Insurance debacle
craigswardmtb
Member Posts: 1,015 ✭✭✭
I am pretty sure i haven't been this frustrated with a company in a while. So beginning of this season, May 1st, i call my boat insurance company, Geico, to renew my policy on my 2005 Rinker 360. All is well except they tell my my rate is going up from $840 to $897. No big deal the boat is a year older. They tell me once my policy expires on May 15th it will autorenew and i'll be good for another year. I get off the phone and all is well.
So with all the talk of alot of named storms this year i could not remember if i had haul protection in the event of a hurricane. So i called Geico and ask the question and am informed that my policy expired on May15th and i'm not currently covered. Obviously i raise the red flag and tell them about my exact conversation and renewal agreed to 45 days ago. They tell me ok no big deal we will just have to rewrite the policy. They do this and all of a sudden my rate is now $2100 for the year!!!!!!!!!! I almost fell off my chair. I talked to a manager and they basically said we cannot renew at the old rate because it expired. She tells me they sent me an email that my credit card on file from last year did not go through and it expired, which is true (same debit card number different expiration date). I get so many emails and on top of it, it was filtered to junk, so i never got this communication. I asked them why i was not contacted by phone or letter, and they said in these scenarios we contact by email. I told them it was not acceptable and that any business that had their customers best interests in mind would have gotten in contact with me before cancelling my policy. I get mail and calls from Geico all the time (i have two houses, two cars and a boat covered by them) yet they don't send me a communication or give me a call on this. I'm beside myself. Plus i'm angry i have been driving the boat around for 30 days uninsured.... I suppose i should have realized i didn't have a new insurance binder sent to me, but i didn't. I still think its incredibly irresponsible of Geico.
So net net of it, is the manager told me they cannot renew the old policy but they have sent it "up to systems review" and will get back to me today with potentially a new rate. It sounds like a double check process on the crumby rate they gave me. I would wager they only improve it marginally.
Sooo, who do you guys use for insurance and what kind of rates are you seeing? I previously used Skisafe, and they were good and competitive, before Geico wrote their own policies. I may reach out to them but would like to save myself sometime if you guys have already done the research on the best coverage for $ out there.
So with all the talk of alot of named storms this year i could not remember if i had haul protection in the event of a hurricane. So i called Geico and ask the question and am informed that my policy expired on May15th and i'm not currently covered. Obviously i raise the red flag and tell them about my exact conversation and renewal agreed to 45 days ago. They tell me ok no big deal we will just have to rewrite the policy. They do this and all of a sudden my rate is now $2100 for the year!!!!!!!!!! I almost fell off my chair. I talked to a manager and they basically said we cannot renew at the old rate because it expired. She tells me they sent me an email that my credit card on file from last year did not go through and it expired, which is true (same debit card number different expiration date). I get so many emails and on top of it, it was filtered to junk, so i never got this communication. I asked them why i was not contacted by phone or letter, and they said in these scenarios we contact by email. I told them it was not acceptable and that any business that had their customers best interests in mind would have gotten in contact with me before cancelling my policy. I get mail and calls from Geico all the time (i have two houses, two cars and a boat covered by them) yet they don't send me a communication or give me a call on this. I'm beside myself. Plus i'm angry i have been driving the boat around for 30 days uninsured.... I suppose i should have realized i didn't have a new insurance binder sent to me, but i didn't. I still think its incredibly irresponsible of Geico.
So net net of it, is the manager told me they cannot renew the old policy but they have sent it "up to systems review" and will get back to me today with potentially a new rate. It sounds like a double check process on the crumby rate they gave me. I would wager they only improve it marginally.
Sooo, who do you guys use for insurance and what kind of rates are you seeing? I previously used Skisafe, and they were good and competitive, before Geico wrote their own policies. I may reach out to them but would like to save myself sometime if you guys have already done the research on the best coverage for $ out there.
Comments
That insane geico rate was for 300k liability; 1k deductible; 100k agreed value; in the northeast so in the water maybe 7-8 months.
I hear good things about Allstate boat insurance.
2002 FV 342 on Lake St. Clair - Past Commodore SHC - Vessel Examiner USCGAUX
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
Andy
@craigswardmtb I use Gallagher Charter Lakes. Previously had used Progressive and they were getting quite out of hand. My buddy uses Geico/Boat US and the policy from GCL has equal coverage (even more in some areas) and is less $$.
I had never heard of them until I did a Google search one day; glad I did! Julia Ellis was the person I dealt with; they are very professional and accommodating.
Good Luck!
Go Steelers!!!
So far i have a couple quotes back. The best being $950 yearly rate, 50% windstorm haul out protection, $890 deductible, 300k liability, 980k fuel spill from Marine Underwriters/IMU. Still waiting on a couple more quotes. Thanks for all the suggestions so far!
Well David, I'm glad it's getting taking care of quickly on the insurance end. You may just want to check your policy a bit in detail. I'm sure there are options for coverage that is non-depreciable. I know on mine, they covered everything 100% both times. One was an outdrive and the other was the vapor explosion.
At least you will have a lot of new parts and good-to-go boat!
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
Regards,
Ian
The Third “B”
Secretary, Ravena Coeymans Yacht Club
https://www.rcyachtclub.com/
2002 FV 342 on Lake St. Clair - Past Commodore SHC - Vessel Examiner USCGAUX
Yep buddy got burnt on this fine print. I read MY fine print and it was the same, so I canceled and switched. They pay replacement cost, and it only went up $200 a year.