INSURANCE VALUE

[Bob.Doubles]

There has been some discussion in the past here on the insurance value of a DIY fitted boat. I'm in this situation - my insurance company have said that they will accept 'written advice' on value from a marine surveyor. Has anyone done this and can anyone suggest a surveyor in the East Midlands area who would make a sensible fist of this.

[John Orentas]

There has been some discussion in the past here on the insurance value of a DIY fitted boat. I'm in this situation - my insurance company have said that they will accept 'written advice' on value from a marine surveyor. Has anyone done this and can anyone suggest a surveyor in the East Midlands area who would make a sensible fist of this.

 

 

Presumably they will expect you to pay for this valuation, I would go to another insurance company.

 

If you are over 50 try Saga. Mine is a DIY fitted boat, they accepted my valuation without quibbling, gave me the lowest quote and there are very few endorsements on the policy i.e. age of driver or lending out the boat. Also very worth while 'marina benefits'.

[Bob.Doubles]

 

Mine is a DIY fitted boat, they accepted my valuation without quibbling, gave me the lowest quote and there are very few endorsements on the policy i.e. age of driver or lending out the boat. Also very worth while 'marina benefits'.

 

 

Thanks - the insurance co. will accept my valuation for purposes of issuing the policy; what I'm concerned about is, in the event of a claim, proving the value. I have heard of situations where the loss adjuster has wanted proof of value. Easy of course if you have an invoice for the whole boat but not so easy if it's DIY fit, hence my concern to have evidence BEFORE any claim.

[John Orentas]

Thanks - the insurance co. will accept my valuation for purposes of issuing the policy; what I'm concerned about is, in the event of a claim, proving the value. I have heard of situations where the loss adjuster has wanted proof of value. Easy of course if you have an invoice for the whole boat but not so easy if it's DIY fit, hence my concern to have evidence BEFORE any claim.

 

 

Hi Bob.

 

Thousands of people are in your position, in practise is quite an easy matter to give evidence of value, a single issue of Waterways World will have advertisements for similar boats to yours. Even in the case of a total loss you will need little more that statements from a couple of independent people who knew the boat.

 

In my case I would even have a little difficulty in giving formal proof of ownership, for reasons I won't go into here most of the components of my boat I bought for cash, I could find receipts for only about £200. But again in practise I could find heaps of contemporary evidence that the boat is mine.

[David Schweizer]

I tried to persuade my (former) Insurers that the value of my boat had increased substantially since I first bought it, partially because of the internal improvements which had been carried out, but also because of an upturn in the second hand market value of boats by the partuicular builder. I produced invoices and receipts for work and materials, together with recent advertisements for three boats of a similar age and length as mine from the same builder. Their response was to increase the value by £500.

 

I went to Michael Stimpson and discussed it with him, he was very methodical and accepted all the information I provided and then suggested a valuation of £3,000 more than I had requested, based on factors which had not occured to me. The only condition they applied was that I have a hull survey every five years as the boat is more than twenty years old. What is more I got all this in writing so there can be no dispute in the event of a claim.

[charles123]

I could be wrong but is it not for you to state the value of the boat ie ask the insurer to insure it for certain value so in the case of a total write off thats what you get paid out. Therefore I am not sure you would need a surveyor to value it

 

There will be a number of factors involved in determining your premium you pay one being its stated value so a £100k value boat will have a higher premium than one stated as a value of £50000

 

Charles

[bottle]

Charles

 

In theory you are correct but insurance companys are on the look out for fraud.

 

You could say your boat was worth one million but its real value is only one hundred thousand, so you spent one hundred thousand plus the premium.

 

You then destroy the boat (accidently?) and claim one million, I don't think so.

 

I admit these figures may be exagerated but I think you may see my point.

[ChrisPy]

Charles

 

In theory you are correct but insurance companys are on the look out for fraud.

 

You could say your boat was worth one million but its real value is only one hundred thousand, so you spent one hundred thousand plus the premium.

 

You then destroy the boat (accidently?) and claim one million, I don't think so.

 

I admit these figures may be exagerated but I think you may see my point.

you can be sure that the insurance company will review the value after the boat is written off. They won't automatically pay your estimate, only the 'replacement cost'.

[Keeping Up]

On the other hand I wonder why insurance companies don't offer a "new for old" policy, at vastly increased cost, like they do on house contents. We bought our boat, brand new and totally bespoke, 19 years ago; if something disastrous happened and it had to be written off, we would want to commision a similarly-bespoke replacement but we obviously wouldn't be able to do that with what the insurance company would give us.

 

Allan

[charles123]

On the other hand I wonder why insurance companies don't offer a "new for old" policy, at vastly increased cost, like they do on house contents. We bought our boat, brand new and totally bespoke, 19 years ago; if something disastrous happened and it had to be written off, we would want to commision a similarly-bespoke replacement but we obviously wouldn't be able to do that with what the insurance company would give us.

 

Allan

 

Insurance is all about risk, the policy holder has to weigh up the risk of the boat being written off, its very unlikely this will happen but its personal choice. The objective of the insurance company is to play on fear and extract as much money from the consumer as it can get away with. Sadly this is on the increase the consumer is being hammered increasingly for extra money on electricity, loans, saving rates etc, you have to constanly be vigilant.

For example

I have have just renewed my home insurance, Halifax who I have been with for 10 yeares with no claims wanted £406 I rang them up to complain and the brought it down to £220.

On Monday I will deal with Powergen who want to raise the price of electricity

That is the way it is

 

Charles

[DHutch]

You have to constanly be vigilant.

For example

- I have have just renewed my home insurance, Halifax who I have been with for 10 yeares with no claims wanted £406 I rang them up to complain and the brought it down to £220.

Yes, infact a lot of effort is put into working out how much they think they can raise the cost without you complaining.

 

My dad works for RSA, and they have very complicated programs which taking into account all the info they have on the customer to calculate your annual increase, so they people the program perceives to be price-conscious shop-around types get a much smaller increase that those on high annual income, who have been with the company since forever.

 

 

Daniel

[charles123]

Yes, infact a lot of effort is put into working out how much they think they can raise the cost without you complaining.

 

My dad works for RSA, and they have very complicated programs which taking into account all the info they have on the customer to calculate your annual increase, so they people the program perceives to be price-conscious shop-around types get a much smaller increase that those on high annual income, who have been with the company since forever.

Daniel

 

Daniel

 

This explains a lot, I thought they would have some complicated way of assessing how much they can push up the bills, they work on inertia relying on the theory that most people will not bother about a small increase with me they tried to fleece me once too often by too much. This is getting off topic but I have just tried one of those utilities checkers for my post code and it shows I can save £300 per annum by switching my electric, I only did this about a year ago and here we are again.

 

 

Charles