Vessel insurance update- Spring 2020

They must have had a huddle. We just received our renewal, premium went up 30% with no claims ever. More issues for the boat owners to deal with.

Our renewal from Markel was just under a 10% increase this year, actually less than in the past.
Not sure how that relates, just FYI.

I'd think that current rates are based on last year's costs and their next year's forecasts. I can't think of any major upheavals last year. That leaves what they expect to happen. That's not encouraging.

Called our agent to discuss new 30% increase and solution. Was told all their companies went up, they got new quotes and our next best premium is twice as much. Oh, and they slipped in a depreciation schedule, but said it was limited to just 20%! lol Asked for less coverage on an agreed value policy, we'll see how that goes?

Issue is with re-insurance markets. Policies of all kinds and in all sectors are rising, driven by elevated cost of their re-insurance overhead. Good news is that a good agent or thoughtful review of your policy can help to discover areas of cost mitigation. Go back and ask what areas of the cost model can be addressed for mitigating impacts to lessen costs.

Don't rock the boat to much..lol.., anyway when you get a new Quote from another insurance company that looks great at a lower rate with the same or better coverage, they most likely will want a current survey. Now let the games begin! Any little blemish in the survey now will cause you problems in getting insurance at that rate or even at all with that company. And hope your current insurance carrier does not ask for a current survey, that can cause lots of Agg to. No matter what the condition of your boat is.
Good luck with your search. That really stinks that they just dropped you like that.

Dang cleanslate, now it is getting complicated. They did not drop us just added 30% to the premium and I always question any increase like that, year to year. We are waiting for a quote from the same company with different coverage. Will see how that goes?

Pantaenius decided to no longer insure yachts in the Red Sea. Coleman Insurance continues to provide cover but have increased their premium in the last months by approx. 15%.

We have done business with Pantenius for decades and we use them exclusively for our boats. Their head office is located almost in throw range from my former office here in Hamburg and I know the ownership of Pantenius personally.

Pantenius is only an insurance broker and no insurance company. Their underwriters are the ones withdrawing from higher risk yachting markets. The CONUS for example are concidered a very high risk insurance market due to the recent hurricanes and most of all due to Your legal system (Your lawyers for example and their contingency fee ) and those crazy limits of liability. That is the reason, Pantenius is leaving the US market.

European boaters have no problems with getting insurance and Pantenius is still by far the most reliable partner in that field. I for example have lowered my insurance rates remarkably by limiting my area of voyage to the regions where we normally go. I have excluded the far eastern Med, the middle East and the coastal waters of northern Africa, areas we never go anyhow. By this, we save a lot of money.

I am sure with a clever insurance setup, there is a lot of money to be saved, even on Your side of the pond.

I have done exactly the same. I have omitted Red Sea waters south of Egypt, the East Mediterranean and North Africa waters in order to reduce the risks and insurance premium. I understand Pantaenius is only a broker, same as Coleman and most of the other marine insurance companies. Pantaenius and their underwriters still decided to pull-out of the Egyptian Red Sea market. AIG is now my underwriter and Coleman the insurance broker for the last 4 years and both offer excellent support.

Again, reinsurance is at play, I think. I'm seeing rate increases of 10-30% on all of my policies across the board when it comes to virtually any kind of property, floating or otherwise. All of these insurance companies reinsure their own risk, and those markets are really flinching. Just imagine for a moment that Dorian had actually landed and run up the Florida coast?

If the reinsurance market dries up, underwriters will pull out of markets because they can't hedge their risk. As long as they can hedge they hold a winning casino ticket and will play. The moment they can't they're out the back door...