Under insured in Florida and it's not right!

[CharlieO.]

I wonder how far the "named storm" clause extends, up here in the Northeast we get remnants of the named storms, Lake Champlain got hit pretty good from Debbie. I know not hit like the southern states, but I did go to my boat and stayed aboard and added extra lines.

 

[Compromise]

If you paid $14K and are insured for $14K..... you are insured exactly right.

I could only get basic liability in Fla for my 1973 TOLLYCRAFT 34 Sedan.. HAD TO PAY $600 FOR THIS POLICY. Don't have a home so no homeowner's insurance. But this is the ONLY company that would give me insurance on an old boat

 

[Compromise]

I could only get basic liability in Fla for my 1973 TOLLYCRAFT 34 Sedan.. HAD TO PAY $600 FOR THIS POLICY. Don't have a home so no homeowner's insurance. But this is the ONLY company that would give me insurance on an old boat. $300,000 liability and $1,076.000 fuel spill.

 

[SteveK]

I provided the insurance company with a survey that was less than two years old, and the boat had been on the hard since the survey. The Survey valued the boat at $35,000. We get about a week's notice that a storm is coming in our direction. The boat yards are full this time of year. I'm on the gulf side of Florida. My escape route in a trawler that goes 10 MPH is to go out into the gulf? The survey shows $35K. I asked for $25K. The hull has since received two coats of paint and the bottom also. I did the work myself (at 74!). I'll have $25K in the boat by the time I have finished with the upgrades. I don't think my request was unreasonable.

Sorry, but what you have told us makes your request unreasonable to insurers. Heck I wish I could insure for the thousands in upgrades and repairs to recover all in a worst case scenario.
What you should have done (possibly naughty) is have someone else purchase the boat and sell it to you for $35K and then ask for $25K of insurance. Why do you expect them to insure for more than purchase price?

 

[Larry M]

I wonder how far the "named storm" clause extends, up here in the Northeast we get remnants of the named storms, Lake Champlain got hit pretty good from Debbie. I know not hit like the southern states, but I did go to my boat and stayed aboard and added extra lines.

Check your policy or call your agent. Our policy specifically talked about named storms and what I had to do. Our deductible also changed for any damage during a named storm but we lived in hurricane areas.

 

[hytedin]

I just purchased a Prairie Boatworks 36 Trawler that has been on the hard for more than two years. It was for sale and don't understand why there were no takers for so long, but I got a hell of a deal on it and am thrilled with one exception. I'm under insured! The boat was surveyed in April 2022, so I had a survey less than two years old. The Survey valued the boat @ $35,000. I also had advertising showing the boat at $30K which I shared with the insurance company and requested hull coverage for $25,000. I was quoted for that, but I paid $14K for the boat and was honest (honesty is a terrible habit!) on the application where it asked, "how much did you pay for the boat" and I said $14K. The insurance company (progressive through Gallagher) refused $25K and would only insure the boat for $14K! So, I'm sitting in Florida at the start of Hurricane season and I'm underinsured! Any suggestions? I sense that insurance companies are doing this in Florida.

Are they offering hurricane related coverage, even at $14k value?

 

[Comodave]

Sorry, but what you have told us makes your request unreasonable to insurers. Heck I wish I could insure for the thousands in upgrades and repairs to recover all in a worst case scenario.
What you should have done (possibly naughty) is have someone else purchase the boat and sell it to you for $35K and then ask for $25K of insurance. Why do you expect them to insure for more than purchase price?

We have owned our current boat for 3 years. I have spent $80K in upgrades. I had Geico insurance and they didn’t want to increase the coverage, in fact they said they wanted to drop the coverage amount. I called Peter at Novamar. In 15 minutes he had me new coverage for more than I asked Geico for. And no survey. Great guy. Our boat is now insured for $75K more than we paid when we bought it.

 

[psneeld]

It's not about moving or hauling the boat all the time or for everyone.

A huge amount of claims are just for canvas or sails not removed, lines not chafe proofed or doubled, batteries and bilge pumps not checked, valuables removed, and on and on.

Several adjusters have echoed all these reasons to me on several occasions and the reasons insurance companies are abandoning or putting the screws to boaters in general.

