Boat insurance advice

[PADDLES]

g'day simon and bryn, read the pds CAREFULLY!!!! make sure you fully understand it and then ring them with any questions you have. like has been said earlier lookvery carefully at the issue of the insurer only paying out the lessor of the agreed value or market value.

for your information, we are insured with racq at "market value", i rang them to find out how they calculate "market value" because this is not stated anywhere on the policy. basically in the event of a total loss ie. it sinks and can't be recovered, they simply negotiate a market value with you based on the current value of a similar boat in your local area.

tread carefully in the minefield boys and make sure you get the best you can afford for more peace of mind.

[White Pointer]

G'day,

As a rule of thumb (and thumbs come in different sizes) expect to pay 1% of BMT for annual insurance.

Club Marine have a good idea of BMT values so if they ask for a valuation they are probably acting to protect the actual insurer from risk. Club Marine is a broker. The actual insurance is through ALLIANZ.

Read the policy conditions very carefully. For example, Club Marine require that trailer boats are secured behind a locked gate when not in use.

Do shop around. It's worth it. But since AIG in the USA collapsed premiums have been on the rise and expect around 8% increase this year on home and contents, cars and boats.

Hope this helps.

Declaration of interest: House and contents with NRMA; Three cars with AAMI; One car with Allianz; One BMT with Allianz through Club Marine; One BMT uninsured and soon for sale!

Regards,

White Pointer

[cormorant]

Im with N.R.M.A myself, also have everything else with them, car , home etc!

Remember they will want to split up the Hull, Trailer, Motor in the policy,

Personnally i put a most of it on the motor and enough on the trailer to buy a newy if it got stolen,

I cant really see someone stealing my hull and leaving my motor behind, But i could see it the other way around.

Good luck with it mate!!

Hulls get nailed in road accidents or against petrol pumps etc. Let alone hitting objects in the water and it doesn't take much to write one off so be careful with your allocation. Hull damage from trailering and strapping down too tight and in case you got a bad batch of polly etc. Get hammered when a tyre lets go and when halv a brick flicks up off the road Hulls hold value unlike motors that depreciate quicker and trailers never seem to get cheaper.

Basically I am saying for the extra $10 premium you can probably insure for full value and not have to argue so hard if something bad happens.

Won't even comment on vandalism

Watch out there was a few pollys that were mistaken for bins and bin men just load them up ha ha

[sleepygreg]

If you want a good broker, give I.C. Frith a go. Understand the marine industry and also the recreational fishing industry. I have used them for years and always managed to come up with the 'right' policy for my needs and circumstance.......(note I didnt say cheapest).

Greg

[rooboy98]

G'day,


Read the policy conditions very carefully. For example, Club Marine require that trailer boats are secured behind a locked gate when not in use.

Regards,

White Pointer

Are you sure about this White Pointer? I cannot find any reference to this requirement in my PDS.

Cheers,
Roo.

[White Pointer]

Are you sure about this White Pointer? I cannot find any reference to this requirement in my PDS.

Cheers,
Roo.

G'day,

Absolutely. They asked me the question when I was taking out the policy and it is a condition of the written policy.

It may be a new condition based on claims experience. Check it.

Regards,

White Pointer

[Jabba_]

I was with NRMA and I was screwed rotten by them... I had a 250 ficht motor that ingested water, agreed value was 14k on the motor. The most I got out off them was 4k....

I was put onto a new company called Nautilus Insurance, good value and apparently there very good at honoring there policies...
www.nautilusinsurance.com.au/pages/contact

[TimiBoy]

One piece of advice - see a Broker. You will pay a little more for your insurance BUT:

A good Broker will read the policy and understand it, then answer your questions. They will tell you who's good with claims and who isn't, they will tell you the ins and outs of agreed value vs market value.

When it comes claim time a good Broker will do a lot of the work for you, and they will push the Insurance Company to get the best result for you. A couple of results I've had in the past were simply outstanding. I reckon my Broker has saved me around $20,000 since I've been with him, in claims that would have been weaseled out of.

I have used him for years, and I could not be happier!

