Boat Insurance?

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

I know this has been posted before but it's been awhile so I thought to get everyone's opinion again as to what Company they use, how much coverage do they have (replacement, etc.) how much you pay, and who do you think is the best. Please be honest about it, ok?

If you got screwed with the last insurance deal, please admit it and who it was.



I have Allstate and they are pretty cheap. It's about $130.00 per year for replacement value up to $8500. for my 1996 PT-17, and $5000. for anything that happened to be in my boat.



BUT, for two years the Allstate representative told me not to worry because my boat was covered under my home owners policy. Finally this past year, one of his secretaries or whatever, called me and told me my boat was NOT covered. WHAT, I said.. She told me my rep. had been wrong and it was NOT covered by my home owners. So, for two years I didn't have any insurance for that stuff. My trailer was covered under my auto policy but I just don't trust him anymore. Speaking of just this, would any of you switch just for that reason? Jump in and let everyone know ok?



Uncle Billy

 

[Gilbert Scales2]

Hey Uncle Billy! I have Progressive, my replacement value is also $8500.00 on my 1995 Nitro 160TF. I also have $5000., coverage for personal belongings. You didn't mention your deductable, mine is zero. If you have Progressive for 5 years with no claims, and start out with a $500.00 deductable, it goes to zero. I have been lucky, no claims. If you have been happy with Allstate other than the one mistake, I wouldn't change. For many years Home owners insurance did cover boats, trailers. Almost forgot, I pay $210.00 per year.



Bubby

 

[Kevin Izzi]

Hi Uncle Billy,



I have Progressive for my 901 it covers full replacement, $15,000 on tackle, rods, gps, trolling motor ect against loss or theft and the trailer. Personal injury and property damage one incident $100K and $200K max. Zero deductible because I have all my company vehicles with them as well. $326.00/year and I have switched to them after my John Deere caught fire in my garage with my wife's 320E Benz in the garage. The good hands people had all my biz for 20+ years until that incident happened (we don't have enough time to tell you the whole BS story). I now have State Farm for all my properties and for my home and Progressive for the vehicles. I had a truck hit my 06 Chevy in the parking lot of Lowe's did $8K worth of damage and took off. I came out to find a gaping hole in the side of my truck from the vehicle that hit me only three days after I signed up with Progressive. No rate increases and they treated me wonderfully at their service center. So you have to look at the overall experience and their rating when you buy.



Good Luck,



The Dragon

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

You don't even want to know what my insurance costs.....Charter insurance ain't cheap. 1.5 mill in liability and so on. Used to have State Farm and everything was peachy...no claims though. Any of them seem to be good until you file on them, that's when the problems start.



TOXIC

 

[fatrap]

Progressive

No claims no deductable.

fatrap

 

[Berry Lindley]

Be wary of Allstate. My wife got rear ended a yr and a half ago by someone with Allstate. It was a nightmare getting it all resolved. I ended up having to subrogate through State Farm (my carrier) to get my Trailblazer totalled out. It took me nearly 8 weeks to get my money out of it. The last straw was when the Allstate adjuster told me 5 weeks into the ordeal that they were going to put a used transmission and a used frame in a 4 yr old pristine truck with 60,000 miles on it. There would be no warranty on the transmission, and I would basically have had a rebuilt, badly depreciated truck. The body shop warned me about Allstate when we got started, and they were right. Maybe they are better where you are, but I suggest you make a visit to your local dealer and ask them when you have a claim how your selected carrier is to work with.

 

[Mini]

BoatUS Angler package.



Coverage for replacement cost on the boat and equipment. This includes free unlimited towing!!!! Also if you have prepaid a tournament and your boat is in the shop for repair, stolen, etc. they will re-imburse you for the entry fee for the tournament. Nice little bonus.



For my 01 Ranger 520DVX it was just under $400 for the year.



Guys you need to look into BoatUS. They also have a nice guy drawing cartoons for them in their magazine and a monthly big bass (two catagories, LMB and SMB) contest that pays $50!!!!



Mini

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Have a number ?

 

[michael marcum]

I saw this post and had to weigh-in on it. I had progressive for 5 years and never had a problem, mainly because I never had problem with the boat. The short version is that I had something sucked into the intake and it took down a cylinder, called Progressive they said it was covered they just needed to see the problem. Nobody came out to see it from Progressive so the Marine shop called and they gave the okay, I also called Progressive to confirm they claimed it was beeing taken care of. After the motor was fixed they turned the claim down leaving me with a nice $5,500 bill. They claimed they didn't get to see the motor, the boat was in the shop a month before work was started on it, not to mention that they gave the okay to work on it. I had the reps name called the company back and they said the rep wasn't avaible and they were not paying the bill. A very good friend a mine used to work for progressive as a claims adjustor just not in my area so he really couldn't help with too much. He left to work for Travlers insurance because of other issuses like this that he claimed were common with progressive. Needless to say that I do not have them anymore.

 

[Donn Norton2]

I have never had a problem with Allstate with my boat or auto's when making a claim. It sounds like that your problem Uncle Billy is with the agent not Allstate. When I have a claim I call a 1-800 # and get a claim # and take the boat or auto to a shop of my choice and thats it. They send check to me for full amount of repairs minus the deductable. Another plus is that Allstate has Lawyers on retainers so if you do get sued for an accident they are on it, I've been there and Allstate was there for me. No I do not work for Allstate,,LOL. I have a 20 foot deck boat it covers all and replacement for $250 a year, $500 deduct. I had someone hit be once who had StateFarm and they were a pain, I called Allstate about this problem and they told me to call StateFarm and tell them if they don't settle that Allstate would sue them, I did has Allstate told me and 2 days later I had a check from State Farm. Good Luck!

 

[Mini]

800-283-2883 or http://www.boatus.com/insurance/policy.asp#bass



I need to call and renew here in a month or two. BTW the replacement cost is an agreed upon price. I didnt want to pay for replacement cost on a new 520, so I just covered the "bluebook" value of $25k

 

[TRCM]

I have a stated value policy for the boat trailer, and if they are totaled, that is what I will be paid.



BUT, it seems that if just the trailer is totaled, they only pay market value minus depreciation.....same thing if just the boat is totaled.



Let's say for instance, that my boat is worth 25,000, and my trailer is worth 2500 right now, both brand new.



2 yrs from now, someone destroys my trailer while I am fishing. They will take the 2500 for the trailer new, depreciate it 500, and pay me that number minus my deductible of let's say another 500. I only get paid 1500 for the trailer, and now I don't have enough money to get a new trailer, cuz they cost 2500.



Or the boat gets totaled and not the trailer, they then take the 25,000 for the boat, and lop off 2 yrs of depreciation @ 5,000, and then my 500 deductible, so that I only get 19,500 for the boat. Again, not enough to buy a new one @ 25,000.



So it seems to me the only way to get the stated value on the policy with my current company, is if both the trailer AND the boat get totalled at the same time.



Again, talking to the agent, if they are both totalled, I get paid 27,500. If just the trailer is totaled, I get fair market value (new - depreciation-deductible), and if just the boat is totalled, I again get fair market value (again, new-depreciation-deductible).



That sounds like a sneaky way to not pay the full value, as the odds are pretty good that one or the other will get totalled, not both.



It's also got me thinking I need to switch to another company, one that gives a stated value for both the trailer and the boat individually.



BTW, the company I am currently with is Progressive, so you may want to call and talk to your agent if you use them as well.



Because of this, and the fact that it took 4 people to answer my question, as well as the policy not having a stated value for the trailer, I am most likely gonna switch to BoatUS.