Boat fire seaport inlet marina

[Capt. Debbie]

That's great!

Most people don't realize a boat policy is not pure value

Originally Posted by Striper80

Progressive paid for the "salvage" of my boat. The salvage was a set price per foot charged by the the towboat co. My boat needed to be untangled from the others and repositioned on the trailer. They gave me a separate check for the salvage.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up regarding the fire at Seaport Inlet Marina "SIM" earlier this year and the surprise boat owners who experienced damage or a complete loss were provided a week ago. As the saying goes, "buyer beware" or in this case customers beware. All boat owners effected by the fire were early on provided information pertaining to SIM's insurance carrier, claim number and contact information. Owners filed claims against their insurance and for any items not covered filed a claim against SIM's carrier.

Over the course of six weeks, owners were led to believe our claims were being reviewed and we'd hear back from SIM's carrier on a number of occasions. Promises were made and not kept. It was virtually impossible to reach anyone at SIM's insurance company for discussion and if you tried getting an answer from Seaport Inlet Marina themselves the standard reply was they're not involved and we had to call the insurance company directly. The entire process was set up for Seaport Inlet Marina to conveniently have plausible deniability and the insurance company to be completely unreachable.

About a week and a half ago, all owners with destroyed boats were told SIM's attorney was meeting with the insurance company to review the status of claims and to expect updates within 24 hours. Again a date that came and went with no response. The following Monday all owners involved received a notice from the attorney notifying us that a suit was filed with Seaport Inlet Marina as the plaintiff and all boat owners who incurred losses or had their boats destroyed in the fire as defendants requesting a "Declaratory Judgement". So Seaport and their insurance company while telling us they were reviewing our claims, preemptively took the information we provided and filed a suit against us to essentially dismiss our claims. All the time the owner of Seaport was telling his customers if there's anything he could do to facilitate our claims with the insurance company to let him know.

When accidents like this happen, there are those who take the high road and willingly accept responsibility for their actions. And then theirs Seaport Inlet Marina's of the world who destroy your boat in a fire caused by their own employee and subsequently file suit against you in an effort to avoid responsibility. Got to love the irony in that!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Well that sucks Tom....Once attorney's get involved everything changes

Gerry you said it! I understand with a situation of this magnitude and potential environmental concerns the marina getting an attorney involved. To me that's being prudent. BUT for Seaport Inlet Marina to willfully mislead their customers into believing claims would be considered while simultaneously filing a suit to have those claims dismissed is tragic. Wanted to share this with the site for anyone storing or having work performed on their boats, make sure you understand the small print on the contracts you sign. A few seemingly innocuous words shouldn't be overlooked especially when it deals with liability and loss language.

[hammer4reel]

will be curious to how this plays out.
as since SIM was PAID to store those said boats.
and it was one of their employees that caused the fire.
I would expect a court will rule against them AS well as make them pay your legal fees.

[Ron Eleuteri]

I too lost my boat a pursuit 2570os,my insurance Travelers settled my claim within 10 days. Travelers will now subrogate SIM insurance company. My coverage was for replacement value plus accessories. While this fire is rare, all owners at any marina should review their policy details for loss coverages. I have had boats at different marinas thru out the years from shark river to Barnegat, all marinas required insurance on the first to pay basis.

Kudos to the Belmar fire and police depts., great job, no injuries and further loss of property.
During this time ,SIM has been most helpful to me in locating another Pursuit , and it will be delivered to SIM next week along with repowering and rigging. SIM over the years have been both helpful and accommodating to my needs, this was an accident and things happen, the legal and insurance process will work itself out ,and hopefully all will be in the water soon. I hope this was helpful from an information standpoint.

[Darreng21]

I’m a new customer at SIM and fortunately my boat was not damaged in the fire. I’ve found Rob and team to be good to work with. Accidents happen glad nobody was hurt.

[Abrasion]

I went over there a year ago to look at a boat for purchase. He had no time for me and was a total jerk. I asked him for details on the motor and told me we could hire him to get that information. Dude, you are the seller. The lawsuit makes no sense. Do you have details?

Ron / Darren....I'm glad things worked out for both of you. Like you I had insurance but there were items not insurable or beyond the coverage limits we had. The unearned winter storage premium between the date of the fire and the 4/30/17 term date with SIM should be reimbursed to all boat owners whose boats were destroyed without even going through the claims process. EVERY owner who had their boats completely destroyed should be reimbursed that amount without asking, yet no such offer has been made. We also had ~$1,000 of gas in our tanks not covered by our policy in additional to electronics and fishing equipment beyond our limits of coverage. I understand it's an accident and accidents happen but it's a fire started by SIM's employee and they should accept the financial responsibility of those actions.

Telling boat owners the attorney was meeting with the insurance company to review the status of claims while SIM and said attorney were simultaneously filing with the courts a Declaratory Judgement against the boat owners who lost everything to preemptively dismiss those claims is egregious. If you consider that to be good business practice and good customer relations, well then let's just agree we have different definitions of both.

Abrasion, final chapter hasn't been written so at this time I'd prefer not providing more detail.

[Capt. Debbie]

After you are paid the value of the boat by your insurer, who is paying to dispose of the boat. That's NOT FREE.