Boat insurance

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stickbow shooter

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We are thinking about changing our boat insurance company, does anyone have BoatUS? If so, would you recommend them? Thanks for any input.
Steve
 
Stickbow Shooter,

I have had BoatUS for years, then they started messing with me so I dumped them. I am now with Progressive Insurance for water craft, these guy talk boats better than BoatUS, better rates and they really know the industry. Good luck
 
I recommend you check with your car and homeowner's insurer to see if it sells boat insurance. Often times you can get multi-policy discounts if you have your home-vehicles-boat with the same company. :)

Ed Gerdemann
 
I shopped all my policies at renewal last year. Progressive was still the least expensive for the best coverage.

I have a $300CSL policy with a $250 deductible.

My Lund policy is $93/year, and is insured for about $15k plus $2500 of electronics.

My Malibu is $623/year, but insured for a lot more.
 
For those of you who have Progressive.......GOOD LUCK! They are crooks, and will not honor your claim if you have one. I had a valid claim from a rock strike, and they declined it. I elevated it to the highest level, and they still denied it. They are the cheapest for a reason, because they only TAKE your money, they won't be there when you most need them. I cancelled every single policy I had with them. I cannot bad mouth them enough!
 
I have my insurance with State Farm because everything I have is insured with State Farm so they give me a good discount. I had a claim with them and when I took my boat in for the fiberglass repair I ask if I could give them the $500 deductable and let the insurance pay them the balance. Their question was who is your insurance with? I said State Farm and they said that would be OK. They also said if it was Progressive they would require payment up front because Progressive will not pay. I have never used Progressive, but that tells me something about them. You decide.
 
I was with Progressive for several years and they seemed nice, but I never had a claim. I moved from them because of some financial backing they were doing for certain politicians and lobbyists. I can't remember who's front door I eventually went through after that. It might have been BoatUS. Anyway, they resold my policy thru Geico to SkiSafe. Their prices have been good and when I was caught in the ugly once-in-10-year storm in June 2015, they didn't bat an eye at facilitating about $2000 worth of repairs to my ski boat (props and gel coat). I haven't paid anywhere near that amount in premiums yet and I'm pretty convinced I'll now stay with them as long as I own my boat.
 
Ryan said:
@Lake Bum , sorry you had a bad experience. I have yet to have a claim with them, but have read my policy, and the coverage is good.
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I'll respond to your original, unedited response to me. Yes......there was more to the story.
My rock strike happened at 3.2 mph, while trolling I hit a whale that was submerged. There was zero prop damage, but with a big heavy cruiser that was one heck of a jolt to the outdrive. It caused the transom to leak on the seal. That repair required the motor, and outdrive to be removed. Progressive's in house "expert" called the damage "wear and tear" and of course it wasn't. I had a professional marine survey done, by someone who was supposed to be an independant contractor. Well.....his decline was almost word for word of Progressive, so I know that was a total setup as well. I had NEVER had a claim in my life for boat insurance, and I was treated like a criminal.

Everyone who likes Progressive, has never had a claim......what they like is the cheap premiums!
 
15 years ago my partner hit a rock with my Bayliner. Tore up the outdrive to the point where the Gimbel housing had to be replaced. the total bill was just over 5K. Progressive covered it all with a little kicking & screaming. I have both my boats covered with Progressive. I haven't had a claim since, maybe their claims adjusting have changed since then. The guys at Mercs & More, in Denver (no longer in business) really went to bat for me. Sq
 
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Being in the industry, and representing Progressive as well as many others, I have seen my fair share of claims.
Bottom line is that all companies have some bad apples in the claims department--- I get more " push back" on average from claims with Progressive, but overall negative claims experiences are rare. Most companies including progressive do a great job handling claims. --- Lake Bum --- I have zero question on the validity of your claim--- what I would like to know is what your agent did for you in helping you get your claim settled? In my eyes, that is one of the most important jobs agents have --- walking you through the claim process, and championing your cause.
 
My agent did nothing. The expert claims agent that took all the pictures, and processed it, got transferred to another division because of major hail damage somewhere. The rookie that took over knew NOTHING about boats and declined it. I elevated it to the top level in management that I could, but was still declined. I canceled boat, RV, motorcycle, and auto coverage because of it. And I have, and will always badmouth that company.
 
understand --- I wish your agent would have done more -- could have turned the negative situation into a positive

What we are seeing is that many people are switching from agent based coverage to direct purchase of policies-- companies can offer better pricing because they do not need to pay a agent -- --the down side is that when something happens there is no place to turn. You no longer have a agent on your side, and you are left with little or no options to challenge. As insurance becomes more and more of a commodity ( price driven only), the worse overall service will get. We see it every day ---
 
Steve ~ Sorry for hijacking your original thread pretty much! To loop it all back to YOUR post, I now have my boats insured with American Family Insurance, my agent is a personal friend, and love it :cool:
 
Thanks to all that replied, all are good valid points to take into consideration. We are insured with State Farm right now and found out we needed to change agents because we move from Colorado to Utah maybe best to stay with them.

Thanks again, Steve
 
bobco said:
http://worldwidemarineins.com/ Bob will take care of you , probably write progressive.
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I have had Progressive for my boat only for several years based on conversations with Bob. They were one of the only ones that I could actually insure for real value with. In 2011 I had my boat sink while tied to shore up in Red Canyon. It cost over $4k to get it recovered and hauled back to Bull Frog and another $5k to get it back to original condition once I got it home. Progressive paid it all minus my deductible without a peep!
While I don't agree with their political stances I have been unable to find another company that provides me the same level of coverage, especially on an older boat.
 

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Wet 1, I had the same thing happen to my Tracker last year at Lake Granby in Colo. Luckily the stern of the boat was only in 3' of water. A storm came up fast and swamped the boat. It didn't hurt anything, I was able to use the bilge pump to re-float it after the storm. Is that what happened to your boat? Didn't bother to make a claim. Sq
 
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