boat appraisal?

[westerner]

Does anyone know of a person who does boat appraisals? A couple who recently did a complete restoration (beautiful job) on a 1959 BellBoy is having trouble insuring it due to its age. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Kent

[Lootas1]

Maybe a different insurance company is the answer. When I bought Rosario, I went to my agent and told him the amount I wanted it insured for and he wrote it up for that amount. No problem. Does it seem unreasonable to think a Skagit 17 in pretty decent shape is worth $2 million if it sinks, burns or is stolen? Oh, sorry, I do know a guy up in Bellingham that does appraisals but think you might want to find one closer to you.

[Bflaherty]

Maybe a different insurance company is the answer. When I bought Rosario, I went to my agent and told him the amount I wanted it insured for and he wrote it up for that amount. No problem. Does it seem unreasonable to think a Skagit 17 in pretty decent shape is worth $2 million if it sinks, burns or is stolen? Oh, sorry, I do know a guy up in Bellingham that does appraisals but think you might want to find one closer to you.

This is the same way State Farm insured our Chris Craft. We stated what we felt was the approximate replacement value and we pay monthly accordingly. I know some insurance companies won't cover "new boaters" in "old" boats due to the added risks.

My antigue and classic boat club contacts say that Hagerty and Grundy are the only companies willing to "fully" insure restored boats for their true replacement value without requiring a thorough survey.

[westerner]

Thanks so much for the info, I think another insurance company is the answer for them. Their company is farmers and I have Safeco that will just insure the amount I think is reasonable and charge accordingly.

Jerry ,they live in the North sound so the name of that person who can do an appraisal would be appreciated just in case they want to stay with the same agent.

These nice people are very interested in attending an event and are very interested in joining the club. They were planning on bringing their boat to the La Connor show but something else conflicted.

[Seanfromseattle]

In the humble opinion of an insurance lawyer, Farmer's is one of the worst insurance companies out there, preceeded only by All State. Farmer's just got nailed two years ago for a 17 million bad faith verdict. Stay far away... My boat insurance is Progressive. It took a lot of talk to them to get them to see the light and insure my boat for what I think is reasonable, but now, I just call them with the value of improvements, and my total value is going up. BoatUS was twice Progressive's quote...

[RJY007]

Progressive

Do your research and be careful out there! Personal experience with Progressive leaves me to believe their claims people are brain dead and they refused to pay when one of their own hit another Progressive insured person.....

Seems like all the low end insurers will fight not to pay if they can get away with it.

Google complaints lists for all of them, hold your nose, and make a selection.

[Helmar]

yep, pretty much all crooks, just have to choose the one that takes the least amount of effort, time and money to get them to pay is all.
Funny when you have to have an attorney to make them do there job...Screwy1

[John Berg]

Why insure?

Not sure why you need to insure old boats. The people getting the money will have several reasons but as the Guy paying the money I cant think of one. John

[Bflaherty]

Not sure why you need to insure old boats. The people getting the money will have several reasons but as the Guy paying the money I cant think of one. John

The biggest reason for my having insurance is to cover potential damage or injury if the boat were to have a mechanical failure (locked transmission, broken rudder, stuck throttle, etc..) that might result in the boat running into someone or something (like a $60k ski boat full of people in the middle of the lake)...

I view it like car insurance, it sucks to pay for since the average person will never need to use it, but if the day comes that you need to file a claim you will be thanking your lucky stars you had coverage. Boating acccidents can get expensive quick!!

My brother once had a friend run one of our sea-doo's over the top of the other... Nobody was injured (other than minor bruising) but the repair bill for the two boats was well over $6k and our State Farm insurance covered 100% after we met the $1k deductible. Had we not had insurance, we would have had to scrap what was left of them...

Just one man's opinion.

[westerner]

My biggest concern is liability for passengers. My friend had a passenger who fell face first into his boat while boarding, broke his ribs and was laid up for awhile. It could have been much more serious. Just compensation for lost work (He is a doctor) would have been staggering. He didn't sue and used his own insurance fortunately.

My wife broke her arm and shoulder in five places and to date (it's not over yet) we have seen our insurance pay out 16K. It could come to even more before all is said and done. Costs anymore are outrageous.

Although the boat isn't worth that much to anyone but me possibly, the motor and trailer would be somewhat expensive as far as replacement value is concerned. Insurance is something I'm not willing to gamble with even though I may never need it.:TwoCents1:

[Sammamish1]

IMHO

Get the boat added to your liability coverage under your homeowners insurance. That will protect you and others.

In truth the value of our older boats is around $0.00. Trailer and motor maybe more. Put your money into a new old boat, not insurance.

This from the son of one of those rotten conniving insurance salesmen. He made a good living selling insurance but wouldn't by any more than the minimum required by law.

[Seanfromseattle]

Okay, the primary reason to have the insurance is for liability, UIB, and then to have some compensation to shop for a new boat in the event of a total loss. First liability insurance on anything that you drive is just prudent. You have to read your homeowners policy to see if you are covered for liability on your boat. On my policy it would give liability to a boat with under 25hp (I think), so while that would insure my little 10' porta-bote, it wouldn't insure my 120hp Glasspar Seafair. Second, homeowner's liability does not give you uninsured boater insurance, and I would not want to have an accident without UIB, with some uninsured schmuck because then I have literally nothing to recover. The saddest people who call me are the ones who were in an accident, where nobody has any insurance policy, because they have no way to recover anything from anybody. I carry a policy with good limits with an umbrella. And yes it is messed up that you have to lawyer up to get an insurance company to pay out, but on the other hand minimizing claims is how they make their profit, and they do that in the context of the legal system, so it only makes sense that you would then have to lawyer up to compete against them. And it's how I make my living...