Geico,again

[BuoyCall]

My experience as a marine ins agent is if your just wanting liability policy the req photos of the boat, interior, engine, and bilges. Hull coverage when switching carriers req a new survey or one within 2 years. Everything is up the the carrier/underwriters.

 

[Turtle Blues]

At the risk of sounding contrary to the prevailing view of Geico, I have worked with their underwriters several times to satisfy their requirements.
Good communication, listing items requiring correction, describing action taken to correct and providing photographs was the process. Lloyd's is no different in this respect. They have the obligation to verify the seaworthiness of the vessel. I have never seen one on port restriction that did not warrant it. As for stringent timelines, with communication they have been reasonable when work is progressing.

 

[ancora]

My experience was quite the opposite. Geico demanded I have my boat hauled out to fix leaking PACKING shaft logs. Spoke to the agent to no avail...spoke to the underwriter who did not know the difference between a packing shaft log and a mechanical seal shaft log. Geico put my boat on restriction until the work was completed, which required yet another survey. Geico reasonable? Yeah, tell me about it.

 

[Comodave]

Back when it was Boat/US insurance not Boat/US/Geico they had knowledgeable people that worked the sales and underwriting. Now not so much. They argued with me last year because I put $65K+ in hard improvements in our boat. I wanted to increase the insured value by $50K. They said that my boat was already overvalued by $50K because BUC said so. I asked if they would use soldboats.com and they said only if the boat wasn’t in the book, which mine was. So instead of using “current fair market value”, their phrase, by looking at what boats were currently selling for they insisted on using the outdated book value. I called Peter at Novamar and started telling him the story and he started laughing, he said not at me but at the number of times he had heard this about Geico. In less than 15 minutes he got me a policy for $70K more than the current Geico policy, and no survey needed. I had been with Boat/US/Geico for over 40 years. Sorry no one can tell me Geico is any good to work with anymore. And I used to be a Geico defender…

 

[SIBERNUT]

Getting ready to splash phelps . Pls supply contact info for "Peter at Novamar"
TKS!

 

[Comodave]

getting ready to splash phelps . Pls supply contact info for "peter at novamar"
tks!

206-350-5051

 

[IRENE]

GEICO good news

This past week, GEICO offered a policy renewal for slightly LESS premium. With the renewal, the hull deductible lowers from 1% to .75% of hull coverage.

I had a few questions so I gave them a call. GEICO answered the phone AND provided all of the requested information during that call. Great customer service.

 

[slowgoesit]

This past week, GEICO offered a policy renewal for slightly LESS premium. With the renewal, the hull deductible lowers from 1% to .75% of hull coverage.

I had a few questions so I gave them a call. GEICO answered the phone AND provided all of the requested information during that call. Great customer service.

Good for you! But judging by all the responses on the forums about geico, I suspect you, being happy with geico's customer service, are in the minority!

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Any boat that is well maintained should be able to breeze through an insurance survey. Geico requiring faults found in a 2004 survey be addressed suggests to me nothing was done then (almost 20 years ago!) and the boat is in poor repair making it a bad insurance risk. Why is this difficult to understand?

 

[Comodave]

I agree but I think it is Geico being the new Geico. It is almost like they want to be a PITA.

 

[IRENE]

Good for you! But judging by all the responses on the forums about geico, I suspect you, being happy with geico's customer service, are in the minority!

Agreed, sure seems that way. They provided us a good value this past year, for boat, auto, and umbrella. Thankfully, we have not had the experience of dealing with their claims staff…

If I recall correctly, you are headed south? Have you secured insurance for Mexico or Sea of Cortez, or points beyond? This is not an area where GEICO will work for our mission. I would be interested in who you are using for agent and underwriter, and the cost (as percent of hull value, please).

Cheers -

 

[slowgoesit]

Agreed, sure seems that way. They provided us a good value this past year, for boat, auto, and umbrella. Thankfully, we have not had the experience of dealing with their claims staff…

If I recall correctly, you are headed south? Have you secured insurance for Mexico or Sea of Cortez, or points beyond? This is not an area where GEICO will work for our mission. I would be interested in who you are using for agent and underwriter, and the cost (as percent of hull value, please).

Cheers -

We're looking at heading South in September.
Our insurance is through Peter Ricks of:

Novamar Insurance
2100 Westlake Ave N Suite 103, Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 281-8144

Peter has been great for our insurance needs, and has now become a personal friend as well.

Insurance needs going South, through the Panama Canal and to the Bahamas will require changing insurance policies probably 4 to 5 times for the trip.

Current insurance through Red Shield served us up to Glacier Bay, AK, and down to California
another company to about Ensenada
another South of Acapulco, this time an "offshore" company $$$
another company once we transit the Canal
then possibly another company the Bahamas.

Since Peter is a Broker, my understanding is that the policy transitions will be seamless, with no lapse of coverage indicated. It will all show as continuing coverage, changes due to areas of coverage, NOT due to "shopping".

Our current insurance costs will be about 1.5% of the boat value for the most expensive leg. That should go down somewhat once we get into US waters again, provided we abide by the hurricane exclusion dates.

 

[BuoyCall]

I get numerous calls from people not being renewed by Geico. Geico flooded the market for a few years, made a ton of money, now nit picking who they keep. Lower the risk less claims equals means easy money.