boat insurance

[rbw]

Hi All,

Is anybody having trouble getting boat insurance for their Telstar 28 for 2013? My normal insurer, Royal Sun Alliance (Canadian firm) informed me that in U.S. waters south of 40 N latitude, liability would be limited to 100,000 K. Since this is only a fraction of what most marinas ask for in terms of liability protection, a return trailer trip to Florida waters this winter looks increasingly unlikely. I should add that insurance cost and coverage North of 40, (including our home waters of Nova Scotia, Canada) remains quite satisfactory.

Just wondering if this is a Canadian insurance issue, or related to massive claims from Sandy?

Cheers,
Rick Williams

[Ron]

My 28 lives in Florida, which historically is one of the worst places to shop for marine (and home) insurance. Some companies won't do boats during hurricane season, or will charge higher premiums for keeping it here then. When I bought the Telstar and moved it down here, Zurich dropped me rather quickly, even though I've been with them for about 16 years with no claims. My agent told me the three hulls caused it, but I think that Florida was a problem as well. I found a half dozen companies that would take me, and picked Progressive based on price. They never even asked how many hulls the boat had.

I think that the Flordia location is scaring your insurance company, but it should have no real effect because you will not be here during hurricane season, right? Do they know this? Zurich had that limitation a few years ago for monohulls, and they would not insure trimarans anywhere.

Most of the Sandy damage was north of 40 degrees. I have no idea why they talk about 40 degrees. Maybe it relates to distance from your normal cruising area. You can normally increase this cruising area by paying a few extra bucks.

Are you talking about liability (being sued) or boat loss? For liability, you could be much better off getting a larger Umbrella Policy to cover everything you insure (house, cars, boats, planes, etc.) and lowering each individual policy to the 100K threshold (where the Umbrella takes over). Probably save you some money as well. For boat loss, the boat's not worth 100K anyway.

[rbw]

Hi Ron,
Thanks for your reply. In terms of my normal boat insurance carrier, the extra cost to insure in Florida over the last three years has run like this:

1. two years ago, I could insure the boat in Florida for about $250 with 66k on the boat plus 2M liability . This was an added charge to normal Canadian water coverage.
2. last year, US coverage in Florida rose to over $500, liability was reduced to 1M and the damage deductible rose from 1k to 5k
3. this year, US coverage in Florida costs the same as last year, but liability is reduced to 100K. I don't feel comfortable with that level, and I believe most marinas don't either.

I have had a quote from a US based company, Seaworthy, to assume coverage in both US and Canadian waters, but need to clarify if my US non-residency invalidates it.

My normal broker's underwriter hinted that there had been some massive claim made, presumably liability, that made them unwilling to go any higher than 100K. Between my normal broker and another, five different Canadian marine insurers were contacted in the last two weeks, with only one agreeing to cover at all, my regular insurer with the 100K. The rest refused to cover multi-hulls. The regular insurer, indicated that they would not be taking on any new multi-hull clients, a not so subtle way of saying "don't let your insurance lapse." Maybe the problem is Jimmy Spithill's multi-million dollar pitchpole in San Francisco last fall.
http://www.examiner.com/article/america ... n-all-safe

Cheers,
Rick

[Ron]

If liability is the real problem, why not look into an Umbrella to cover EVERYTHING all of the time? I've got 2 million worth of liability overage on everything I own. Between FL and NJ it covers 3 boats, 8 cars, and 2 houses. The cost is something like $500 and it's got to be cheaper than insuring all of the above individually for that amount. I've been doing this for well over 20 years. Insurance on the Telstar costs me about $900 a year for $95,000 agreed value. But with liability capped at 100K because of the Umbrella. And that's for a full year, and everywhere in the US (and maybe Canada - never checked that).

I'm not that surprised about the multihulls, although I think its more directed at trimarans. Some of the lighter ones have a history of flipping or pitch-poling. Maybe 1/3 of the guys down here who have owned Corsairs have done this at least once. But I can't see a 48 foot Leopard turning over that easily. I've done some cruising on large cats and they are rock solid out there in 30 knots of wind.

[rbw]

Getting an umbrella liability policy to "top up" others like boat and car is an interesting idea. I will explore it with the brokers.
Thanks for the tip.

Cheers,
Rick

[Mark]

I have Allstate with agreed value and $300,000 liability (needed for my Geico Umbrella Ins). Allstate is a little over $400 per year and covers anywhere in the US all year. The boat is based in Maryland and has the 50 hp Honda.