Boat Insurance Policy observation/change

[fjroa]

Received my renewal notice from Geico/BoatUS and noticed the premium amount went down. Upon a line by line comparison, the only change from last year was the Hull and Equipment Agreed Value was reduced by exactly 20%. Since I did not request this change, I called Geico/BoatUS and learned Geico will reduce the Agreed Value if several years have passed where the Agreed Value has not changed. So, the representative said the policy holder should check their coverage each year. I requested the Agreed Value be increased and while on hold, the representative checked one or more of their sources (ABOS, BUC, and NADA) for my boat’s value. In less than 5 minutes, the representative returned on the line and agreed the boat value was low and the Agreed Value would be raised to the number I requested. A simple phone call and a few dollars more than last year resulted in an increased Agreed Value. Overall, happy that this issue was resolved so quickly.

[srock]

Now why would they do such a thing.

[core-rider]

I dealt with the same thing years ago with BoatUS... I wouldn't say my interaction was as quick and painless, but they did eventually raise the amount back up to something we could agree upon. I still don't completely agree with it especially with the higher values the older boats are commanding these days, but I will revisit it next year when my policy renews.

[MN Ryan]

I'm with State Farm. I did not have that issue, but I did have my agreed upon value increased this year due to the price of used boats. It was a quick call to my agent, and we added some additional peace of mind to the policy.

[bturner]

I ran into this with BoatUS a few years back with the previous boat but my experience was not quick and not pleasant. One thing to watch out for is that while they may have agreed to adjust the agreed on value one thing they still have you for is depreciation of the components. What is this you say? Well if you read the fine print or press the agent on the phone this is what you'll find out. According to what I was told when a boat hits a certain age the existing components are no longer new and are therefore deprecated depending on age. And what does that mean? Well, say you hit a submerged rock and take out the prop, pro shaft and it goes really bad and damage something in the trans. The dealer (or repair facility) writes the estimate for all three components. The insurance company only pays for 80% of those components because they've deprecated them and your on the hook for the other 20% and your detectable. So say all those components cost $5K, that's an additional grand you get to shell out for the repair. At least that's how it was explained to me.

I ended up dropping my insurance with them and went somewhere else with the old boat. I went back with them with the new boat and it hasn't been an issue so far but I know it's coming. I also tried to increase my agreed on value and they wouldn't move on that with mine. I've found with boat/car insurance if you're not keeping them honest every year and shopping around you'll end up spending hundreds if not thousands more than you have/need to. I'll be shopping around next year as well. Part of the reason I won't do auto pay with insurance.

[NautiqueJeff]

I would never insure anything with Geico, and I actually worked there for a few years right out of college.

Ski Safe has been great with all of my boats (and I have had a ton). The only one they won't insure is my homebuilt wooden race boat.

[bionaraq]

Something my agent brought up when adding the Nautique (vs my Yamaha). With the way values have gone up lately, AV might be a huge disadvantage. If i'd done AV with my Yamaha in 2018 when I bought it in a total loss i'd lose nearly 20k in value vs trying to replace it with a now 6 year 2015. If you dont change the number every year esp the last four years. Now, with the economic changes it may be back to the days of "boat loses 20% of it's value every year".

[srock]

I too have found it necessary to compare at each renewal. The depreciated value to me is pretty deceptive. It caught my eye on my last renewal and the explanation was weak and it seems to negate the idea of an agreed-upon value.

[Scooter G]

2 cents and what it's worth for anyone considering a future shopping comparison while we're on the subject. We had been with Progressive on just our marine stuff for forever and a day, and they would give little decreases each year for good behavior. With the upgrade to the Nautique, I couldn't get them to hit the value, and the price seemed to be a little (a lot) over the top. Spent quite a bit of time homeworking, and came across United Marine Underwriters. Price seemed almost too cheap, you could set deductibles across the board, and they had a lot of coverage perks that I hadn't seen with other policies. I think they even write you a check for $1000 if you sink your dog, now my wife might argue that the "stupid doodle" (I actually kind of like the dog, now) is worth more than a grand, but haven't seen that inclusive of other policies. I had to file my 1st boating claim, ever, this year, and they were more than superb in performance, rubber meets the road. No affiliations with UMU, has just been a good experience thus far.

