Liveaboard Narrowboat Insurance

[one of the hidden]

Hello Everybody!

 

Can anybody recommend an insurer with competitively priced polices but with good cover?

 

I'm currently with Towergate, have 2 years no claims, I'm liveaboard, continuously cruising, the boat is less than 10 years old.

 

Thank you!

[Rich]

Hello Everybody!

 

Can anybody recommend an insurer with competitively priced polices but with good cover?

 

I'm currently with Towergate, have 2 years no claims, I'm liveaboard, continuously cruising, the boat is less than 10 years old.

 

Thank you!

Put narrowboat insurance into Google. When getting quotes check if contents insurance is offered, that is if you need it.

[GoodGurl]

i can recommend Euromarine they do full contents cover and pay quickly on claims.

Edited May 12, 2015 by GoodGurl

[Jo_]

We are with CraftInsure. They insure our personal possessions as well as the boat and being a liveaboard makes no difference: " no change to premium or terms is required for the fact that it is a “live aboard” – we still construe this as private and personal use".

[David Schweizer]

Towergate Mardon are good for liveaboards, especially if you take the policy out through Michael Stimpson, who will happily discuss specific requirements with you.

[pearley]

Another vote for Craftinsure.

[luggsy]

What's wrong with towergate ?

[one of the hidden]

What's wrong with towergate ?

...my insurance premium keeps going up with them, this year from £350 to £390, for no apparent reason...

 

...i now have 3 years no claims...

 

...the only reason i stayed with them last year was for the breakdown assistance...

 

...so apart from craftinsure and euromarine do we have any other recommendations for insureres that do decent cover for a live-a-board cc-er...

[Odana]

Collidge & partners. They don't play the game of raising premiums for loyal customers (over 16 years, they have played fair), and are a pleasure to deal with. We have a good flexible policy for living aboard and could specify how much all worldwide risks cover we wanted - this covers laptops, bikes and lots of other things that are often a trouble or expensive - that I can change when I need to.

 

Sadly the all risks bit does not cover the several pairs of glasses now at the bottom of the cut by our mooring....

 

I used to be with GJW but they kept raising premiums too and then reducing them to what a new customer would pay when challenged - I didn't want to be with a company so unscrupulous.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Odana

[dmr]

Good cover and competitive pricing (cheap?) are probably mutually exclusive.

We used Towergate for many years but this year the price shot up and the service shot down.

What I had not appreciated is that in the case of total loss (fire or sinking) the insured value (which dictates the premium you pay) means nothing and the company decides the "market value" of your boat. Liveaboard contents is also subject to many limitations.

Euromarine will provide real proper insurance if you want it but it won't be cheap.

If your objective is to get an insurance certificate to satisfy CaRT then get the cheapest.

 

..............Dave

[Wanderer Vagabond]

What's wrong with towergate ?

 

 

...my insurance premium keeps going up with them, this year from £350 to £390, for no apparent reason...

 

...i now have 3 years no claims...

 

...the only reason i stayed with them last year was for the breakdown assistance...

 

...so apart from craftinsure and euromarine do we have any other recommendations for insureres that do decent cover for a live-a-board cc-er...

We had the same issue with Towergate, when we first took out insurance with them the price was reasonable, last year it went up to £308.15 which I paid but this year it had gone up to £352.14. Since inflation is pretty much zero, and I haven't noticed a whole lot of sunken boats, I phoned up and queried it, mentioning that I'd had two other quotes a lot lower. I was asked if I wished to reduce the insured value of the boat, so I did by £2000 (£52000 to £50,000) and also asked if I had any qualification to which I mentioned a ICC for sailboats,"Oh, that's fine", I was told that with this 'new' information they could reduce the premium to £295.07 (or less than I paid last year). After some thought I decided to stick with the other quote I had got for the same cover from GJW Direct for £199.16.

 

It seems to me that Insurance companies don't want loyal customers, they want to attract you with initial low premiums and then bump them up year after year in anticipation that you will just pay up. This year was the 'boiled frog' syndrome, they just turned the temperature up too high and I decided to jump out

[Saffa]

Collidge & partners. They don't play the game of raising premiums for loyal customers (over 16 years, they have played fair), and are a pleasure to deal with. We have a good flexible policy for living aboard and could specify how much all worldwide risks cover we wanted - this covers laptops, bikes and lots of other things that are often a trouble or expensive - that I can change when I need to.

 

Sadly the all risks bit does not cover the several pairs of glasses now at the bottom of the cut by our mooring....

 

I used to be with GJW but they kept raising premiums too and then reducing them to what a new customer would pay when challenged - I didn't want to be with a company so unscrupulous.

 

Another vote for Collidge & Partners. Going on for my second year and I actually got a slight decrease in my premium. Very helpful when I was first looking and talked me through all my options. We CC .

[Ange]

We're with Nautical Insurance and have been with them for 7 years with no complaints. Saying that we've never had to claim - that's the telling point with insurers!

 

I must confess that being based so close to my home turf adds to their attractiveness for me - the sound of churpy Essex when I phone them warms my cockles

[Dave_P]

 

Another vote for Collidge & Partners. Going on for my second year and I actually got a slight decrease in my premium. Very helpful when I was first looking and talked me through all my options. We CC .

Would echo all this on Collidge. They were also excellent when I had my claim. Far cheaper than the OP too.

[Dave Payne]

Another vote for craftinsure here.

[Mike Todd]

Good cover and competitive pricing (cheap?) are probably mutually exclusive.

We used Towergate for many years but this year the price shot up and the service shot down.

What I had not appreciated is that in the case of total loss (fire or sinking) the insured value (which dictates the premium you pay) means nothing and the company decides the "market value" of your boat. Liveaboard contents is also subject to many limitations.

Euromarine will provide real proper insurance if you want it but it won't be cheap.

If your objective is to get an insurance certificate to satisfy CaRT then get the cheapest.

 

..............Dave

Depends which is lower . . .

[KroSha]

GJW here. Reasonable cover for a reasonable price. Towergate were vey expensive on the last quote I got; over £200 more for what seems to be the same cover.

 

What I had not appreciated is that in the case of total loss (fire or sinking) the insured value (which dictates the premium you pay) means nothing and the company decides the "market value" of your boat. Liveaboard contents is also subject to many limitations.

Same as for road vehicles. They take no notice of what it would actually take to replace the item in question, only what a book (written by an insurer!) tells them it is worth. We had a car stolen and burnt out. It was a really old Rover. To replace it cost £600 (as in buy another one, similar age and mileage), but according to their valuation it was worth £300, and after excess £50! Given how much the lost no claims would have cost, it was cheaper not to claim and swallow the £600 for a new one.

 

Make no mistake, insurance is a massive scam; easily one of the most unethical business there is. They make huge amounts of money, but are very slow to part with it, even in the most obvious cases. The only time it's worth having is in personal injury cases, if only to stop you being bankrupted by the compensation. And if you are claiming in a personal injury case, be prepared to have everything questioned and objected to, aforementioned obvious case or not.

Edited April 21, 2016 by KroSha

[sailor0500]

Groves John Westrup.

Sold my yacht in France which was insured by them for 10 years. One claim due to stress of weather whilst in marina. Paid promptly with no argument or loss of no claims.

Just purchased narrow boat and insurance for live-aboard on boat value of £40000 plus £3000 contents costs £140.00 per year. Apply on line and quote by return. Pay with credit card and policy arrives as Pdf document within minutes. Beat that for price and service.