Types of insurance policies

[Nancy]

I've been a member and insurance customer of Boat/US for over thirty years. I've had no claims and have been confident about their legendary customer service. I've also been confident that I've been buying a quality and bona fide yacht insurance policy.

I now have the renewal documents in hand. Of course, the underwriter is now Geico since Berkshire Hathaway bought the insurance portfolio. The new policy still carries an agreed hull value, but it's titled Marine Insurance Policy instead of Yacht Policy as it always was previously under other carriers.

Maybe Geico is a good company - I have no experience - but I decided to get a comparison quote.

I contacted an independent insurance agent I've seen mentioned in this forum and received a quote for a Travelers *Yacht* Policy. Interestingly, the premium is within a few dollars of the Geico policy, but the limits are higher on the Travelers policy. And it's a yacht policy, not a marine insurance policy. Is the policy type significant? I want to understand that first before considering the more attractive limits.

I could attempt to do a comparison of the boilerplate of the two policies, but I'm not an insurance analyst, so thought I'd ask here.

Thanks for any input.

[Pitou]

I have no first hand experience with Geico, but did visit their website, "Geico Marine Insurance". Under their "ABOUT" tab they seem to term all of their policies as "GEICO Marine policies" having subcategories including: Charter, Liability Only, Peer to Peer (if you have your boat available for rent), Pleasure Boat, Super Yacht and Yacht. Your quote would come under one of these six categories. I would believe: Pleasure Boat or Yacht.

Yacht policies provide significantly more coverages than Boat including "pollution coverage" and "machinery breakdown" which I would not be without considering the potential liability and expense.

From your Travelers agent and of BoatUS, I would ask for available coverages from each, then compare your prior policy Declaration of Coverages pages to what are in your quotes. Then ... yes ... a side by side comparison. If you'd like some help comparing and or just getting started I'd be happy to help out and offer the courtesy services of the admiral. Don't be shy. You do own a Cummins after all!

I'm pretty fortunate to have insurance people all around me as the admiral is my agent and she is in the marine insurance business running the commercial lines department for her family agency. As well, one of my closest friends with a lengthy maritime resume of running tugs, setting oil rigs, ocean cargo survey, insurance company fishing boat & yacht claims management knows marine insurance policies inside out and sideways / he also writes and consults on them for the insurance companies. It takes more than a beer to sit down and here his stories .. oh boy! Between the two of them, I've absorbed a lot over the years.

[Jeremyvmd]

Nancy could you pm me who you used? Until you mentioned the above I never thought about it. But now it has me concerned. I plan on keeping my cat boat with boat us as they didn't sell off the small boat policies but am considering changing shady over to someone else. To be honest I also haven't been that satisfied with the way boat us has handled my claim...

[Nancy]

Email sent, Jeremy. Hmm, interesting input about your Boat/US claim experience.

[Pitou]

BTW .. I'm with Travelers Yacht and have been since 2004 when I bought my Albin 28. During those years I've had one claim (4th week of June 2011) and the boat was hauled and the claim submitted the next day, a surveyor was on site day two, the engine & gear were removed by crane on day three with the surveyor back to inspect the gear damage on day four and I was back in the water and fully operational within three weeks. Through my machinery breakdown coverage and by week four the claim was paid in full less my 1% agreed value deductible with no questions asked. The best part ... my premium did not increase.

I'm a total fan of Travelers Yacht!

[Jeremyvmd]

I'm gonna have them send me a quote and thanks for the info Nancy! I happen to have legal shield so I get free consults with a lawyer, so I might send it all to them and have them break it down for me lol

[Nancy]

I was pressed for time when I blew through here earlier today to reply to Jeremy.

Kevin, thank you so much for your input, your not unsurprising comments that there's no substitute for reading the policies side by side, and your coaching & analysis offer. I need to do that reading very soon. I suspect that I may be moving to Travelers. I hate to after all these years, but hey, Boat/US sold the insurance business and Berkshire Hathaway was lucky enough to keep the name, right? It's not the same company, and it's not the same people.

