Re: Insurance?

Posted by Steve Miller on Jul 26, 2006

I had boat insurance with Safeco for over 6 years. The agent never asked much more than basic info. When it came time to renew this year I was canceled since my boats are "home or kit built" and Safeco was not doing that any more. Only one of the three is a kit. As an appeal I provided photos and docs of the cost and types of materials used as well as the CLC and other sites showing the boats. The fact that I did my own websites documenting the builds really helped as it turned out. Also a photo of my sailboat was published in Sailing Magazine. I also told them that the boats have been exhibited in wood "boat shows". All of that plus a threat to cancel ALL of my other Safeco insurance (30 years, no claims) led them to change their minds and make a exception. I suspect a survey would be worth it to establish value since you should only have to do it once. Also a long relationship with your agent to lobby the company.

If the boat is at home its on the homeowners and if its on the car or a towed trailer then its on the auto. Having the boats (not the yak) licensed with a state issued hull number was a plus too.

If there was a site showing how much a CLC boat would cost built and finished that could be shown to the agent - as I did for my sailboat. My clc design yak and Glen-L outboard runabout are insured for the cost of the materials (keep ALL receipts even things like paint brushes) plus the trailer, motor and so on. Was not hard to come up with a value I felt was reasonable.

It seemed to matter to Safeco that my boats are build to a "yacht" rather than work boat finish. Virtually all the CLC boats are yacht finish as far as I can tell from the photos here!

Maybe some of the above can help you guys. I was just not comfortable doing the self insured thing on boats that took many months to build.

In Response to: Re: Insurance? by Peter on Jul 26, 2006

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