Insurance - advice sought

[NB Alnwick]

I have just receieved our renewal quotation from Towergate at just under £450 - an increase of more than £100 on last year!

We have owned the boat since 2005 and have never needed to claim - I am therefore wondering if anyone can suggest a less expensive alternative?

[rusty69]

Dunno if it is cheaper for your boat but my GJW policy is £211 this year. Up £20 on last year.

[Midnight]

Craftinsure

[NB Alnwick]

19 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Dunno if it is cheaper for your boat but my GJW policy is £211 this year. Up £20 on last year.

 

Thanks - did an online quote request with GJW and it has come out £200 cheaper with no additional cost for paying monthly by direct debit!

[wandering]

I am with craftinsure and I paid £209.23. I'm in the process of my first ever claim so will tell you soon whether it's worth it or not.

[Alan de Enfield]

29 minutes ago, wandering said:

I am with craftinsure and I paid £209.23. I'm in the process of my first ever claim so will tell you soon whether it's worth it or not.

 

CraftInsure are just the broker, the Insurer is Navigators and General Insurance** which is a divison of Zurich Insurance which is 112th Worlds largest company with 60,000 employees and operates in 210 countries. They have an operating profit of US$ 6.5 BILLION

 

** CraftInsure do shop around and use various underwriters, but this year mine is with Navigators & General so I expect yours may well be. It will tell you on your policy document who your actual underwriter / insurer is.

[cuthound]

2 hours ago, NB Alnwick said:

I have just receieved our renewal quotation from Towergate at just under £450 - an increase of more than £100 on last year!

We have owned the boat since 2005 and have never needed to claim - I am therefore wondering if anyone can suggest a less expensive alternative?

 

My Towergate policy also increased by over £100, so I changed to GJW and got the insurance for £200 less.

[Peanut]

My lumpy water boat has gone up £100 this year, over £400 to pay.  I wil wear it as I am a bit concerned about another insurer wanting a new survey, at £600 to £800.

[MtB]

I'm with basic-boat.com.

 

About £75 TPI, as I'm happy to take my chances on a total loss. They are so very rare and it wouldn't be the end of the world. 

[Lily Rose]

 

I'm with Newton Crum. They charged me £79 eight years ago when I bought a 15 year old 45 foot narrowboat.

 

Eight years later and they're still charging me £79.

 

I do wonder sometimes if they're cheap for a reason and maybe I'll regret it if I ever need to claim. On the other hand a total loss that they refused to pay out on wouldn't be the end of the world. I've always assumed that when my boating days come to an end the boat's value will be nil. If it isn't then I'd look on it as a bonus.

[Cheshire cat]

Presumably one of the total loss scenarios involves a sinking in which case there's a chance you get a hefty bill because it needs to be refloated and removed from the water.

[magnetman]

29 minutes ago, MtB said:

I'm with basic-boat.com.

 

About £75 TPI, as I'm happy to take my chances on a total loss. They are so very rare and it wouldn't be the end of the world. 

 

 

I've always insured my boats with them. For a while they didn't ask boat name and the wording was 'any one boat owned by you' so you could tecnnically insure several craft and as long as a claim did not involve more than one at the same time it would be alright.

 

Now they ask for a name so I need more than one policy.

 

I don't like unsurance.

 

 

Never had any claims car or boat over more than 30 yars. This doesn't mean I won't plough into a child swimming in the Thames and cause mayhem as people leap in trying to save them only to be chopped up by the propeller of another passing boat which didn't notice what was happening. And 9 people died overall.

 

For this it is worth having the 3rd party cover I admit.

 

Hasn't happened yet.

 

 

3 minutes ago, Cheshire cat said:

Presumably one of the total loss scenarios involves a sinking in which case there's a chance you get a hefty bill because it needs to be refloated and removed from the water.

 

Basic boat has got wreck removal cover.

Of course they have a getout which is the "sound condition" that could get interesting as they are asking the layman to be a professional boat surveyor while not asing for a survey...

