Insurance Coverage

[broken bobber]

JUST CALL VITO....

He is a REAL insurance guy and will answer all and any questions........

[Capt. Debbie]

Exactly and walk through the questions of what is covered... liability, vessel loss, recovery costs, environmental assessment, vessel disposal. There should be coverage for each SEPARATELY. Not just a single check for vessel loss and leave you hanging for all the rest of the bills.

This happened to a friend from Sandy destruction on a home owner policy. I teach it in my classes too. Knowing the difference in coverage is important.

Originally Posted by broken bobber

JUST CALL VITO....

He is a REAL insurance guy and will answer all and any questions........

[Charlie B]

Good advice...Charlie

[shrimpman steve]

Bobber and company, no offense, I am a real insurance broker. Been licensed for 30 years.

The umbrella policy I mentioned is strictly a liability function which I previously stated. That is to protect you from lawsuits.

Property losses if you loose your boat are another coverage. I agree call Vito. He is a sponser and as a licensed insurance broker I have him writing my coverage.

There is no question you should have marine insurance. The umbrella kicks in if someone sues you and your LIABILITY Limits are not sufficient. In other words if you are sued for 1,000,000 and only have $300,000 in liability on your marine liability the umbrella should pick up the difference. If you own a home, or other assets, you should carry a $1,000,000 umbrella policy, period. That is the purpose of an umbrella policy. It has nothing to do with you recovering money on your physical loss. It is to protect your assets.

Thus endith the lesson.

[shrimpman steve]

Originally Posted by Capt. Frank

Marine insurance has a few more items as mentioned above.

The homeowner's umbrella policy DO NOT. Items like recovery, disposal costs, oil spill costs are NOT SEPARATE COVERAGE and CHECKS and they simply pay boat value and walk away. Besides losing your boat you have a great BIG bill they do NOT cover after boat is paid.

If the boat sinks you have NO IDEA how under covered you are with a home owners' umbrella coverage added.

LESSON LEARNED
That umbrella coverage pays you value of boat ONLY for a total loss like a sinking. That's it.
All the other stuff recovery/salvage , fines, disposal costs YOU PAY FOR. Which in many cases will be close to value to the older boat. In the end your $13,000 umbrella coverage leaves you close to $0 or writing a check if there's a salvage. Be VERY AWARE of this lack of coverage.

MORAL OF THE STORY
Home owners coverage is NOWHERE NEAR a true marine insurer's coverage. Bad time to learn is after your sink. That your cheap policy is cheaper for a very good reason YOU will be paying for now

Frank, you are wrong and should not be teaching people about insurance (I say this respectfully) the umbrella policy pays YOU NOTHING. The umbrella pays the people that sue you as well as your defense costs in court if you kill or injure someone. Umbrella coverage has NOTHING to do with what YOU collect on a loss to your vessel. There is no question that a boat owner should have a separate marine policy but that policy may only have 500,000 in liability. The umbrella policy SITS OVER the underlying liability policy. Your understanding of an unbrella policy is incorrect and any homeowner should make sure there is enough liability coverage so you don't loose your home should someone sue you. A lawsuit over a death is gonna cost you more then loosing your boat!

[shrimpman steve]

Originally Posted by Capt. Frank

This happened to a friend from Sandy destruction on a home owner policy. I teach it in my classes too. Knowing the difference in coverage is important.

Not to beat a dead horse but number one unless you have an insurance brokers license you should not be teaching coverage. You are doing your students a disservice as you do not understand the purpose of an umbrella policy. Or the differece between 1st and 3rd party coverage. If you want to PM me I can explain what the differences are. I don't mean to call you out, but feel my knowledge gained over 30 years was disputed. I really would have no problem discussing the merits of different coverages with you so you can impart the information to your students.

Really no disrespect intended

[MM Insure]

Thanks for the recommendations gys, appreciate it. If anyone on the site has any questions regarding boat insurance, or would like to have their policy reviewed, feel free to give me a call. Our office number is (848)863-6800 X 10

Similar to Steve, I have also been an independent insurance agent for 30 years. Nothing beats the advice of a knowledgeable independent insurance agent.

Merry Christmas!

Vito

[Capt. Debbie]

Well I am also an Attorney who represented a Sandy victim in a lawsuit with C&C Marina in Bayville. And this is exactly what happened on his homeowners policy. Paid for lost boat cost. The recovery, salvage, and disposal is NOT COVERED. They pay policy limit once.

Perhaps you need a little tutoring? And learning about marine insurance is a good thing. This is a good dialogue.

Umbrella insurance has a flat coverage. That is the total and ALL They will pay out if boat is totaled is the boat loss- NOTHING ELSE. The liability portion of you homeowners policy IS a different section- yes,

And you can buy as much liability coverage as you want. It may have $500k or $5M. That simply what you picked and paid for.

Originally Posted by shrimpman steve

Frank, you are wrong and should not be teaching people about insurance (I say this respectfully) the umbrella policy pays YOU NOTHING. The umbrella pays the people that sue you as well as your defense costs in court if you kill or injure someone. Umbrella coverage has NOTHING to do with what YOU collect on a loss to your vessel. There is no question that a boat owner should have a separate marine policy but that policy may only have 500,000 in liability. The umbrella policy SITS OVER the underlying liability policy. Your understanding of an unbrella policy is incorrect and any homeowner should make sure there is enough liability coverage so you don't loose your home should someone sue you. A lawsuit over a death is gonna cost you more then loosing your boat!

[Capt. Debbie]

I think this is a great string.

Many find out too late their insurance coverage does NOT cover all they need with a boat.

Whether true marine insurance and homeowner policy's umbrella and boat rider coverage are VERY VERY DIFFERENT.

While liability coverage is a number you choose and pay for. The rest is staggering in differences.

Let's not forget boat insurance is optional.

It's a bad time to find out the difference when you looking at your destroyed sunken boat and the vessel recovery costs (about $100-200 per foot) are equal to the boat's value and your replacement check is being used to pay for recovery and if anything is eve left the disposal of the hulk.

Depending on age of boat you may not have anything left.

[shrimpman steve]

Frank
I agree good dialogue.

The umbrella policy is a separate policy. Not part of the homeowners. Some carriers will not write more then 500,000 or 1,000,000 in liability. This is where the umbrella policy comes in. Let's face it, we live in a litigious society and people sue for as much as they can. All the unbrella does is increase the "base" limit on the liability end. I recommend anybody who owns a car and a house carry as much liability as you can reasonably afford. The last thing you should be doing is driving around with minimum liability limits. God forbid you kill a family in an auto or boating accident, I guarantee you can't have enough liability coverage.

As far as the many exposures faced by boat owners, no question you are better off with a marine policy to bring you back to whole after a sinking or other incident.

Hopefully between the two of us we have opened peoples eyes as to the importance of insurance

Merry Christmas
Happy Chanukah
And a healthy new year!