INSURANCE QUESTION

[Elizstop]

Sadly, I watched my boat go up in flames Fri. night while watching TV waiting for hurricane Ike. The first fire in Galveston was the dry storage facility at the Galveston Yacht Basin. It was a 1983 Tournament 19, not worth a lot, but I had put countless hours in restoring it. It was one of several Gradys in there and about 100 others. I'm not complaining, my boat was a luxury and is insignificant in comparison to the people that lived on Galveston and Bolivar and lost everything, there homes, jobs, and lives. I am grateful to Danny Medellin, manager of the dry storage area, and his assistants, who always took good care of my boat, and are probably now out of a job and may have lost their homes. God bless guys.

My question is this, I didn't have insurance (stupid) but the dry storage area said all boats inside were insured to $100,000........so in theory I was covered. Has anyone out there had dealings with this type of claim and have any advise?

 

[engineersx2]

I had a 5 yr old 208 GW that was destroyed along with 500 other boats in a fire at a boatel in VA. Beach back in the year 2000. They never determined the cause of the fire, but one thing that came out was that the boatel fire protection did not meet current/reasonable standards.

The boatel required that each owner that had a boat in the boatel have an insurance policy of $300k. My boat was insurred by Allstate insurance. After the fire, Allstate set up an emergency RV on site to deal with their claims. AT first they offered me 18k for the boat, but when I provided them boat trader examples that the same boat (same year/model) would cost me 24k to replace they said OK and stoked me a check for 23,500 (minus a $500 deductable).

I paid $28k for the boat new back in 1995 so I felt pretty good about only loosing 4k in 5 years (which is why my current boat is another grady!).

about 6 months after the fire, I got a letter from Allstate saying they were filing a law suit against the marina and that if any lawyers contacted me to refer them to Allstate.

about 10 months later, I got a check in the mail from Allstate for my full deductable of $500. There was no explanation with the check. I can only assume they won their claim.

From what I could gather, allsate was one of the insurance companies that filed suit against the boatel for inadequate fire protection. They provided evidence that the City's fire marshal had pushed for upgrades to their system and that the boatel resisted (this being Lynnhaven Marine Boatel).

I talked other boat owners who kept their boat there, and they did not get their deductable back, so I can only assume that their insurance company did not file suit.

Where I keep my grady now, they require a minimum insurance policy of $300,000.

I believe the resone that Allstate won their claim was that the boatel was lax in providing reasonable fire protection. Not sure how this would work out in a major storm.

good luck with your claim!

 

[Elizstop]

Sounds like your ins. company was a big help, guess I'll need a lawyer. Was hoping to get enough for a down payment on a newer Grady.

 

[el jefe]

You need to read your marina contract. It may or may not have had a requirement for you to carry personal insurance for your boat. Also you need to look at the type of coverage the marina provides for the 100k. I would suggest you send a certified letter to the owner of the Marina advising that your boat was stored and was a total loss and to provide you with a copy of their insurance coverage. Finally, there is going to be different coverages that may be implicated in your situation, i.e. windstorm, flood, fire, and these may have been provided by different carriers. Good luck.

 

[LI Grady]

Allstate must have won (or settled). Its just like car insurance. At least in NY if you pay a deductible and have your car repaired (or total loss payment) under your collision coverage your insurance company has the right to go after the other party. If the are successful (outright or partially) you get your deductible back in porportion to the insurance company's award or settlement.

I hate to be negative but check the yard policy carefully for how or if there is coverage for storms.