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Insurance question


PeterCr

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If you own a narrow boat in the UK, but live overseas, you clearly still have an insurable interest in it. I suspect the issue is that such a situation is relatively unusual. Speaking to a good broker ought to be able to sort something out.

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Out of interest, if you don't live in the UK, presumably your boat is kept in a secure marina and isn't used until you come back to do so.

That raises two questions. First, why do you need insurance at all? Get an agreement with the Marina or another boater/friend that you trust that they will check the bilge every now and then so you don't fill up with rain and sink - what else can go wrong?

Secondly, if the marina insists your boat is licenced for the whole year, how can you do that without insurance? Which suggests CRT may have a solution (unlikely, I know, but possible  just).

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24 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Which suggests CRT may have a solution (unlikely, I know, but possible  just).

I suspect if you ask CRT they will just tell you you need insurance. Not their problem if the insurers out there aren't offering policies to non-resident boaters.

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13 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Out of interest, if you don't live in the UK, presumably your boat is kept in a secure marina and isn't used until you come back to do so.

That raises two questions. First, why do you need insurance at all? Get an agreement with the Marina or another boater/friend that you trust that they will check the bilge every now and then so you don't fill up with rain and sink - what else can go wrong?

Secondly, if the marina insists your boat is licenced for the whole year, how can you do that without insurance? Which suggests CRT may have a solution (unlikely, I know, but possible  just).

I need insurance so I can licence the boat to go cruising, and of course just generally. The boat is kept in a marina when we aren't cruising. We are back now, on the boat on Monday and planned to go cruising (after almost 3 years waiting due to the virus)

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On 10/06/2022 at 18:34, PeterCr said:

 

I rang Circle Marine and couldn't get anyone to answer the phone. Then noticed a phone number for their Nottingham branch who told me they don't do narrowboat insurance and referred me to a broker at Mercia Marina. My wife is British (and Australian) and they asked me if she has an address she can use in the UK. We do, where she grew up and her parents live, so he asked me to send in a form using those details for a quote. 

 

It's an interesting aside. We can use a name and address of a British citizen and I doubt they would even bother to try and find out if that British citizen is a resident or not. But I suspect that they might try and find out if there is a claim. And she doesn't live there when in the UK she lives on the boat.

 

Also interesting, who qualifies as a British resident? What is the definition of a British resident? I looked online and it said 183 days (6 months) in the UK in a year. We can easily spend 6 months on our boat, does that qualify us/her as a British resident? And as David Mack points out it says "you and anyone else". If we insure in her name does the anyone else mean we don't qualify as I am not a British resident?

 

Can of worms really.

 

We renewed our insurance with Circle Marine 10 days ago via their Lymington office so you are getting some duff information unless they have changed their business model in the last week. As others have said, speak To Michael Stimpson.

Edited by Tim Lewis
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4 hours ago, PeterCr said:

I need insurance so I can licence the boat to go cruising, and of course just generally. The boat is kept in a marina when we aren't cruising. We are back now, on the boat on Monday and planned to go cruising (after almost 3 years waiting due to the virus)

I have just messaged you

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Success! We have insurance.

 

I went to a few websites for quotes and amongst them I went to the GJW website and got a quote. Encouragingly one of the first questions it asked was “what country are you a resident of” and when I selected Australia it allowed me to continue and didn’t disqualify me. I went right through their paperwork and there’s nothing I could find about British residency. And the policy clearly states I am an Australian resident with an Australian address.

 

I looked at lots of polices and read the terms and conditions, and in almost all cases there was a condition that the policy holder (and anyone on whose behalf you purchase insurance, whatever that means!!) need to be British residents. Some, Zurich for example, even state it on their website as well as the T&Cs.

 

I even got a quote from a broker at Mercia who was very helpful when I explained the problem and suggested that I get a quote in my wife’s name as she is a British citizen and has an address here, her parents. Yet even still when the forms came back there it was in the terms and conditions, British residency.

 

On some websites it’s quite possible to get a quote, and it seems take out insurance not knowing there is this condition in the T&Cs if you don’t read them. Many people just click yes to “have you read the paperwork” and may well have no idea that there is a condition in there which, if they are not British residents, will mean that effectively they can be denied any payout if they make a claim because they have broken one of the conditions of the policy.

 

And there will be people who just renew every year who don’t read the T&Cs and who will have the same problem.

 

The insurance companies must know that some of their customers can be denied cover in the event of making a claim, but they take the premiums anyway. It would be simple to add a single question to an application for a quote – “are you a British resident?” and if they answer no make it immediately clear that they don’t qualify for insurance. Yet they don’t make this condition clear they just take the money and I’m sure many people now hold insurance which is, in effect, not worth having. That’s insurance companies I suppose.

 

I think some people may well get a horrible surprise when they make a claim in the future.

 

By the way HarleyJ we’re not from Melbourne, but about an hour east of Melbourne, in the country. 10 times better than being in Melbourne, though at the moment it’s dreadfully cold and wet in either place!

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15 hours ago, PeterCr said:

we’re not from Melbourne, but about an hour east of Melbourne, in the country. 10 times better than being in Melbourne, though at the moment it’s dreadfully cold and wet in either place!

I don't wish to dampen your spirits but the forecast for Melbourne looks no worse than weather I have witnessed in the UK at this time of year. Though tbh, you'd be very unlucky for that to last more than a week.

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