Hurricane damage to boat and Insurance

[Brian D]

Now I am asking this question out of pure ignorance.

Say you have a boat that is damaged during a hurricane. You contact your Insurance Company and they assess the boat is a total loss. What happens to the boat now? Does the Insurance Company haul it away, like if your car was a total loss? Or are you responsible for hauling it off to be destroyed?

The reason I ask is because after two hurricanes, there will be lots of boats for sale. Some are considered a total loss but outside they may appear undamaged. This, we know, has happened many times.

Thoughts? Caveat Emptor?

 

[Kings Gambit]

After Sandy, a lot of slippage appeared to open up here on the west coast. Hypothesis--many west coast boats were being bought as replacements and shipped east. Might be a good time to list here, if selling the boat is in your near future.

 

[Meriachee]

After Sandy, a lot of boats wound up here
http://www.yachtsalvage.com
We looked at a relatively nice 28mkii that had a completely repairable hole in the side, that was a great price, but NJ was a little far to transport it from.

 

[Brian D]

Well, that's interesting. I never, ever, would have thought of that, KG. LOL I am sure if I wanted to sell my boat, I might get better offers if it had a trailer.

 

[JamesG161]

What happens to the boat now?

It depends on your policy "fine print".

My policy will remove the "totaled boat" and I can buy it back from them I if want.
Jim...

 

[Meriachee]

There were also a lot of Canadian boats from the west coast that got snapped up really quickly, and that itself ramps up and down with the exchange rates.

 

[JamesG161]

BTW I noticed many sunk Sailboats pictures from Irma. The companion way hatch was either blown away, left open intentionally or from neglect.

hmmmmm?
Jim...

 

[Brian D]

It depends on your policy "fine print".

My policy will remove the "totaled boat" and I can buy it back from them I if want.
Jim...

So then does this mean one can strip the good parts from the boat before surrendering to the Insurance Company? Hmmm. Interesting.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

We owned a boat in the early '90s which our underwriter totalled. Long story, short version - fire. I think there are still pictures on my profile page of that boat. The fire was midship. Engine was fine as were the davits, anchor, tools, etc...

I asked the claims people and was told I could salvage anything undamaged. Someone unfortunately beat me to the anchor but we did salvage some other stuff. I still have those davits on our present boat.

Policies generally don't stipulate anything about the destiny of totalled boats.

The agents don't care and the underwriter can't be bothered with the trivial stuff.

And we just walked. Don't know nor do I care what happened to the hulk.

 

[Rick D]

OK, so unless otherwise stated in the policy, the insurer assumes title to the boat in the event of a payment for a "total loss". That would be the typical standard. However, if the insurer did not want the salvage, you cannot abandon it to them (again, typical language). Generally, the insurer wants to recover whatever they can from the loss, so it will try to dispose of the salvage for a price. In some catastrophe situations, that may not be possible, so they will simply leave it with the insured; that would be by far the exception and same policies have a salvage clause. Sometimes, the damages doesn't pencil out, and the boat is effectively a total loss, but the owner wants it. In that case, the company may elect to pay a lump sum to the insured in settlement. And, a "total loss" does not generally mean the vessel cannot be repaired, it means that the cost of that repair plus the value of the salvage exceed the settlement cost.

 

[HMT2]

My dad had a boat totaled thanks to hurricane Ike. He salvaged the sails and a few other items. The insurance company took possession. About eighteen months later he got a call from the new owner in Germany asking if he had sails for the boat.

 

[John Nantz]

Seems to me I remember something about a database for insurance losses that insurance companies can access. If a boat had a claim for damage, and maybe it would be just a total loss?, that other insurance companies can access the historical information.

This seems like something they would do, or maybe it's something that Surveyors can access? Anyone know if something like this exists?

If true, then buying a salvage project may, or may not, be everything it's cracked up to be.

 

[Rick D]

There is such a data base for vehicles. Not sure if it is applicable to boats; I tend to doubt it. However there is a database for claim activity. I don't think it gets specific but I have been out of that industry for a long time.

 

[AXEL]

So then does this mean one can strip the good parts from the boat before surrendering to the Insurance Company? Hmmm. Interesting.

My boat was totaled last year by BoatUS after being dismasted. I was told I had to surrender the boat plus everything including my dinghy, dinghy motor, VHF, GPS, davits, etc. you name it. It would be as if the boat sunk with all property on-board. They would send someone for it. They told me I could buy it back for $1000 or best offer. I offered $600 and they agreed without and argument. My dinghy & engine alone were worth $3000+. I wanted all that stuff. I was able to sell the boat minus a mast and sails for $2000 and kept the radio, GPS, davits, bimini, etc.
As someone said I suppose it is up to the insurance company. My big mistake was asking them if I could keep the davits, they had no idea I had davits. That's what opened the can of worms for me.

 

[ipfilterman]

I ran into the same problem as above, the boat was total and I had a brand new outboard on back. They agreed to let me have the boat if I got rid of it. Cost of getting rid of a boat ranged from $2500 - $1000.

 

[Brian D]

I guess the solution would be to get outboards off the boat before reporting to insurance. Tell them it was being worked on. LOL

 

[uncledom]

I lost a beautiful Beneteau 35s5 that Sandy smashed the port side in about 14 inches by pounding against my well mate. I had just installed a new binnacle and all new Garmin instrumentation. They never new about the new gear and it wasn't in the policy so I put all the old original gear back on the boat and it was sold as salvage. I gave all the Garmin away to friends and they still use it.

Speaking of nobody's lookin'......

 

[jssailem]

gave all the Garmin away to friends and they still use it.

And you might have gotten away with it clean, but for the monitor watching this forum. Oh bummer.

 

[uncledom]

And you might have gotten away with it clean, but for the monitor watching this forum. Oh bummer.

LOL jssailem, the boat was re-equipped the way it was purchased and insured. No harm, no foul, no fraud. Had I reported the upgrades and changed the agreed upon value, that would have been a different matter.

 

[BigEasy]

My previous boat, Hunter 33.5, was totaled in hurricane Katrina. The policy was an agreed value type coverage , less a named storm deductible. Also had approximately 1500 of personal item coverage. I was told not to remove anything from the boat; however, I did remove some personal items and didn't include those items in the claim. The boat was pulled from the water and temporarily placed in a holding area on the marina property. It was then moved to an auction lot where it was auctioned for salvage. I had to sign the boat over to the insurance company and received a check approximately three weeks later. It was a very simple process. I didn't pursue the possibility of reaquiring the boat from the insurance company as it was severely damaged. Was also dealing with a flooded house and temporarily closed business; therefore, I didn't have time to deal with extensive boat repairs.