I was cleaning up the boat after a great day on the water taking a dear friend out with other members from my church. The dear friend has terminal cancer and probably has only months left. He had a great time and caught fish. He went upstairs to talk with my wife while I continued cleaning the boat-she gets TLC and is in good shape. I received a panic shout from my wife saying it was an emergency and I thought she was having a stroke or a heart attack so I ran quickly to help. My friend had fallen on the landing and needed help getting up. Meanwhile I must have left the boat lift in the up mode and the boat came against the wood metal roof over the lift and she is squashed. I will need a new hard top and all the glass was shattered and the window frames are all bent severely. I will also need the aluminum rails to hold the hard top. The attachment points on the cabin for the aluminum supports are torn out and will require extensive fiberglass repair. I will need to know where to acquire these parts and any help you can give me will be appreciated. Real saddened by this but thank God no one was hurt. One more question the insurance says the limit for the boat is 21,000 but NADA boat is saying the average is low retail of $5,530 to an average of $6,320. None of the boat trader type outfits have the boat at this low of a price more like $13,000 and up. The engine is perfect and has 130 hours on it. Are they going to total the boat and not fix it? Is their a way I can fight it? If they say we will give you $4,000 and take the boat-that would be bad. I need your advice and thank you so much for the help you can provide. Retired with a very small boat budget.
Squashed 228 hard top.
- Thread starter Bob Burd
- Start date
So while it sounds like a tough situation, the last thing you want to do is rush things. That applies to both repairs to the boat, as well as jumping to conclusions. First things first; make sure you document what happened, how, when, and take pictures (for yourself, and your insurance company). If you have them, find photos of the boat in the condition prior to the incident. Then I'd recommend locating and giving your insurance policy a solid read. And maybe not just your boat insurance policy, maybe your home-owners policy as well, in case there are any provisions that cover your boat-house/lift arrangement.
And then it's time to have a meaningful discussion with your insurance company representative. Agreed value on an insurance policy is a lot different than fair market value, and I would recommend against speculating how an insurance company will value your vessel.
I'd strongly recommend avoiding any statements re: NADA guides . . . you don't want to prejudice the discussion with the insurance company. You want to make a claim, and you want to return to enjoying your time on the water as quickly as possible. That means understanding the process your insurance company will follow to assess the damages, determine what is covered, and what the payouts will be.
Notice that I haven't said anything about boat shops yet, or repairs. The reason is that first, you don't want to incur fees/bills until you know what the insurance situation is. And second, you don't want to spend money until you know and document the full extent of damages. Do not allow a shop to begin work on your boat until you know it's worth working on, and I mean that in the most pragmatic way possible. Dock rash, a little "that'll buff right out" fiberglass damage is significantly different than "I broke the semi-custom OEM marine glass windscreen and hard-top frames." Let the assessor do their job, first.
And then it's time to have a meaningful discussion with your insurance company representative. Agreed value on an insurance policy is a lot different than fair market value, and I would recommend against speculating how an insurance company will value your vessel.
I'd strongly recommend avoiding any statements re: NADA guides . . . you don't want to prejudice the discussion with the insurance company. You want to make a claim, and you want to return to enjoying your time on the water as quickly as possible. That means understanding the process your insurance company will follow to assess the damages, determine what is covered, and what the payouts will be.
Notice that I haven't said anything about boat shops yet, or repairs. The reason is that first, you don't want to incur fees/bills until you know what the insurance situation is. And second, you don't want to spend money until you know and document the full extent of damages. Do not allow a shop to begin work on your boat until you know it's worth working on, and I mean that in the most pragmatic way possible. Dock rash, a little "that'll buff right out" fiberglass damage is significantly different than "I broke the semi-custom OEM marine glass windscreen and hard-top frames." Let the assessor do their job, first.
SkunkBoat
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agree with shark bait.
Boat insurance is usually agreed value not book value.
You decided when you got the policy how much you wanted to be paid for a total loss.
Read your policy and talk to the ins co.
Don't get any estimates or otherwise spend money that you might just be wasting.
with a nada value of 6K I'm guessing the boat is pretty old.
The damage you describe will almost certainly cost more than that to be professionally repaired.
Just a new hardtop with aluminum frame is at least $4k.
Sometimes its just not feasible to repair a hull when you can buy a similar one for less.
Hopefully your agreed value is enough to help you replace the boat.
good luck.
Boat insurance is usually agreed value not book value.
You decided when you got the policy how much you wanted to be paid for a total loss.
Read your policy and talk to the ins co.
Don't get any estimates or otherwise spend money that you might just be wasting.
with a nada value of 6K I'm guessing the boat is pretty old.
The damage you describe will almost certainly cost more than that to be professionally repaired.
Just a new hardtop with aluminum frame is at least $4k.
Sometimes its just not feasible to repair a hull when you can buy a similar one for less.
Hopefully your agreed value is enough to help you replace the boat.
good luck.
Just curious, what year is the hull and motor? Option two is if insurance wants to total the boat you could price it out and see if you can handle the repair yourself and not proceed with the claim?
When I repowered last summer I increased my agreed value some because I just spent $24k on a new motor. I pay more for the policy but if my boat gets stolen and severely damaged , I figured it would take some cash to replace the hull with new power.
First take pics and call the insurance company and your home owners policy as others suggested. Good luck.
When I repowered last summer I increased my agreed value some because I just spent $24k on a new motor. I pay more for the policy but if my boat gets stolen and severely damaged , I figured it would take some cash to replace the hull with new power.
First take pics and call the insurance company and your home owners policy as others suggested. Good luck.
