SA
2 posts
Hello All,
I own a 30" timber yacht built in 1957 that I had insured through DG Marine Insurance here in Australia, which I understand to be underwritten by Edward William Marine Insurance and Northernreef Insurance company of who knows where overseas (I have seen the UK listed as well as Spain and others) is mentioned. I can hear you all saying stay away from overseas insurance companies, but believe me, I and others in our yacht club have tried to get local insurance and seems no one local will insure timber boats or boats over a certain vintage, and we need insurance coverage in the club for third party damage.
I took her for a short run out for a day trip, two days before New Years Eve this year, and on our return stuck fast on a shifting sand bar in the middle of the channel on a tide that had just turned and was falling, not 200 mtrs from her berth. She laid over on her starboard side and took on water between the timbers that had slightly opened up in places through summer. Heartache to see your freshly painted and anti-fouled pride and joy in this predicament, but as they say "thats why we have insurance".
The following day I organised a submersible pump and took out my runabout to her, pumped her out near low tide and on the rising tide up she popped and towed her back to her berth, I had a diesel mechanic come down to her on New Years Day and dumped all the oil, stripped what he had to, cleaned and put it back and then to my amazement she fired up and ran for a few minutes, shut her down, dumped oil again, did this several times, and now she is back to running like a swiss watch.
I contacted the insurance cover and they emailed me a claim form of which I filled in and sent back. They have accepted the claim, this was after they tried saying I didn't do enough to prevent damage after the grounding? Long story short, they have given permission to have the repairs taken care ofas per quotes, pay for them out of my pocket, send them on to them, and then they will make their full assessment on whether the insurance is paid out! As I said earlier this claim has been going on since New Years Eve and still no outcome. There is now no correspondence from either the underwriters or DG Marine here in Australia, who called me to ask why my vessel's insurance policy has not been renewed with them, and after emailing him the whole saga, no response to several emails now.
My reason for writing this story is to-
1) Have people aware of the dealings with these insurance companies.
2) Ask for help in how to get some satisfaction with these insurance companies. (I have been trying to get help through several European ombudsmen, but they don't seem to be able to help)
3) Has anybody had similar stories.
Regards
NSW
7757 posts
I'm not a real believer in boat insurance but its a necessary evil if you need to use public slips where 3rd party cover is required.
Insurance company attitude to wooden vessels is pathetic. My fishing vessel which I have sold, I'm now retired, was built in 1945 and I never ever managed to get even 3rd party on it. Most companies wont cover commercial fishing vessels and being timber was a double whammy. It is not just timber boats though, even fibreglass over 20 years old now are hard to cover. As the people with yachts in Jervis Bay have discovered recently where 11 yachts went up on the beach, even the name companies can not be trusted. Horror stories of people just getting their premiums back and told no more coverage. Nautilus and Marine hull wont cover boats there in future.
Its been my experience that uninsured fishing vessels never sink! In your case I'm sorry but I think you have been screwed.
QLD
45 posts
Although I don't have a wooden boat, I have a 40+ year old boat on a swing mooring in a cyclone region and found that insurance was incredibly hard to come by which lead me, like you, to DG Marine and Northernreef. My heckles were raised when they so readily offered me insurance without as much as a picture of my boat, which lead to some internet investigations. Needless to say, I ended up eventually finding another insurer and went with them.
In the process, I did a fair bit of research on this edward williams / northernreef mob and have read a lot of mixed stories regarding them and my conclusion is that they are sellers of insurance certificates that make the occasional payout and should only be used as a last resort with the expectation that they most probably won't payout on a claim without a fight. From what I gather they have a clause to the effect that the "boat must be seaworthy at all times" which gives them an easy out in that seaworthy boats don't just sink or take on water. Their "we'll reimburse your costs" method of payout apparently is not that uncommon for overseas insurance providers.
On the plus side, I've been surprised since I've moved to the swing mooring and spoken with neighbours that have or know of people insured with edward william and seem to be happy enough, even heard of a case where they paid a claim so they definitely fill a market niche at least.