[mooneywa]

I would never insure anything with Geico, and I actually worked there for a few years right out of college.

Ski Safe has been great with all of my boats (and I have had a ton). The only one they won't insure is my homebuilt wooden race boat.

Can you expand on this? I've had Geico for a number of insured items and never had a problem including my current boat - of course you never know if there's a problem until there is one. I'm up for renewal in a month or two and it'd be nice to hear some other opinions.

[bturner]

2 cents and what it's worth for anyone considering a future shopping comparison while we're on the subject. We had been with Progressive on just our marine stuff for forever and a day, and they would give little decreases each year for good behavior. With the upgrade to the Nautique, I couldn't get them to hit the value, and the price seemed to be a little (a lot) over the top. Spent quite a bit of time homeworking, and came across United Marine Underwriters. Price seemed almost too cheap, you could set deductibles across the board, and they had a lot of coverage perks that I hadn't seen with other policies. I think they even write you a check for $1000 if you sink your dog, now my wife might argue that the "stupid doodle" (I actually kind of like the dog, now) is worth more than a grand, but haven't seen that inclusive of other policies. I had to file my 1st boating claim, ever, this year, and they were more than superb in performance, rubber meets the road. No affiliations with UMU, has just been a good experience thus far.

Based on what I've seen over the years on just about anything insured there is no one agency or company that is going to be great over the long run. I was with AAA for 22 years on house and auto. They were always a bit high but the service was excellent. This spring they raised my auto insurance by 80% and home owners by 60%. I called to find out why and the said that due to the pandemic they were paying out more and needed to raise rates to cover the payouts (BoatUS pulled this same type of BS about 7 years ago after the hurricane that hit New York). I went online to Progressive for everything and lowered my current auto by ~20% and my current home owners by nearly 30% both with better coverage. After seeing these saving I know now that as much as I hate shopping for insurance I'll need to track these policies and shop them yearly. On my boat, I'm on target for changing insurance providers every 2 years and it wouldn't surprise me that now I'll have to do the same with home and auto.

As to Progressive, GEICO or whoever for insurance...... I saw a question in one of these threads a couple years back that asked, how many people with mainstream boat insurance had an insurance company deny a legitimate claim or refused to make a proper repair? The response was mostly crickets. I've only had 2 claims in my rather long boating hobby, both were with BoatUS with 2 different underwriters. Both told me to take the boat wherever I wanted and paid for everything. I know of 2 other people I boat with that had different insurance companies that filed claims and they had similar experiences.

So what's the moral of this story? IDK, based on personal experience if you chose a mainstream company, make sure you're buying a policy that is giving you the coverage you need/expect, I honestly don't think there's going to be a big difference in the results if you have a claim. I think the bigger challenge is making sure coverage for things like depreciation on hardware or agreed value are in line with your expectations but other than that if you get to pick the shop and they pay the claim to fix the boat correctly what's the difference?

There's always going to be that bad claim or bad experience with a product/company that will stick with you and make you jaded towards one company or another (lord knows I'll never buy Firestone tires again or eat at Arby's after working there as a teen) but after my AAA experience this spring any misplaced loyalty I may have had towards an insurance company is gone. I'm much more concerned with what's in the policy than any company name or logo.

[Scooter G]

As always, excellent commentary bturner, spot on. I've had a few head butting contests with insurance companies (like you mentioned, we probably all have), mostly home or personal property claims. Nickel & dime stuff that leaves you shaking your head, are you kidding me. Except for the $38,000 roof claim that was denied by Auto Owners Insurnace, and picked up later by Farmers. And then you change and move on, next. Now that you mention it, the few boat claims that I've heard of, I don't recall any war stories, seems the watercraft side of the insurance spectrum is fairly congenial.
Been off of Firestone for years, can't even remember why at this point, something about exploding sidewalls. But I do love me a big ole Arbys and jamocha shake every once and a while. lol. Maybe there is something I need to know here..?

[dskier]

I totally agree with Jeff- Ski Safe is GREAT! Both boats insured thru them.