Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

[Moody Blue]

Recently changed the insurance company for my house and auto insurance. Old insurance company provided coverage for my boat under the house policy. New company is MUCH MUCH cheaper but does not provide coverage for boats older than 25 years. My boat is going on 41 years old.

Now I need to find insurance for my boat separately and was hoping for some recommendations from other iBoaters. Looking for basic coverage to cover loss and liability.

 

[montego man]

Re: Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

Call this guy

Robert Rotteveel, CIP, CAIB
Personal Insurance Specialist

Josslin Insurance Brokers Limited
1082 Weber St. E.
Kitchener, ON N2A 1B8

 

[Rumley]

Re: Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

You are going to have to get a marine survey. I beleive mine was 300 and make sure that he is licensed to do it. I had a dealership do one and the insurance company told me I needed to get a new one because it was not sufficient. I get my insurance through Allstate which also does my truck and sled insurance. I previously was with Aviva for my boat but they were outrageous on price. 430$ for a 1975 19' that was maybe worth 2000. But I had no choice because it was the only one that would insure someone under 25. Now for my 1988 21' I'm paying around 160 I beleive. So shop around is what I am trying to say. But you will need a survey done, insurance won't touch anything older then 15yrs old was what I was told from all companies I spoke with. Hope this helps

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

Great, thanks.

Will contact Josslin tomorrow and see where it leads.

I was with Aviva and also found them to be very expensive. Bellair has the best prices I have seen, but unfortunately they don't cover old RV's. Was hoping not to have to fork out cash for a survey though.

 

[Alumarine]

Re: Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

I have my 27 year old tin boat insured through CAA. No survey required. (I may have sent them links to adds for similar boats)
I have my 37 year old fiberglass boat insured through Intact Insurance. No survey required.
Both are part of house policies.

 

[Rumley]

Re: Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

I'm surprised that they would insure it under a house policy. I was living with my parents at the time and they inquired about it but they said fiberglass I/O must have a survey and it's own policy. Anne weird enough they were with intact insurance as well.

 

[ricohman]

Re: Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

My boat is also insured under the house policy but it ain't cheap at about $25 a month.

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

After making numerous phone calls and filling out on-line quotation forms, I managed to find an insurance company that was willing to insure my boat WITHOUT having a survey completed. Everybody I contacted quoted the same price, $300 (+/- $10) for the year but they all wanted a recent survey. That would run between $250 and $300. I did contact Josslin and they were the same price as everyone else. Finally found a company that would accept recent detailed photos as proof of condition. The company is April Marine Insurance if anyone is interested.

 

[r.j.dawg]

Re: Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

I'm with Royal Sunalliance and they have been great. We had an underwater strike last year that tore up our Bravo III and took out our engine coupler. Within a day they had us back up and running. We may pay a bit more per year in premiums, but their service more than makes up for it.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

Canadians only need boat insurance for a couple weeks out of the year eh? The rest of the time the water's frozen, isn't it?

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Insurance question for Canadian Boaters

... they were outrageous on price. 430$ for a 1975 19' that was maybe worth 2000...

A wild thought from a crazy Yank... (Sorry, if this was supposed to be a Canadian only thread.)

Most of the cost of the insurance was likely for liability insurance and not so much for your property (hull) damage.
Would it be possible to delete the Hull insurance and just go with Liability only?

If you had $1000 deductible on a $2000 boat, as soon as you did almost any damage, you would be over the $2000 value and they would just declare it a total loss anyway.
Save up the insurace premium and use it as a downpayment on a replacement boat.
If you are not buying hull insurance, they should not care how old the boat is.

A 35 year old boat would do the same damage in a collision as a new one.
Even less if the boat falls apart first.