 

[Lepke]

If you watch the weather you get more than a weeks notice for hurricanes. You may not know the landfall, but you know it's coming, and maybe close. By the time you get a landfall prediction, you should be ready to leave.
In 5 days a boat making 7 knots will travel 800 miles.

 

[Comodave]

When I was in the Navy we had 60+ aircraft in our squadron. Hurricane predicted to hit us directly. So we flew them to an Air Force base in Louisiana someplace. The hurricane came about 100 miles from us and then took a hard left and went to Louisiana right by the base we flew the aircraft to…

 

[psneeld]

.....

 

[fgarriso]

+Your lucky to even get a policy in Florida during hurricane season.
Several policies state that the boat has to moved out of Florida waters during hurricane season.

 

[psneeld]

5 days out, depending on it projected path, at 5 days out, landfall predictions could be within a 100 miles or so or 100s of miles off.

In my 40+ year following of hurricanes.....If the cane is travelling essentially North, Florida's East and West coasts with only a few degree shift can be missed entirely. The panhandle is a different story...there is the scary part of Fl. The canes cross into the gulf, often not much more than a tropical storm, but in a day or two some have built to CAT 4&5 storms They then hit within a day or so and their tracks to landfall tend to be narrower.

Plus, sometimes at 3 days out places are being evacuted and bridges are closed to navigation screwing up certain plans.

 

[Cold Duck]

Interesting, I insured through Progressive online and insured on an agreed value that was more than my purchase price. I don't believe they ever asked how much I purchased for.

Same with me and progressive and my 1997 MS350. A real problem with under insured is suppose you have $10k damages, insured for $14k but boat worth $30k, they total boat instead of doing repairs then sell salvage for say $10k. You get $14k out a boat and they only out $4k. This happens all the time. You don’t want to be under or over insured. It can bite you in a claim.

 

[CharlieO.]

Same with me and progressive and my 1997 MS350. A real problem with under insured is suppose you have $10k damages, insured for $14k but boat worth $30k, they total boat instead of doing repairs then sell salvage for say $10k. You get $14k out a boat and they only out $4k. This happens all the time. You don’t want to be under or over insured. It can bite you in a claim.

I think I understand your perspective, and I would be ok with that scenario. It would have to be a pretty substantial claim for me to call in my insurance.

 

[Blissboat]

If you watch the weather you get more than a weeks notice for hurricanes. You may not know the landfall, but you know it's coming, and maybe close. By the time you get a landfall prediction, you should be ready to leave.
In 5 days a boat making 7 knots will travel 800 miles.

People who lack the experience of trying to reason with hurricane season seem amazed that boaters in Florida don't just move out of the way of an approaching hurricane. Here's why:

For boaters anywhere on the Gulf of Mexico coastline, and really, most places along both Florida's coasts trying to run away ahead of the storm's arrival is a fool's errand. Until within twelve or so hours of arrival, forecasting the point of landfall is unreliable. The initial decision of which way to run is just a guess. Then, factor in the amount of advance time necessary to 1) decide which direction will wind up being safer, 2) locate and arrange an alternate dock or anchorage, 3) fuel, load and move the boat any meaningful number of miles to its new location, 4) re-secure the boat, and 5) evacuate. And guess what - while you're doing that, every other boat owner (at least the responsible ones) around you is in the same situation, trying to solve the same set of problems and competing for safe places to anchor, tie up or haul out. If you can drop everything and get aboard immediately, three days might suffice, but in the world of hurricane predicting, three days is an eternity. Your decision making inputs will be changing continuously. Predicting landfall three days out is nearly meaningless. Predicting it 24 hours out is still unreliable, but if you're still figuring out what to do with your boat 24 hours before landfall, you're already behind the eight-ball.

The National Hurricane Center keeps getting better at track and intensity predictions, but honestly, when a big one gets loose in the Gulf of Mexico, every place is at risk, and a few miles difference either way from the predicted landfall can make all the difference. (Look up Hurricane Michael, October 2018, Panama City, Florida). And yes, brother - many are the times I have cancelled everything else and driven through the night with a plan and a bug-out bag to reach my boat ahead of a threatening hurricane and get it ready as best I can, only to watch the storm go someplace else. Insurance or no insurance, I take care of my boat. So does everyone I know.

