ACE Marine Insurance?

[Gunni]

Looks like I'm going to have to change carriers. Apparently my old carrier wants me to pay for their H.Sandy losses.

Anyone have experience with ACE Marine Insurance? I've never heard of them, but they have a good AM Best rating, and the coverage looks good.

 

[Warren Milberg]

Gunni:
Not sure who you are insured with now, but my guess is that every insurance carrier that had a loss due to Sandy (and other previous east coast storms) is raising their rates to cover their losses regardless of whether you had a claim or not. The AFA is a good example: the young and healthy will be paying for coverage of the elderly and not-so-healthy. To me, that is how insurance risk management works.

But as far as boat coverage goes, the key is not what they charge you so much as what can you expect from them when you really need them. I lost a boat to Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and my carrier, BoatUS, was really quick to get on the scene, competent, and easy to deal with when other carriers were still out on the damaged docks counting sunken boats....

 

[NYSail]

I have ACE for past 10 years. So far no problems with them and the rate I pay is far better than any other quote I have got to date.. No claims though so not sure how that would go.

Good luck

 

[Rich Stidger]

I will echo NYSail regarding ACE. I have had them for the past 2 years and they are easy to deal with. I've had no claims so I can't comment on that. Before I switched from Traveler's (who went up some 14% in 2012) I asked my friend who is a VP with Factory Mutual about ACE with regard to their industry reputation, assets, capability to pay claims, etc. FM provides risk assessment services to the insurance industry as well as underwriting coverage. His reply was that ACE was OK. I agree with NYSail that their rates are substantially lower than other carriers.

 

[Gunni]

Gunni:
Not sure who you are insured with now, but my guess is that every insurance carrier that had a loss due to Sandy (and other previous east coast storms) is raising their rates to cover their losses regardless of whether you had a claim or not. The AFA is a good example: the young and healthy will be paying for coverage of the elderly and not-so-healthy. To me, that is how insurance risk management works.

Warren, what I am seeing is that not all insurers are raising their rates in the aftermath of H.Sandy, and are offering the same or better coverage at better rates. I think that some insurers (including my own) made some bad bets, offered broad coverage to boats in locations they should not have, and now want me to pay for those risk miscalculations. I have never had contact with my current insurer to assess their risk.

 

[Gunni]

Thanks NYSail and Rich, that is very useful information. Rich, my experience mirrors yours.

 

[ifmdalvey]

I have had ACE for 2 years, by far the best price for what i required (commercial) but have not made a claim so far so cannot comment on how good they maybe. Certainly my premium did not go up this year after Sandy.

 

[Marc14857]

I currently have Ace but have the same Sandy problem last years premium was about $1100 and ACE wants to raise it to $1800 in January when policy expires. No claims on my part but they blame the rate increase on Sandy.

 

[Jumpstart]

Ace is first class when it comes to marine insurance. Had 2 major claims with them in 2008,2009. They were very professional and paid both promptly. Didn't raise my premiums on my next boat.

I'm not surprised that Sandy is the cause for just about everyone on the east coast to have increased rates. Our premiums on the Great Lakes haven't changed much.

 

[Marc14857]

New Hampshire Insurance Company vs ACE

I asked my insurance broker to get back to ACE and verify that they did not make a mistake or that there was some unknown risk driving my premium up from ~$1100 to ~1800. ACE verified that $1800 was the correct premium for the policy renewal, and nothing unique about my policy or the risks other than we are based in CT. The Broker found a comperable policy from New Hampshire Insurance for ~ $500 less then ACE.

Does anyone have any insight or history into New Hampshire Insurance Company?

Thanks
Marc