My boat was switched to Club Marine last year, John (my Broker) believes their policy is head and shoulders above everyone else, even though it was a couple of hundred cheaper than anyone else (and he made a bit less money on it). But he will check the competition every year.

Cheers,

Tim

[ozscott]

Post up his name Tim because good brokers are few and far between. Word of mouth is often the best recommendation with these guys and gals

[TimiBoy]

Post up his name Tim because good brokers are few and far between. Word of mouth is often the best recommendation with these guys and gals

Webster Hyde Heath Insurance Brokers. 0883625553. Based in Adelaide, I'm in Brisbane. It poses no difficulties! My man is John Heath, he runs the place. Please don't "tyre kick", just ring him if you're serious! He is quite busy, and you may end up just talking to Chanelle or Mary, but they are ALL good!

Mention my name please! That way he might buy me a beer at the cricket this year...

Cheers,

Tim

[rowanda]

G'day,

Absolutely. They asked me the question when I was taking out the policy and it is a condition of the written policy.

It may be a new condition based on claims experience. Check it.

Regards,

White Pointer

Hi, agree, haven't seen this before so just checked all my papaerwork...nothing?
so called them and its not a condition of my policy, you state when you take it out how it is stored, maybe this lessens your price?
personally i have been with Club Marine for many years and made my first claim last year (first ever insurance claim) my bimini and clears were all torn off the boat in highway travel. For a $100 excess and a slight contribution to the claim ($150 due to the age of the covers) i ended up with all new bimini/clears all made by person of my choice. Would recommend CM to anyone and hopefully you never need it

[cormorant]

Garaging sometimes depends on the area ( postcode) in which you live and also what competitors are offering and these extra conditions are printed on the back of your policy invoice and for part of their document if you claim. There may or may not be extra premium based on age and insurance history and some firms will cotinue policy conditions like "must be secured on private property XXXX" but won't allow new policy holders the same condition.


If you are going to a broker do the guy a favour and write down what you actually want or what you are unhappy about with your current policy so he has an idea of your criteria.

With enewals we often call the insurer and ask them to reduce teh premium if they want to keep us as a customer and some have a bit of wiggle room as they often have a "suck you in - introductry rate"that is offered to new customers rather than the renewal rate . Yep they acually increase good customers premium by a few % and to try and get new customers discount. We have asked and got that new customer rate for 3 years straight for the sake of a call. Will see how I go this year and what lame excuse they will offer. We call as a cold call and get the walk off the street rate and are allways surprised how sometimes it can be 50-80 bucks cheaper than the renewal. So few people check so the insurers win and it takes a little time to do your own checks.

I think insurance for marine should have got cheaper as there are so many more suppliers of boat product and services out there and more boats so a bigger pool of premium and with such low usage of so many boats compared to ownewship????

.

[Crunchy]

I was with NRMA and I was screwed rotten by them... I had a 250 ficht motor that ingested water, agreed value was 14k on the motor. The most I got out off them was 4k....

I was put onto a new company called Nautilus Insurance, good value and apparently there very good at honoring there policies...
www.nautilusinsurance.com.au/pages/contact

Jabba, very interested to know more, I just went with NRMA becasue of the agreed value policy...so why didn;t they honour that in your case? PLease PM me if you prefer....

thanks
Crunchy

[Argle]

I was with NRMA and I was screwed rotten by them... I had a 250 ficht motor that ingested water, agreed value was 14k on the motor. The most I got out off them was 4k....

I was put onto a new company called Nautilus Insurance, good value and apparently there very good at honoring there policies...
www.nautilusinsurance.com.au/pages/contact



Jabba what was the go there??? What reasons did they give for not coughing up the agreed value? Also happy to hear by PM if you wish, I am also insured with NRMA

Cheers
Scott

[PADDLES]

hi jabba, your motor "ingested water". did they agree to write it off and pay you the agreed value in full or did they offer you the "reasonable cost to repair the motor"? was the motor repairable? did you do everything they required you to do in their pds?

i too am interested in what happened because their policy actually looked pretty good when i read their pds.

people have to be realistic when making a claim, there's no way an insurance company will give you the write off value of an outboard if they can repair it for less.