Help Required or advice grateful

[Champain]

Hi There

 

Wife and i take delivery of our new widebeam liveaboard in August and are in the process of trying to obtain insurance quotes which quite frankly is not the easiest task for something that only does 4mph.  We are new to boating and have secured a 12 month marina berth for 0ur 60 x 12

 

We spoke to a company called 'Assist' insurance who told us one of the stipulations for a new policyholder is that an experienced handler must manouvre the boat on the waterways for the first twelve months of the policy.  Surely surely that cannot be correct.  How on gods earth are we expected to have a helmsman for 12 months on tap.  I hasten to add that i have just done a 2 day helmsmans course and have previously hired narrowboats for holidays but they wont budge.  Other insurance companies just laughed at that i hasten to add but im wanting to check that this isnt one of those hidden rules that insurance companies are renowned for doing.

 

Any other help or advice is widely appreciated

 

Can anybody cast any help or logic on this issue.

[TheBiscuits]

17 minutes ago, Champain said:

Any other help or advice is widely appreciated

 

 

Try Craftinsure ...

[Champain]

1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

 

Try Craftinsure ...

Thank you very much for the advice.  We look forward to joining the community

[Alan de Enfield]

20 minutes ago, Champain said:

Hi There

 

Wife and i take delivery of our new widebeam liveaboard in August and are in the process of trying to obtain insurance quotes which quite frankly is not the easiest task for something that only does 4mph.  We are new to boating and have secured a 12 month marina berth for 0ur 60 x 12

 

We spoke to a company called 'Assist' insurance who told us one of the stipulations for a new policyholder is that an experienced handler must manouvre the boat on the waterways for the first twelve months of the policy.  Surely surely that cannot be correct.  How on gods earth are we expected to have a helmsman for 12 months on tap.  I hasten to add that i have just done a 2 day helmsmans course and have previously hired narrowboats for holidays but they wont budge.  Other insurance companies just laughed at that i hasten to add but im wanting to check that this isnt one of those hidden rules that insurance companies are renowned for doing.

 

Any other help or advice is widely appreciated

 

Can anybody cast any help or logic on this issue.

 

What area will you be 'boating around' ?

Or, will you be staying in the marina ?

[Rob-M]

Try other insurers, there are a few left. Also you could do an RYA helmsman course then you would be an experienced helmsman.

[Champain]

5 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

What area will you be 'boating around' ?

Or, will you be staying in the marina ?

Hi there..mainly the canal network south of crick and the thames.  Widebeams as you are aware only have certain capabilities of access.   My issue is the insurance company which stated we need a permanent helmsman for a year and if indeed anybody else does that as its news to us

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, Rob-M said:

 Also you could do an RYA helmsman course then you would be an experienced helmsman.

 

They have.  It says so in the OP.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 11:48 by TheBiscuits
clarity

[Rob-M]

Just now, TheBiscuits said:

 

They have.  It says so in the OP.

Too many words for me to read

 

[Champain]

2 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Try other insurers, there are a few left. Also you could do an RYA helmsman course then you would be an experienced helmsman.

Hi Rob and thanks for your reply.  We both did our helmsman course last week but that made no difference to Assist who insist we should have a nominated helmsman for a year regardless.   Nobody else seems to have heard of that rule as yet

 

We look forward to joining your community

[IanD]

6 minutes ago, Champain said:

Hi Rob and thanks for your reply.  We both did our helmsman course last week but that made no difference to Assist who insist we should have a nominated helmsman for a year regardless.   Nobody else seems to have heard of that rule as yet

 

We look forward to joining your community

As noted earlier, Craftinsure have no such requirement, and when I last looked were significantly cheaper then the competition as well as being much easier to deal with and get a quote from.

[Champain]

4 minutes ago, IanD said:

As noted earlier, Craftinsure have no such requirement, and when I last looked were significantly cheaper then the competition as well as being much easier to deal with and get a quote from.

Yes we have just done that and received a near instant quote but there are pages and pages of  T&cs which experience in life usually means its hidden and you have no valid claim if ever you need one because we never took a month out to read it

[Gybe Ho]

12 minutes ago, Champain said:

Hi Rob and thanks for your reply.  We both did our helmsman course last week but that made no difference to Assist who insist we should have a nominated helmsman for a year regardless.   Nobody else seems to have heard of that rule as yet

 

We look forward to joining your community

 

Don't fret, move on. You live in a free market economy for the moment, there are alternatives. Add GJW to your insurance ports of call.

