Importing a Boat to Australia

[D&D]

We shopped around quite a bit for both quotes and coverage/service for our Italy-OZ via Panama delivery voyage. We found it rather difficult to secure reasonable coverage over so many cruising areas, but given yours is Pacific-only you may not experience the same problems?

In any event, we ended up with Pantaenius and found them both good value and very professional. They were also highly recommended by the delivery professionals who assisted our voyage.

Once in OZ, however, we switched over to Club Marine for (again!) both best value and best service/coverage.

[Mr B]

I used,

PSC Coast Wide Insurance Brokers.
Ashmore road, Bundall, QLD

Who got me onto Trident insurance in Perth,
They would not give me Blue water coverage, But do give 200 mile offshore coverage once I got back to Australia,

The PO of my boat was insured in Fiji with Trident,
I had no problems with Trident, and they were very good with my insurance claim.

Thats interesting, Club Marine said they didnt insure boats of my size,

[downunder]

Club marine don't want to know about bluewater.

[ausaviator]

That was likely me Mr B. I got Bluewater coverage from them for an FP from St Lucia to Melbourne. I wonder if they stopped doing it? It wasn't my fault :-) They wanted a Resume for the captain but other than that it was a no brainer for them. They did mention that the vessel was to be a "decent" one in that anything over say $150k+ to them signified a decent seaworthy vessel (probably a topic for another thread!).

Club Marine will cover bluewater but it's a very specific criteria of which I am not aware what that criteria is.

[dirkdig]

Asked clubmarine before for bluewater and they dont want to know about it.

Had a jetski stolen years ago was insured with them so they put a private investigator to interrogate me for hours and go through my bank statements, phone records and through my property.

Paid me after 3-4 months it was a $14,000 claim on a $1,000 policy cost.

Hate to think what they would do to you for a decent claim.

[ausaviator]

Asked clubmarine before for bluewater and they dont want to know about it.

Sounds like your ocean going vessel didn't meet their strict criteria. Based on that, it would seem that they definitively don't do it. Probably a good thing based on your jetski experience.

[boatman61]

Panteaneus.... Who else...

[VirtualVagabond]

You've gotta love this cruising family...

I'll give Trident, Edward William (Looks impressive) and Panteaneus a go.

Panteaneus gave me a reasonable quote back in the Caymans last year, but they wanted a haulout and to send a monkey up the rigging.

In the end I got the PO's inurance to extend cover for as long as the vessel was still registered in their name and in S. Africa.
I wish like hell I could still use them... Legal and General Ins... but they only do SA registered boats. They were cheap too. The PO had 2 claims, one for a stolen dinghy and outboard, and one for a break in. They paid both claims without blinking.
Thanks guys

Vic

[SimonV]

Make sure you insure for what the boat is worth back home not the piddely US market.

[downunder]

Club Marine did not want to look at a new vessel offshore. Seems more interested in marina based speed boats.

Spoken to several cruisers with Panteaneus who were happy. Not cheapest but few hassels with claims.

[Far Star]

Try Topsail. They insured my yacht when it was in the Med and now in Australia they specialise in bluewater. No claims as yet but were very helpful.
Cheers
Far Star

[1paulg]

one of the biggest decisions is whether you pay the extra and go for "an agreed value " policy or except a lower premium and have a policy that depreciates an item (with some exceptions)....
Depreciating Policies could be a bummer if you lost a mast in the middle of nowhere ....need to look at the fineprint and decide on what you are comfortable with...

[dirkdig]

Agreed value is what i have gone for but it's not all as it seems.

Know someone who lost thier cat in Aust.
Insurance after lengthy delays and much investigation offered a lot less than the agreed value with a take it or sue us attitude.
The boat did turn up months later with damage exactly as claimed.

[ausaviator]

It's simple for the insurers. If it's over insured they replace it with something similar and if it's under insured they pay you out :-)

[BillAU]

I think this is such an interesting subject it deserves it's own thread...Something like "Boat Insurance"