agreed value to lower costs. Read your policy closely.

Dropping the "agreed value" is a tasty bait that can have a really big sharp hook in the middle of it. If you insure the boat for half of its fair market value, the insurance company will assume you are self-insuring half of the risk, so they will pay HALF the value of the value of all claims. SURPRISE!

I suppose you didn’t read above where the policy had a “vanishing deductible” whereby his $1k deductible was lowered to $0 over 4 years for no claims. In the event there was a claim, it wouldnt cost anything and would then reset back to $1k.