Boat insurance for environmental cleanup?

[MH Hawker]

Re: Boat insurance for environmental cleanup?

how ever boat US often never bother to respond or wtite quoates

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Boat insurance for environmental cleanup?

I made my Boat US purchase entirely on the phone and online. Called em and gave em 5 minutes. There was a quote in my email the next morning. Once they had photos I was covered before they had a dollar. The fuel spill coverage on my policy is $854,000. I guess they just bumped a % from prior years fuel spill liability value.
I like them a lot. My dad had a claim from hurricane damage once, smashed the nose off his sailboat. They paid right off a repair shop invoice, no question, no delay. They treat folks very well.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Boat insurance for environmental cleanup?

I also made a storm damage claim (my first claim) with BoatUS and got the same good treatment.

What impressed me was this- I had intended to pay the repair out of pocket until I found out it'd cost a couple of grand. So, it was nearly a month after the windstorm that I first contacted them. They asked some questions about how the boat had been secured at the dock, and how old and what size my docklines were, and what caused the damage (my stern mooring whip had pulled out of its base, and the boat spent some number of hours banging and rubbing against a piling). Sent it all to them via e-mail. My marina guy did up a detailed estimate and they sent a claims adjuster to the yard. A couple weeks later I had a check for the full claim minus my deductible.

My .02

 

[benjh1028]

Re: Boat insurance for environmental cleanup?

I might be able to shed some light on the topic. I happen to be an environmental engineer who works for an insurance company that underwrites environmental damages.

Environmental liability insurance typically classifies damage in two ways: 1.) sudden and accidental, and; 2.) gradual release. All policies should cover sudden & accidental (i.e., hit a rock, sink, sudden parts failure). However, a gradual release from a leaking system MAY be excluded in some policies. This is based on the fact that this coverage derived from leaking underground storage tanks at service stations where an owner suspected a leak but didn't do anything about it because it would interrupt business. The tricky thing about this type of claim involving a non-commercial boat from an insurer's perspective is proving the leak was gradual - which from an engineering perspective is close to impossible and really not worth the hassle as these are all small claim items.

Having worked on spill response claims in water (from Marina's leaking gas tanks), I can tell you the cleanup costs are typically minimal. The largest "in water" claim I worked on actually involved a tanker trunk of milk overturning adjacent a trout stream. 9,000 gallons of fresh milk entered the stream, which created a high biological oxygen demand environment and thus a fish kill (trout are very sensitive to water conditions). Cost about $1M for a bunch of milk!

Hope this helps.

Ben