US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

You can hit an underwater obstacle at 60mph with a stock HP500 just as easily as if you had a 800HP blower motor.
At what point does a higher HP motor come into play, when speed is not the cause of the accident? Just asking.

lotopa.com

if they have to pay out they will look for any reason to deny your claim... ( all of the companies) and i am not a hater i started selling insurance in 96, bottom line they dont like performance boats and motorcyles where your arse is higher than your elbows..lol at least thats how most explain it to me.

Matt Trulio

I deleted my overly long response in favor of this: Talk to an insurer. Any insurer. The bottom line is you want to be truthful, as in 100 percent truthful, about your boat's power and speed—for all the potential problems being less than truthful can create.

Please, find me an insurer who advocates deliberately supplying inaccurate information. Regardless of how inconsequential you may believe the risk may be, why take it?

Again, find me an insurer who advocates anything less than supplying the truth about your boat.

Worth noting: Wozencraft has brokered insurance for the entire Desert Storm event for the past eight years—and has insured go-fast boats for 14 years. So I'd say the company principal has a fair command of the facts of go-fast boat insurance.

Michael1

In some respects I feel sorry for the insurers. If it is anything like what boat owners tell potential buyers of their boats, then they shouldn't believe anything they hear. The honest person ends up paying higher premiums to make up for all the liars.

Michael

Jupiter Sunsation

Find a lawyer that tells you to go into open court and announce your guilt, find a priest that tells you to commit a sin, a cop that tells you to commit a crime.....

My argument is that there are too many variables. If Reggie Fountain gets a boat to run 90 MPH with 8 gallons of fuel and him behind the wheel for a magazine test is it your obligation to tell the insurer that the boat runs 90 despite the real world that it only goes 85 with full fuel, a cooler full of beer and 6 people aboard? Should insurance companies refund premiums on older boats that don't go as fast anymore (tired power)?

Everyone understands it would be fraud if a guy insures an MTI w/525's and then re-powers with Merc 1350's but in that case you would want the added value to the policy also (why self insure motors worth more than the boat?).

If Wozencraft insures a poker run that is great but this article seems thinly veiled as an advertisement for them with a touch of scare tactics. Just keep in mind they are able to fund poker run sponsorships with the premiums they collect from a lot of those same participants.

Jupiter Sunsation

Same argument could be made for cars/trucks and their insurance rates also. How many "fast and furious" imports are running around with bottles of nitrous and other mods despite the insurer believing they are insuring a stock 150 HP car? Why not mention that as a parallel argument? Certainly a daily driver car is more apt to get into trouble than a powerboat that gets 50-75-100 hours of use per year.

Insurance is going to give a set value in the event of a claim (set value on the boat and the liability payouts/policy limits). To claim that a few extra hp/tweaks is fraud is not only a scare tactic but it is also not real world. In extreme cases (525 to 1350 example) then that would be fraud.

thirdchildhood

iTrader: (6)

Why was I not asked about the hp or speed of my boat? I always was in the past. I just figured they were basing my rate on other criteria such as my age, good driving record, lack of previous claims and good credit. Could the agent have made up a number? I feel that if I inquire that I will just be asking for a higher rate. So, is top speed ALWAYS a factor in writing boat insurance?

Uncle Dave

The article speaks to your comment directly.

The way Devin asks people to caluclate top speed is -

Whats the normal top speed of the boat filled with fuel and people on a normal day. Not what does it run with 8 gallons one guy and a 3K prop.

Thing is Devin is grabbing more and more boaters because hes focused on our niche and sees BS all the time.

You dont get burned because you changed a cam or heads, you get burned when you insure as "stock", and an investigation finds a blown 632 in the place of whats is supposed to be a 496 HO.

Blowers where they aren't supposed to be is one biggie as is Nitrous.

Devin gives back to the industry that feeds him.

Would you rather your insurer take your money and not participate in any events at all?

How many events does your insurer sponsor with a % of your premiums?


Uncle Dave

Matt Trulio

First, while you are entitled to your opinion, this article is not a thinly veiled advertisement for anything, other than good reasons to be candid with your insurer. If it's a thinly veiled advertisement for simply telling the truth about your boat when you insure it (check out the boiler plate legal text on your insurance policy regarding the veracity of the information you supply), so be it. I stand by my commentary, as will any insurance carrier you ask.

My commentary was not about aftermarket upgrades and other what-if scenarios, all of which raise good questions. It was about declaring the truth at the time you insure, which is when those questions are asked.

Second, I'm not exactly sure what you're advocating, or even trying to say. Are you saying that the people who insure go-fast boats are not telling the truth about what can potentially void your policy? Or are you advocating deception? I have no idea where you're coming from on this issue, but I am really, really curious as to how you seem to know more about their business than they do.

Too many variables? For who? You? Insurance companies have teams of lawyers to sort out all those variables. They are not in the business of losing money.

Want to know what sparked this commentary? Had a lead on a new-boat story we hoped to run on speeodnthewater. Had to bag it before we got started because the owner of the boat didn't want to divulge horsepower or top speed numbers because he didn't want his insurer to know them.

If you really think that kind of situation is rare, and that "everyone understands fraud," you're misinformed. After 17 years at Powerboat magazine, I can promise the example I just provided is anything but rare. I can't tell you how many times we were asked not to print the top speed number, but once the boat was tested we had no choice.

I stand by my commentary.

dirtlawyer

What everyone is forgetting is that an insurance policy is a contract - the terms of which are spelled out in detail. Perhaps if you have a minor claim, the insurance company will not look into whether the boat was consistent with that described in the initial application, but you can bet that if a large claim was made, the insurer will be looking for every reason to deny coverage, it any reasons exist. While having a higher HP motor may not be the direct and proximate cause of a claimed loss, the fact that the vessel involved in the loss is not reasonably consistent with the one described in the initial application (and renewal application) gives the insurer a reason to deny coverage.

I think Matt's article is a good one and the issue addressed needs to be taken seriously. Look at the terms and conditions in a policy renewal - burried somewhere is an affirmative statement that the description of the vessel insured has not changed. If you swap out or modify a stock motor an alter its performance, you have changed a material term of the policy, in the insurer's mind. Taking a contrary position - if its not a big deal that performance mods or an engine swap has occurred, why not notify the insurer just to make sure that coverage is not jeopardized?

Its all well and good until someone has a claim...