What does an insurance company cover on a blown engine

Depending on the cause of the engine failure, they might cover the entire cost
of an engine.

For instance: An acquaintance of mine had some work done on his Volvo diesels.
He paid to have some zincs replaced, among other items. The technician
apparently screwed one zinc in a turn or two, intending to tighten it down with
a wrench or a socket a moment later. Problem was, the the technician didn't
tighten the zinc down and it vibrated out when the boat was underway. Engine
overheated to the point where it sustained internal damage, acquaintance got a
brand new engine for the price of a small deductible.

When my engine failed, (hydrolock) I didn't expect to get any help from the
insurance company, as per the language of the policy. Actually, the adjuster
suggested that Boat US might be willing to pay to have the engine pulled and
torn down to determine whether the engine failure was a covered event or not-
and I figured that would be fine by me since the engine had to come out for
rebuild or replacement anyway. In the end, Boat US was able to reach a
conclusion about the cause of the failure without pulling the engine.

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 13:20:32 GMT, akheel
wrote:

First, let me say, given my current experince I wouldn't recommend BoatUS
insurance. I have the so called Yacht policy which is there "better"
policy, and it and their serice sucks. I had a better deal at the Auto
Club before, who are not "marine experts." I switched to BoatUS (which I
will abreviate hereon as "BS") because it was cheaper and now I see the
error of my ways.

~~ snippage ~~

1 - Get a new mechanic.

2 - They have the right to "depreciate" parts at their discretion.
Their point about putting you in a better position than when the
accident happened is a valid view point. In particular with the
"trashed"/"Whoops, not trashed" deal. You think they are going to
trust the mechanic? Or you?

3 - Of all the marine insurance companies I've heard about or
discussed with others, BoatUS is probably one of the best. One of the
all time losers is Progressive (two cases of which I have personal
knowledge).

Later,

Tom
-----------
"Angling may be said to be so
like the mathematics that it
can never be fully learnt..."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler", 1653

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote in
:

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 13:20:32 GMT, akheel
wrote:

First, let me say, given my current experince I wouldn't recommend
BoatUS insurance. I have the so called Yacht policy which is there
"better" policy, and it and their serice sucks. I had a better deal
at the Auto Club before, who are not "marine experts." I switched to
BoatUS (which I will abreviate hereon as "BS") because it was cheaper
and now I see the error of my ways.

~~ snippage ~~

1 - Get a new mechanic.

2 - They have the right to "depreciate" parts at their discretion.
Their point about putting you in a better position than when the
accident happened is a valid view point. In particular with the
"trashed"/"Whoops, not trashed" deal. You think they are going to
trust the mechanic? Or you?

They absolutely have the right to depreciate, that's not the problem. The
amount of depreciation is not at their discretion, its the amount of actual
depreciation, which in this context, simply means the percent used of the
total useful life of the part in question. They can estimate the
depreciation based on age, and if I accept that fine. If I don't, they
have to investigate, perhaps inspect, and determine the actual amount of
depreciation. That's all I want, because I think in my particular case,
the depreciation estimate they made, based on a chart they have, is very in
accurate.


3 - Of all the marine insurance companies I've heard about or
discussed with others, BoatUS is probably one of the best. One of the
all time losers is Progressive (two cases of which I have personal
knowledge).

I can only say I had a claim with under an Auto Club policy I had, and they
were much easier to deal with. Bear in mind, we're talking about a little
18 foot I/O runabout. Things might be different if I was insuring an
actual yacht with hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake. Maybe it pays
to go with marine experts in those cases, but when it comes to relatively
cheap weekend recreational boats I've had better luck with my local auto
policy companies.

On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 02:17:39 GMT, akheel
wrote:

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote in
:

~~ snippage ~~

They absolutely have the right to depreciate, that's not the problem. The
amount of depreciation is not at their discretion, its the amount of actual
depreciation, which in this context, simply means the percent used of the
total useful life of the part in question. They can estimate the
depreciation based on age, and if I accept that fine. If I don't, they
have to investigate, perhaps inspect, and determine the actual amount of
depreciation. That's all I want, because I think in my particular case,
the depreciation estimate they made, based on a chart they have, is very in
accurate.

Seems fair to me. Then again, I'm not an adjuster. :)

3 - Of all the marine insurance companies I've heard about or
discussed with others, BoatUS is probably one of the best. One of the
all time losers is Progressive (two cases of which I have personal
knowledge).

I can only say I had a claim with under an Auto Club policy I had, and they
were much easier to deal with. Bear in mind, we're talking about a little
18 foot I/O runabout. Things might be different if I was insuring an
actual yacht with hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake. Maybe it pays
to go with marine experts in those cases, but when it comes to relatively
cheap weekend recreational boats I've had better luck with my local auto
policy companies.

I have a custom policy written against my house insurance for my three
boats. All are full replacement value which we negotiate every two
years. I have a $1,500, $500 and $250 deductible respectively. Works
out much better this way.

So far I've had one claim over a bizillion years with this same major
company and I took part of the hit because it was my fault - I whacked
a piling and needed some fiberglass repair.

Later,

Tom

"Beware the one legged man in a butt
kicking contest - he is there for a
reason."

Wun Hung Lo - date unknown