 

 

[Cheshire cat]

My insurance is due next month. Towergate have informed me I need to get a survey because the boat will become 25 years old during the next insurance period. Annoying because the email informing me arrived days before the boat was coming out of the water and too short a time period to arrange a Surveyor. 

 

I plan to switch insurers in the short term and plan for a survey in a more leisurely timeframe. 

[magnetman]

There must be a scam available with the basic boat 'sound condition' clause.

 

An ordinary person buying a boat doesn't know that much about it. Without a survey they don't know what they are getting. You could surely have situations where someone insures a 'sound' boat knowing that it is in fact a wreck and gets their mate to do the salvage then claim from the unsurance.

 

I do wonder how it would be possible to define 'sound condition' given that if the boat is in the water when you buy it you don't actually know what the condition of the hull is.

 

Someone could have badly grounded it and ripped hull fittings orf.

 

It seems strange to me to allow people to self declare such things. 

 

 

[GUMPY]

21 minutes ago, Cheshire cat said:

I plan to switch insurers in the short term and plan for a survey in a more leisurely timeframe. 

GJW is 30 years but needs to be more than just a hull survey.

[NB Alnwick]

My boat will be out of the water this Winter so I can get it surveyed at the same time.

Just to add: GJWDirect were not the cheapest but with membership of RCR thrown in and no extra charge for paying monthly by direct debit they are clearly ahead in most respects and look to be saving me at least £200 a year.

[cuthound]

12 minutes ago, NB Alnwick said:

My boat will be out of the water this Winter so I can get it surveyed at the same time.

Just to add: GJWDirect were not the cheapest but with membership of RCR thrown in and no extra charge for paying monthly by direct debit they are clearly ahead in most respects and look to be saving me at least £200 a year.

 

I think you will find that although the RCR cover is included (sort of) you pay a discounted amount per call out.

 

Previously some companies allowed a limited number of free call outs per year, but when I renewed mine earlier this year, all of the insurance companies that included RCR stated that you had to pay a discounted amount per call out.

Edited August 30, 2023 by cuthound
To remove a full stop masquerading as a space.

[Richard10002]

23 hours ago, rusty69 said:

Dunno if it is cheaper for your boat but my GJW policy is £211 this year. Up £20 on last year.

I've just had my GJW renewal at £150, same as last year.

[Puffling]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

I think you will find that although the RCR cover is included (sort of) you pay a discounted amount per call out.

 

Previously some companies allowed a limited number of free call outs per year, but when I renewed mine earlier this year, all of the insurance companies that included RCR stated that you had to pay a discounted amount per call out.

Indeed. It's a discounted "Retainer" membership of RCR, which some may find an attractive option. Fifty quid per call out instead of the £75 you pay as an RCR member signing up separately.

I believe if you consider RCR cover worth having (and I do), it's better to buy the Bronze membership from RCR's website. That way you have four callouts each year included ( as in 'free').

[rusty69]

39 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

I've just had my GJW renewal at £150, same as last year.

Lucky you. They clearly see me as a higher risk.

Edited August 30, 2023 by rusty69

[sueb]

Contact your insurer and tell them the lowest quote you have. Our Insurers always accepted the lower quote for the same insurance cover.

[Stroudwater1]

On 30/08/2023 at 15:44, Puffling said:

Indeed. It's a discounted "Retainer" membership of RCR, which some may find an attractive option. Fifty quid per call out instead of the £75 you pay as an RCR member signing up separately.

I believe if you consider RCR cover worth having (and I do), it's better to buy the Bronze membership from RCR's website. That way you have four callouts each year included ( as in 'free').

Received an email from RCR on Thursday 7th advising RCR call out had increased on September 1st to £65. Glad I hadn’t call them out in the last week. However I doubt that the delay in advising the cost would have altered them charging £65. 
 

I didn’t know they offered a free “water nav” app though has anyone used this?