Insurance in Caribbean during Hurricane Season?

[Tspringer]

I have decided to store our Stevens 47 on the hard on Tortola in the BVI for the hurricane season. She will be on the hard from July 1st - November 1st. My current insurance (obtained through IMIS) is charging an additional $680 to allow this AND is doubling my deductible for named windstorm damage to over $16K. The total policy for an insured value of $165K is now well over $5K per year and this is with a high deductible!

IS this just reality... or does anyone have suggestions for doing better?



Terry

[Zanshin]

Usually you should be just over the 2% value, so your rates seem a bit high - but you might have better contractual conditions than most.

I think the named storm surcharges sound good. Someone who stored their boat at Nanny Cay told me they had special "hardened" supports built and thus managed to reduce their insurance premiums but that the construction costs for the cradle were actually higher than the premium savings. I personally think that such measures aren't too workable in practice, since chances are good that damage will come from something outside of your boat.

[Boasun]

Originally Posted by Zanshin

Usually you should be just over the 2% value, so your rates seem a bit high - but you might have better contractual conditions than most.

I think the named storm surcharges sound good. Someone who stored their boat at Nanny Cay told me they had special "hardened" supports built and thus managed to reduce their insurance premiums but that the construction costs for the cradle were actually higher than the premium savings. I personally think that such measures aren't too workable in practice, since chances are good that damage will come from something outside of your boat.

But you can use that cradle more than once. The money? Once used it is gone big time.

[speciald]

I asked my agent for coverage in the Carribean for next Summer. He told me I would have to wait until after the hurricaine season this year to get a quote and that he would have to go to London or other foreign markets to get an underwriter. I intend to keep the boat in Oyster Pond in St. Maarten.

A number of yards in the islands have pits into which the boats can be lowered. This seems to be safer than being propped up and exposed to the wind. Catamaran Marina in Antigua is one such marina.

[Zanshin]

I tried to get pit space on Virgin Gorda and Nanny Cay and they were booked out, otherwise I would have paid the surcharge in exchange for surety.

I neglected to think about the re-usability of the cradle assembly; that makes sense after all.

[camaraderie]

Terry...it is reality for a quality policy from a quality company that is providing "no box" coverage. The choices are:
1. Go with no insurance and hope for the best.
2. Get somewhere out of the box for lower rates (Trini or VZ in this case)
3. Go with a cheaper insurance company providing the same coverage for 1/2 the price (see SSCA thread on NorthernReef SSCA Discussion Board :: View topic - Stay clear of Northernreef Insurance. This is comforting until the storm hits. Then see #1!

[hphoen]

Terry,

I have my Caribbean area policy with the brokers, Besso, Ltd, in London. They represent T.L. Dallas (Special Risks). Ltd., and ultimately the underwriters, Great Lakes.

They agreed to allow me to store the boat within the "Box" (Antigua), at a somewhat higher premium than "out of the Box". My total premium is 1.84% of the "agreed value", with a 2% deductible, doubled if damage is from a named storm. Any of the Caribbean islands are OK with them. They charged me less for Grenada, three years ago.

I've had one small claim in three years, and they handled it fairly.