[Champain]

Just now, Champain said:

Yes we have just done that and received a near instant quote but there are pages and pages of  T&cs which experience in life usually means its hidden and you have no valid claim if ever you need one because we never took a month out to read it

Its the stipulated need for a permanant helmsman for a year that we are trying to get to the bottom of but in fairness no other quote today has stipulated that

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, Champain said:

Yes we have just done that and received a near instant quote but there are pages and pages of  T&cs which experience in life usually means its hidden and you have no valid claim if ever you need one because we never took a month out to read it

Like all insurance companies, then. You won't find one without all those T&Cs, so you'd better buckle down and read them... 😉 

[TheBiscuits]

Just now, Champain said:

Its the stipulated need for a permanant helmsman for a year that we are trying to get to the bottom of but in fairness no other quote today has stipulated that

 

Just cross Assist off the list and carry on.  Unless it would amuse you to get back to them and ask exactly how having only an experienced helm move the boat for 12 months gives you any experience at all ...

[Champain]

2 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Just cross Assist off the list and carry on.  Unless it would amuse you to get back to them and ask exactly how having only an experienced helm move the boat for 12 months gives you any experience at all ...

If i had the time to waste i just might....but i dont

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Rob-M said:

Try other insurers, there are a few left. Also you could do an RYA helmsman course then you would be an experienced helmsman.

That is one place where that piece of paper can be very useful. plus you will learn a lot about boat handling

[IanM]

2 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

That is one place where that piece of paper can be very useful. plus you will learn a lot about boat handling

 

The OP says that they have already done a course.

[TheBiscuits]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

That is one place where that piece of paper can be very useful. plus you will learn a lot about boat handling

 

1 minute ago, IanM said:

 

The OP says that they have already done a course.

 

Is there an echo in here? 😁

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, IanM said:

 

The OP says that they have already done a course.

Yes I came to that point later. The insurance company says what experience have you got, reply. I am a qualified RYA inland helmsman.

[BoatingLifeUpNorth2]

Had similar a few months ago, the insurance company would not let the new owner of his new 60ft x 12” move the boat on a river without experienced crew, but he was ok on canals. So I took it the mile it was on a river for him, then he jumped on the wheel and we shared the rest of the journey on the canal. He took to the steering like a duck to water and the river was non tidal.

 Maybe the OP’s insurance company are getting more claims from collision’s with widebeams than a few years ago??

Edited Tuesday at 13:02 by BoatingLifeUpNorth2

[ditchcrawler]

3 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

 

Is there an echo in here? 😁

Do you all read every posting in the thread before replying? or is it just me replies when I think I can add something?

[TheBiscuits]

5 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Do you all read every posting in the thread before replying? or is it just me replies when I think I can add something?

 

No, not usually.  It gets us all sometimes.

[jonathanA]

Assist rang me to see I'd they could quote prior to my renewal... all went well until they asked about mooring, I told them I had a private mooring that I own... could I confirm that I had it professionally inspected annually.... WTF. Why would I do that, no I replied, oh we can't quote you... bye then says me.  Renewed with GJW* at the same premium as the year before. My conclusion was assist are a waste of time.

 

Forget them. 

 

 

* prior to their change of ownership. 

[BoatingLifeUpNorth2]

19 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

Assist rang me to see I'd they could quote prior to my renewal... all went well until they asked about mooring, I told them I had a private mooring that I own... could I confirm that I had it professionally inspected annually.... WTF. Why would I do that, no I replied, oh we can't quote you... bye then says me.  Renewed with GJW* at the same premium as the year before. My conclusion was assist are a waste of time.

 

Forget them. 

 

 

* prior to their change of ownership. 

I was/am with GJW now Ripe, yes thought I’d try Assist for a quote, they wouldn’t value my boat more than 5% above what I bought it for in 2009, GJW let me value it £10K more without an independent valuation. Just renewed today with GJW mind my policy has increased, but more advantages than Assist.

 Now with Ripe they only offer monthly repayments over 9 month with a 20% initial payment, remaining balance spread over 9 month.  Where GJW were 12 month.

Edited Tuesday at 15:43 by BoatingLifeUpNorth2