Wow! What a minefield! This is really complicated. Here's the situation: I need to insure the boat I'm buying so I can get a BW licence for it. But in three months I won't be using the boat, Ally and Ben will. And they'll be living aboard in a marina. One insurance company I looked at quoted for either "marina" or "living aboard", implying that the two were mutually exclusive.
And do I get third party, fire and theft or comprehensive cover? And what about contents?
I wonder if Ally and Ben should arrange the insurance, or do I have to be the policy holder in order to get the licence?
And if the boat's going to be in a marina for a couple of years does it need a BW licence at all?
I'm going to have to make some phone calls.
Oh, and we're going boating - on Shadow with David and co. That's bound to create extra complexity if, as we hope, we're to take over the "new" boat straight from Shadow.
If you have experience in this area I'd really appreciate your comments. Thanks.
1 day ago
13 comments:
It's been a while since I've been here, Halfie, so I'll need to catch up, but for now, congratulations!! You're finally buying your boat! But does that mean you won't be using it yourself?
We have a similar situation. The policy will need to be in both parties names and there is usually an 'add-on' policy for contents. We have used Collidge & Partners who understand liveaboards. (other companies are available :-) )
Not sure about the licence issue.
VallyP, yes, we're buying at last, but our daughter and son-in-law will be living on it for a couple of years first.
We've always found Towergate Mardon the best for liveaboards, with a good contents policy. In addition, they paid up on Tom Jones's policy after Ben Harp trashed Waiourou.
Cheers
Bruce
Bruce, Towergate quoted (online) nearly £600 for comp. cover for living aboard; James and Amy on Lucky Duck say they pay just £140/year with Euromarine (but I don't know what their level of cover is).
Hi Bruce,
Our continuous cruising liveaboard insurance cost us about £350 including extra contents cover from Collidge & Partners.
Take care, Elsie
I think you'll find most marinas will insist on a BW licence. As to insurance I would have thought "contents" the most likely area of cover ever to generate a claim.
Jim
It's always been the contents cover that's led us to Towergate. You need £10k+, since as a liveaboard you've got no house insurance covering most of your possessions.
For leisure use, I'm sure that you can get competitive quotes from the others. We paid around £450 this year, I think, for £110k boat and £12k contents.
Bruce
Welcome to the wold of boat ownership and all its trials! We pay less than£200 a year for Herbie insurance with EIS which I reckon is good. I think she's insured for £40k. Probably more for liveaboard and we only have £1000 of contents cover. And of course we have 6 years no claim.
As to BW- they'll certainly want a licence. It's still their water in the marina
Just noticed - EIS is the same as Euromarine as mentioned by the Ducks.
I'm just about to renew Briar Rose's insurance after one year of ownership. The first year was with Towergate Mardon, mostly because they insured Debdale and gave us three years no claims discount because of that. It might be worth you trying a similar thing because the saving could be significant.
The renewal is in the region of £200. I've also got a quote from GJW (who Braidbar recommend, incidentally), which is a bit cheaper and has a lower excess. I just need to confirm that the cover is the same.
You will need a licence even if your boat never leaves the marina. As Neil says, it's BW's water. Having a licence is usally a condition of getting a mooring, and BW inspectors regularly tour marinas making sure all the boats are licensed.
Unless the marina is on a rare bit of historically 'private' water. Unlikely if it's a big, new one.
Thanks very much, everyone. Most useful.
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