All Ski Safe Policy Holders

[patoloco]

I just got my ski-safe renewal and it went up by over 15% with no claims or any changes. I don't have time to shop around, but for thats enough of an increase for me to shop around.

[bturner]

BoatUS surprised the heck out of me this year. I was with Progressive with my last boat and expected them to be the cheapest versus coverage this time as well. I priced with Progressive, Ski Safe and BoatUS. I eliminated Ski Safe due to the deductibles, Progressive was about where my old boat coverage was and BoatUS was close to $150 less with agreed value, $1000 deductible and higher limits on per incident health and property coverage. On paper more for less.

I had BoatUS in the past, had 2 claims over 20 years and both were handled very well. That said, I know they recently changed to another underwriter (GEICO) so I have no clue how a claim will be handled by the new company.

[Sailfun]

Be careful with putting a lower than actual value on a boat. It could lead the insurance company to total your boat out and take possession while paying you out the claimed value. That leaves you holding the bag for the difference. Boats and planes are insured differently than cars. You want a accurate valuation reflected on the policy.

[GMLIII]

Be careful with putting a lower than actual value on a boat. It could lead the insurance company to total your boat out and take possession while paying you out the claimed value. That leaves you holding the bag for the difference. Boats and planes are insured differently than cars. You want a accurate valuation reflected on the policy.

Ok but a $5,000 deductible on a SkiSafe policy is ridiculous on a $150,000 boat value with no options to reduce the deductible regardless of the premium you are willing to pay . As far as deductible levels , SkiSafe is just not competitive with other insurance companies . I just went through this process

[bturner]

I came to the same conclusion when looking at Ski Safe on this latest boat. Part of the reason I have insurance is not to just protect me from catastrophic lost but also to protect me from significant loss. I don't recall the figure now but I remember thinking if I hit bottom or have any semi bad experience 9 time out of 10 I'm going to end up eating the majority of the cost to repair.

I mean think about it..... You on vacation on a new lake and run into a sand bar. You tear up the prop, bend the strut and have some less than minor gel coat damage. Repair is say $5K and you're on the hook for $2500 of it from that high deductible that you have to come up with now. Most all boaters can come up with a grand if they have to but not everyone can do $2K - $3K without planing and/or some pain.

I know a lot of guys out there that do high deductibles but that's part of their strategy and have the cash sitting aside to offset the pain should the worst happen. It's a fine strategy if the risk and rewards are there but in this case the premiums just didn't make that equation work for me personally espically since I was able to get better coverage with less deductible. But that's the beauty of a free market. Don't like what you're getting? Fine, go somewhere else. They'll either adjust to the market or deal with the loss of customers.

[GMLIII]

I stuck with SkiSafe and now that my boat is a few years old it was fine for me to reduce my boat value down to $120,000 with a $1000 deductible . The $120,000 value is sort of the threshold level for SkiSafe to offer a $1000 deductible. Any value higher than $120,000 the deduct goes back to $5000 with SkiSafe regardless of what you are willing to pay for the SkiSafe premium

[kylant]

interesting. I received a quote from Ski Safe for my '19 GS22. $150,000 boat, $9K trailer, $500K liability, $2500 deductible. $715 year.
I actually ended up just going through my agent. Got $147, $10, $500, and $500 deductible for $850 for the year.
Paid a little more, but can also work with my local agent if needed