I had unexpected challenges insuring my new boat, and in the end was finally able to overpay for minimal coverage. Through the process I spoke with several brokers and got a sense of the climate. Each carrier has its own quirks, rules and inclinations but overall I was left with the impression that the industry has seen a rise in risk in aggregate and has become more conservative and selective.
Boats with less than perfect surveys and older boats generally seem not to be an attractive market for most insurers, (perhaps it’s the demographic!). unless the boat is a high$ ‘gold plater’. For the small premium involved it’s seems not to be worth it to many insurers. I had made my offer subject to insurability, without expecting it to be a problem, and it was. One broker told me that she now recommends this to all clients.
Dave 33-2 Sent from my iPhone On Jul 18, 2023, at 2:11 PM, Dennis C. via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote:
I'm not overly surprised at this. In some ways I support it. I've seen some obnoxious, if not outright dangerous, situations caused by operators of larger powerboats. Perhaps handing the keys to a 40+ foot express cruiser to a newbie isn't exactly a bright idea.
Although I don't hold a master's license, my insurance company liked the fact that I was a certified Officer of the Deck Underway Fleet Steaming on a 384 foot, 2800 ton US Navy ship. They give me a discount for that.
--Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA
When we purchased our 1956 Matthews 42 with twin 454 gas V8 engines we had difficulty obtaining insurance at any cost. After a haul-out survey, drawn fasteners, and certifying the survey findings we got to my qualifications to own and operate the vessel.
The insurance company that was most promising asked about my ownership and experience operating/navigating similar size vessels. They also asked about what training/education related to boat operation I had competed.
Fortunately, I had all those bases covered and we were able to bind coverage. The cost is 4X what we pay for Calypso. We were expecting 3X, hoping for 2X.
I expect newbies, possibly during COVID buying more boat than they could handle along with high payouts from storm damage is driving insurance companies out of the market.
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