 

[Spike]

If you watch the weather you get more than a weeks notice for hurricanes. You may not know the landfall, but you know it's coming, and maybe close. By the time you get a landfall prediction, you should be ready to leave.
In 5 days a boat making 7 knots will travel 800 miles.

You're absolutely right! The 5 day forecast (Fri. 9/23) for hurricane Ian in 2022 was right at Ft Myers...By Sunday 9/25 Ft Myers wasn't even in the "cone of uncertainty" as the storm was now forecast to hit the panhandle. Ft Myers wasn't back in the cone until Tuesday at 8 am, 24 hours prior to landfall! So I ask, where should I move my boat to and when?
Go back to 2017 and Hurricane Irma. I'm at Legacy Marina in downtown Ft. Myers. For the week leading up to landfall the forecast kept moving from one coast to the other. As I'm prepping the boat by doing all the things mentioned above I'm watching boats go up the river and then come back the next day only to go back east again the next day.
So I ask...exactly when do boats in Florida make the call to move versus prep in place? Fgarriso stated you can't even get a policy in Florida that covers hurricane season. I'm guessing the thousands of boats in Florida just go without insurance for 6 months.
Thankfully we now store Chasing 80 in upstate NY during the winter where there is nothing to worry about....

 

[psneeld]

I don't subscribe to either side here....as usual...most answers usually lie in the middle.

There are plenty of owners who don't do didly before hurricanes and expect full reimbursement for any damage...then there are those that do a little to a lot to prepare and sometimes it works and sometimes they still lose everything.

My last 2 hurricanes my boat survived...the first was Sandy...using all my experience, I wound up guessing wrong despite a 2 day in advance of Sandy Superstorm...and wound up moving it directly into the bullseye of landfall. Good news is it was the best hurricane hole on the New Jersey coast and survived without a scratch while riding it out. It also was downgraded to an Extratropical Storm, 1 mph less than hurricane strength. The other was when Dorien went by Myrtle Beach and because I was in the best hurricane hole around, I battened down and drove my RV to I-95 inland 60 miles. Adain not a scratch and no on deck gear damage due to a full days prep. That storm I couldn't have moved as the closed the bridges several days before it passing by.

So moving wasn't necessarily the answer for those lesser storms, but educated prep is key to save from a lot of miscellaneous damage and claims insurance companies detest due to inexperience and plain neglect by boat owners.

Bottom line, is there any better hurricane holes withing a few dozen miles that may save your boat if really bad or what can you do to better protect your boat if moving won't help or can't be done?

 

[Shrew]

You people in Florida can see hurricanes coming for days. But instead of moving your boats to a safe harbor, leave them to pile up on the beach and let the insurance deal with it. That gives all of us higher rates, but those in the hurricane zone even more. Insurance is getting tighter everywhere, but there billions in unnecessary claims hurts us all.
And yes, when necessary I have moved my boats because of weather and tsunamis. Left work, etc.

This is extremely naive. move to where? How? Have you ever travelled the length of the Florida eastern seaboard? Have you ever watched hurricane patterns? They all turn north and graze along Georgia, SC and NC. In most cases you'd be likely steaming TO the hurricane rather than away from it. And then let's talk about the number of days that it takes.

You act like there are huge options for hurricane holes along the coast of Florida. I appreciate your right to you opinion, however I feel your opinion is grossly misguided?

 

[PhilPB]

In all of my years owning boats that reside in slips in South Florida, I have never moved due to a storm, because there is nowhere safer in our area to go other than the slip it resides in. You double, or triple your lines, deploy fenders, take down the canvas and get everything off the decks.

The few haulout facilities that are here, you need to pay for a spot to get into the queue if you need them and then pay more if they actually haul the boat. Those spots are generally all taken anyways, so it's up to you to take care of your property.

When there are evacuation orders, drawbridges are locked down so you can't transition far and you are better off staying put where you are else you may put yourself in a dangerous position.

We resolved this problem by purchasing our slip in a marina known as a hurricane hole and our insurance cost is reduced because of that.