As well as a few other earth shaking events in my life, my insurance comes up on July 31. A few buddies and myself were spending a sunny afternoon sitting around solving the problems of the world and I happened to bring up my upcoming insurance. And what do you know, one of the guys is an insurance adjuster. He tells us he was recently given a claim where a mother had insured a large, high powered, speed boat. The policy had lots of collision, lots of liability and would protect the owner against any eventuality.
At some time, it seems she loaned the boat to her son who managed to pile it up good, really good. The boat was totalled, several people in the boat suffered life altering injuries, and there was property damage to others. The insurance claim was in the millions which the insurance policy should have covered nicely.
The adjuster who was telling this story went over the details and quickly stamped it CLAIM DENIED. Seems the mother had a Pleasure Craft Operators Card when she applied for the coverage but the son had no boating certification of any kind. Much like 50% of the irresponsible clowns in my marina. And I'm sure as Canadians, we all know those proof of competency laws well:
https://www.laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-96-313/page-4.html
So I got out a magnifying glass and took a look at my 1998 policy and there buried in the fine print we find this little nugget:
My insurance is coming due for July 31 and so I spoke to my insurance broker about this. They informed me that in a case like that, ALL insurance associated with the boat with the unlicensed operator would be null and void. They also said that no responsible insurance company would issue a policy without proof of competency. (I also happen to believe in the Roswell Incident).
Now for the next grabber, if you were to find yourself an innocent victim of this unlicensed operator, you would now become liable for any and all injury claims in your boat. My insurer said I may want to look at my "uninsured boater" listing and increase this to cover my liability or else increase my personal liability through my homeowner's policy.
Any way you look at it, in this case the owner of the speed boat is probably facing bankruptcy and anyone injured is now suing (the bankrupt owner) to recover damages.
Not too good for Canadians when dealing with irresponsible boaters. Is it any better south of the border ?
At some time, it seems she loaned the boat to her son who managed to pile it up good, really good. The boat was totalled, several people in the boat suffered life altering injuries, and there was property damage to others. The insurance claim was in the millions which the insurance policy should have covered nicely.
The adjuster who was telling this story went over the details and quickly stamped it CLAIM DENIED. Seems the mother had a Pleasure Craft Operators Card when she applied for the coverage but the son had no boating certification of any kind. Much like 50% of the irresponsible clowns in my marina. And I'm sure as Canadians, we all know those proof of competency laws well:
https://www.laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-96-313/page-4.html
So I got out a magnifying glass and took a look at my 1998 policy and there buried in the fine print we find this little nugget:
My insurance is coming due for July 31 and so I spoke to my insurance broker about this. They informed me that in a case like that, ALL insurance associated with the boat with the unlicensed operator would be null and void. They also said that no responsible insurance company would issue a policy without proof of competency. (I also happen to believe in the Roswell Incident).
Now for the next grabber, if you were to find yourself an innocent victim of this unlicensed operator, you would now become liable for any and all injury claims in your boat. My insurer said I may want to look at my "uninsured boater" listing and increase this to cover my liability or else increase my personal liability through my homeowner's policy.
Any way you look at it, in this case the owner of the speed boat is probably facing bankruptcy and anyone injured is now suing (the bankrupt owner) to recover damages.
Not too good for Canadians when dealing with irresponsible boaters. Is it any better south of the border ?