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Insurance Question

kaydano

kaydano

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Okay, so I'm reconsidering Progressive insurance for the boat...

BoatUS covers the entire statutory limit for spills, which is around $850k.  Is this really necessary?

With Progressive I can get $500k coverage for spills, and I'll have to compare the policies side by side, but I think the coverage limits on other stuff is higher too.

So, do I continue to pay ~$375/year for BoatUS?

Or $130/year for Progressive?

What am I missing?

Boat holds 6 quarts of oil and 20 gallons of gas.  Can that really cost more than $500k to clean up???
 
Just FYI, both are "agreed value" policies for $40k boat/motor/trailer.  I have the "Yacht" policy with BoatUS.
 
Wow. That's a hell of a price difference. I don't have anything constructive to add other than I am looking forward to hearing more about this. I'm on BoatUS now as well. 
 
So, do I continue to pay ~$375/year for BoatUS?

Or $130/year for Progressive?

Your premium for Progressive is much, much less than I was paying with Progressive.  I switched to Boat U.S. last July, as the premiums were approximately the same.

When it comes to insurance, I question anytime any policy's grossly different for the same coverages.  But I really look close when the premium's a third of what most others pay.
 
I use Progressive ,Very Happy with their claims dept ,paid for my port side tube replacement in less than a week .

Waiting to see if ( or how much ) my rates  go up in May,even thought they agreed if was not my fault and hit in the slip when I was not there .
 
Guess im the poor guy. I financed my boat so I needed enough coverage in case of full loss. progressive was the best. covers spills, equipment, gear, towing medical etc etc $519 per year for 50,000 incliding hurricanes (im in florida)
 
I am also with progressive, no worries or  complaints here.
 
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Since passing the act, the coast guard has enforced 61 vessel discharges. https://www.uscg.mil/npfc/docs/PDFs/Reports/Liability_Limits_Report_2013.pdf

I'd be more concerned about people who are injured while being towed behind the vessel. (You'd be amazed at how often people are hurt by the tow ropes.) Make sure you have Watersports Liability Coverage if you want to protect yourself from this.
 
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Spin - I ran across that same document a couple weeks ago!  But I quickly moved on thinking it was about oil rigs and cargo vessels.  I see now there are a couple dozen spill incidents related to some "smaller" boats listed in the appendix though, with an average spill cost of ~$2M each.  That's a lot of money for clean up.

BUT, even those "small" boats in your report are VERY large compared to a pontoon.  That group of "small" boats are in the 100-300 gross tons class.  All large fishing boats. 

How many gross tons is a pontoon boat?  I calculate ~7 gross tons.  A gross ton is the volume of "enclosed" space on a boat (in cubic feet) divided by 100.  So 1 gross ton = 100 cubic feet.  The volume of my 3 tubes, plus the "enclosed" space above deck surrounded by the fence (24 feet x 8.5 feet x 2.5 feet) comes to around 700 cubic feet.  So, 7 gross tons.

If the average "small" boat in your report was 200 gross tons, were talking about a boat that's 30x the size of my pontoon.  How much fuel and oil would a boat that big carry compared to me?  30x?  Doesn't seem like a bad place to start...  What's 1/30th of $2M?  About $70k.  There would be mobilization costs associated with clean up (so a base cost no matter the size of the spill), so I'm sure $70k is low, but that's FAR under the $854k statutory limit.

My motor has 6 quarts of oil in it.  What does it cost to clean up 6 quarts of oil?  That's the answer I'm trying to estimate above through the "gross tons" listed in the report, and using the ratio of gross tons of those boats that had spills compared to the size of a pontoon boat, then scaling cleanup costs prorata.

My guess (so far) is the $500k offered by Progressive for spill coverage is probably more than adequate.  And both my new agent and the agency owner had never had a spill clean up claim, makes me wonder if I've been overly paranoid about spill cleanup...

Is there any cost info on cleanup costs for boats our size???
 
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Bamaman said:
So, do I continue to pay ~$375/year for BoatUS?

Or $130/year for Progressive?

