Boat storage price gouging for a hurricane?
 

I had a buddy call a local marina today to inquire about rack storage for an 07 38 TG in preparation for hurricane Ike headed this way. He has insurance but no windstorm, lives on the intracoastal waterway (no protection, straight channel, boat on a lift/ cables sway in high winds) and has no trailer as an option.

The marina (http://www.loggerheadclubandmarina.com/ ) wants $40 a foot per day for rack storage with "NO" insurance coverage and a two day minimum. So for $3200 he can put the boat in their barn but they have a no insurance disclaimer even if damage is from another boat that contacts his.
As a side note, normal rates are $17 a foot PER MONTH!

This is price gouging at its finest......

Emergency storm storage is a great addition to the revenue stream of the marina and a drop in the bucket for the boat owner.

Hmmm, 3200 for a 200K (depending on power :)) is nothing. AND LESS THAN THE DEDUCTABLE for a claim IF it's covered. No brainer JS

On one hand, you would think a good marina owner (or good person of any type) would not stoop to gouging.

On the other hand, you'd thing that a guy with an expensive boat, living in a hurricane area and not having proper coverage would have thought further ahead. The storage for two days would have bought him enough trailer to get it to safety.

I was thinking the same thing.........I struggled with having 12 ft wide cruisers and not having a trailer for them. No way I'd have something that I actually care about the cosmetics of and not have the ability to move it.

Find better folks somewhere else who take care of you and wont rip you off! I'll go out of my way any day to avoid those type marinas and to get people I trust with my prized posession.My experience in S. Florida was to be careful. Hideaway Marina was a good place back 8-9 yrs ago. Good luck. Tidal surges over 4 feet and lifts dont work well.

If he can show that the price gouging is related to Ike then he may want to report it to the Attorney General's office. They take a pretty dim view of price gouging related to an emergency situation, $1k per incident fine..

Off the Florida A.G. site- "Under Florida law, the price of goods or services are considered exorbitant if the increase represents a "gross disparity" from the average price of that commodity during the 30 days prior to the declared emergency. Violators of the price gouging statute are subject to civil penalties of $1,000 per violation, up to a total of $25,000 for multiple violations committed in a single 24-hour period."

Hotline is 1-866-966-7226 Website- http://myfloridalegal.com/__85256222...ical,storm,fay

If the marina is taking advantage of the situation I'd report them. Also as soon as he hangs up the phone from the AG office he needs to get on the phone and take care of his chit before the next storms heads this way.

[QUOTE=Jupiter Sunsation;2674786] He has insurance but no windstorm, lives on the intracoastal waterway (no protection, straight channel, boat on a lift/ cables sway in high winds) and has no trailer as an option.

QUOTE]



:eek:



:rolleyes:

In Pensacola it's about $1,000 per year for a guarantied on the hard haul out spot for hurricanes.

Dan

I would have loved for someone to pull that chit when I owned my marina. It would've cost him lots more than $1000 in hospital bills for opening that can of worms

Free chit is always the best - too bad the marina owners dont' know that, Marina owners do know have to stay up all night haul your boat, insure your boat, pay there people OT, hurry to put the junk back in the water and what do they get ? the baot owner going one marina over to get 50 gallons of gas .02 cents less. Fed EX is the worst - if you really want your junk to arrive the next day they will do it for you, and they kill you with the price - The GM division "saturn" will pay a dealer $ 25.00 to get new cars on the lot out of harms way - Instead of *****ing at the marina - call your insurance company and ask them how much they will contribute to the cause to move your boat out of harms way ?