[RobS]

The Geico policies that were rollovers from Boat US are yacht policies. The "BoatUS Yacht Policy Endorsement" should appear on your Dec Page. I compared the prior Boat US policy underwritten by NLF to the new Geico issued policy and find a depreciation winner. The original NLF policy started depreciation after the 6th year on certain items and most importantly, after the 11th year on internal machinery (inboard engines/gears). The Geico policy depreciation only kicks in at the 20th year. This could be a a critical difference for a majority of the vessels at hand here. Tenacious was re-powered ion 2002 so this comes into play for me. Anyone I know who had a BoatUS claim had zero issues, maybe Jeremy's adjuster threw up the red flag when he seen the name "Shady" Lady.....

[Nancy]

The Geico policies that were rollovers from Boat US are yacht policies. The "BoatUS Yacht Policy Endorsement" should appear on your Dec Page.

Thanks, Rob. Yes, the policy has the GM042 yacht policy endorsement.

I hope to compare the two policies within the next few days.

[Nancy]

I'm reviving this old discussion. In the course of searching for insurance for a possible new boat, I realized that we have likely been way overpaying for our Travelers Yacht Policy. Progressive is quoting 27% of the amount we're paying Travelers. For the exact same limits. No wait - personal effects coverage amount is higher on Progressive

Seems too good to be true, so, ugh, I started reading policies. The Progressive policy has no broad language about depreciation. It says that for a partial loss on a policy with agreed hull value, they will pay "the amount necessary to repair the damaged property to its pre-loss condition, reduced by the applicable deductible".

Of course, the debatable clause will be "pre-loss condition".

I'm told by the agent that the Travelers claims department is easier to work with than Progressive's.

I can't find a reason not to make the switch. The price difference is over $700. What am I missing?

[Jeremyvmd]

I wanted to update my original response. I cannot recommend Chubb enough. It’s underwritten through ace insurance. I’m paying less for the Viking than I did for the Albin (policy is for almost 100k more) and I had a claim due to grounding. Other than the post office losing the check it was very good to deal with. Just provided the estimates for repair and their paid. No fighting or problems. Extremely happy with them. I would recommend contacting them for a quote before u go with progressive.

[irishwake]

Left Geico last year and saved $600.00. The first year Geico took over was fine. The second year they devalued my boat by 20k. When I said it was worth more they said to “get a survey to prove it”. When I informed them a survey would cost $1200.00 to prove the value they replied it would be required. When my policy went up over $ 300.00 in October I said it was time to change. I am now with Progressive who includes towing. That could save me another $100+ from Boat US.

[Nancy]

P.S. The quote I got for a Progressive policy was significantly less from an agent (Charter Lakes) than directly with Progressive. I find that interesting...I would expect exactly the opposite.

[Norseman]

P.S. The quote I got for a Progressive policy was significantly less from an agent (Charter Lakes) than directly with Progressive. I find that interesting...I would expect exactly the opposite.

I have been using Charter Lakes for the last 6 years, interrupted by a year with Chubb.
So far happy with Charter Lakes but they put up a fight when I wanted to increase the agreed value from $67 K to $83K.
They/we settled on $79.5K
I should increase it again to $95k after all the work and all the additions to the tub, (And the crazy boat market spinning out of control) but I am afraid Charter Lakes will have a heart attack if I do:(

[Jkraft]

P.S. The quote I got for a Progressive policy was significantly less from an agent (Charter Lakes) than directly with Progressive. I find that interesting...I would expect exactly the opposite.

I have been using Charter Lakes for the last 6 years, interrupted by a year with Chubb.
So far happy with Charter Lakes but they put up a fight when I wanted to increase the agreed value from $67 K to $83K.
They/we settled on $79.5K
I should increase it again to $95k after all the work and all the additions to the tub, (And the crazy boat market spinning out of control) but I am afraid Charter Lakes will have a heart attack if I do:(

I too battled charter lakes hard to increase my boat policy. They wanted receipts of all of my upgrades and I was able to provide that. They kept wanting to compare my boat to a couple of “junkers” that are listed for sale. There is no comparison