Your premium for Progressive is much, much less than I was paying with Progressive.  I switched to Boat U.S. last July, as the premiums were approximately the same.

When it comes to insurance, I question anytime any policy's grossly different for the same coverages.  But I really look close when the premium's a third of what most others pay.
Click to expand...
Exactly.
 
Gabbiano said:
Guess im the poor guy. I financed my boat so I needed enough coverage in case of full loss. progressive was the best. covers spills, equipment, gear, towing medical etc etc $519 per year for 50,000 incliding hurricanes (im in florida)
Click to expand...
I'm in Iowa.  No coastal water dangers.  No hurricanes.  No 30 foot waves.  No 3 foot waves that I've ever seen.  Small lakes.  Few lakes.  A short boating season.  Not many boats because there's not many people here.  Shhh!  Don't tell anyone! They'll all want to move here!  Ha ha ha.

So, guessing that may be a few reasons why insurance is cheaper.

I'd love to move to Florida though.  We seem to go on vacation there every year.
 
Just wondering . In Northern  Michigan ,there are a lot of snow mobiles that go through the ice each year . What is their insurance compared to a boat  on a $ for $ comparison ?

They have 24 hrs to get it out .
 
Jack M. said:
Just wondering . In Northern  Michigan ,there are a lot of snow mobiles that go through the ice each year . What is their insurance compared to a boat  on a $ for $ comparison ?

They have 24 hrs to get it out .
Click to expand...
That's a good question.  They contain oil and gas too, and could cause a spill.  Although you may not see it for 6 months.
 
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Thanks for posting that last link. Here's what I got out of it...

There were 8 spill examples given. 7 were spills of 1, 3, 8, 60, 84, and 126 gallons. Every one of those were under $50k to clean up in total cost. The 8th incident cost $125k to clean up, but it was a 500 gallon spill.

That tells me BoatUS's spill coverage of $854k is just for the big boats they insure, and is overkill for my little pontoon boat that holds a max of 25 gallons of gas and oil.

You guys can reach your own conclusions, but the numbers tell me I've been overly paranoid about spill coverage.

This levels the playing field between BoatUS and the other insurers (for small boats).
 
Good research, I will have to look at this when my policy comes due
 
If you think about it, marine insurance is very, very expensive.

Most boat owners don't put very many hours on their boats per year.  If trailering back and forth to the lake, they'll be doing good to go every other weekend--4 to 6 hours in a day.  And that's for a 3 month season--50 hrs. per year.  Cost per hour for boat insurance is really expensive.

I have a 4 year old Waverunner.  Progressive was wanting $100 more per year for the PWC than the insurance on my 2010 24SSLX worth many times more.  That tells you that there's a very high incidence of claims on PWC's and the average cost per claim is very, very high.

But as long as they have tree stumps under the water, nuts on the water and trailers to transport our boats, insurance is just another cost of boating.
 
I trailer my boat and fill the gas at a station that has non-ethanol. No chance of spill into the lake. If while filling you tank on the water you spill some, how long does the spill take to dissipate Second, to disperse gas spill the best way is DAWN dish soap. If the boat were to capsize the spill would be minimum because the unit is air tight. My tank is in the privacy room. Not much of a chance that it would spring a leak. If it did, wouldn't the MFG be liable? 10 year warranty. Lastly My boat spends more time on the trailer than on the water. More chance that it would leak in the yard. If the boat gets hit on the highway and the tank breaks than the guy that hit it would beat fault. I'm covered for a minimal spill but not for 500K.

Just my thoughts
 
A leak on a moving river or rough water lake is one thing, but a leak in my State Park, with little water movement, I'll take the chance paying a little extra on my insurance. I guarantee it would be expensive if I created a fish-kill from a leak.

The same theory of leaks can be used for fire extinguishers (or a gun). You may never need it, but when you do, you better hope it's big enough to cover the issue at hand. Just my .02 cents .....
 
Amen. I've seen so many people go underinsured and get burned. Since this is an insurance thread, everyone check your homeowners policy and review your sump, drain backup coverage. Cheap add on and is probably one of the most used coverages. As for the boat I'm keeping ours with boatus.
 
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