I am about to purchase a Houseboat and need advise on insurance.
Does anyone have an agent or company to refer me to??
The boat will be located in Pensacola, Florida

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Banana Tom

If less than 30 years old Allstate. What kind of Houseboat is it?

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The pirate

Different companies will sometimes show more interest in different boats. As Pirate said, more info. Make? Model? Construction material?

Bob

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I carry a gun because it's too tiring carrying a cop.

I agree with Pirate's suggestion. If Allstate will insure it, they will probably be the best bet.

I would suggest that you make sure that you can get insurance on it and that you understand everything about the insurance (what is covered, what is not, what the limits are, and what the cost is) before you purchase the boat.

The boat is a 1989 Holiday Mansion, of which I am considering purchasing, unless I buy a marina instead.


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Banana Tom

Banana tom, i have a marina for you.

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The pirate

Isn't Lynn Stem helping you with insurance?

Yes Dave, Lynn Stern has helped me, thanks. As you can see, I posted the request in December.

Decided to buy the boat and not the marina Pirate.

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Banana Tom

Edited: 05/08/2007 at 07:38:47 AM by BananaTom

You may want to try Pam Stanley at Global Marine Insurance (800-748-0224). They deal only in marine insurance and may be less expensive than others. Just another option. Good luck.

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Ken Paulson
1996 44' Gibson Std.
twin 350 crusaders
Upper Mississippi

Let me tell you of my insurance nightmare. I was shopping for a modestly priced houseboat two years ago, and came upon an old 1976 Stardust Cruiser with a steel hull, which recently had extensive repairs. It was in very good shape except for some cosmetic work which my wife and I were willing to do. My purchase was contigent upon availability of insurance. My pontoon boat was insured by Nationwide, so that's where I started. Much to my surprise my agent was able to provide me with a binder of coverage, and I immediately settled on the boat. Two weeks after settlement, I was cancelled by Nationwide who said they did not insure steel hulled boats. Now I have an uninsured boat, sitting in a marina that requires that I am insured! Next step..Hartford, who insures my home. They provided me with a policy. I'm back in business. Two weeks later I am cancelled. They do not insure houseboats!! Now I'm in a panic and searching the internet. My boat was old, steel, and a houseboat. Any one or combination of these three eliminated my local agents. I finally got in touch with Geico who is underwritten by Sea-Safe, who after a survey, no sounding required, finally provided me with a policy. Getting a survey done required that I contact a qualified surveyor, the closest of whom was 90 miles away. What a circus!!!
We really enjoy the old girl, so I guess all of the ulcers were worth it in the end!!!

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Michael
1976 Stardust Cruiser
Lake Raystown PA

Most insurance companies do want surveys on boats more than 5 years old. It helps the underwriters.

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Banana Tom

When I tried to get my 1st houseboat insured, I had an insurance company actually deny me insurance due to my inexperience with a houseboat of this size. They said after I have owned the boat for 2 years then they would consider???? I called several other companies and they wanted an out of water inspection which would run me about $500 to $1000 bucks.. yea right.. houseboating on a budget at the time.. plus it is OLD and I would be taking the chance of puncturing holes... Somebody else suggested that I insure my Jet Ski, and then once a policy is in place you simply just add the houseboat onto the plan....

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1972 Stardust
53x12 OMC V-8


Edited: 05/22/2007 at 11:12:42 PM by SevenSlider

"plus it is OLD and I would be taking the chance of puncturing holes... "

That statement alone answers your question of why the insurance company wanted a survey and bottom inspection. There are a lot of old boats ot there that are just waiting for a place to sink....or worse......and your insurance company doesn't want to be left "holding the bag" when that happens. I personnaly dispise insurance companies, ( my rates went up 30 percent in my area due to high claims from a bad snow storm that collapsed a couple of hundred slips in Dec. 04... and i'm not in a covered slip..but i digress) but on the survey i agree with them 100 percent.

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UC FANS
1999, 52' Monticello - Miller Tyme
Port of Aurora IN

Hello everybody. My wife and I are new to this site and to houseboating. We just bought a new 68 foot Lakeview and now we are trying to insure it. Seems like most companies will not insure us because of lack of experience with larger boats. The only company we have found that will insure us insists that we switch our home owners policy over to them at nearly double of what we are paying now. This is probably the way we will go. I had an agent from one company tell me the way to get experience is to rent a houseboat for one week a year for about three years and then you can claim you have three years experience. I had to shake my head on that one. I did call Pam Stanley but have not heard back from her. Does anybody have any other referrals?
Thanks

You could take a boaters course to gain cerification. Here we have a week long course for Captains Liscense. Then you would have a certification. I would keep on shopping for others who sell insurance now.

I believe there are some links on this web page. You can also try the boats clubs.

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Banana Tom

I have all my boats insured with BOAT/US.  

I had started off with a cruiser, added a ski boat, then PWC, then sold the cruiser and bought a houseboat.

When I bought the houseboat they wanted a survey, which was fine because I was getting one regardless.

Rod

Allstate will give you a rate on new boat. just tell them your experiance with boats period. that is all they ask.

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The pirate

Thanks for the replies. Got insurance from Kevin Severance Insurance out of Texas. Got a pretty good rate too. Just had to list previous houseboat rental history and previous boat owner history.