Jlay, I don't know what you're paying but mine is in the neighborhood of 3 times what those guys are paying. I can understand it being a little higher in our area but.....

I had to fill out a form when I got mine. Asked a bunch of basic questions. 500 HP per engine is a cutoff point, as well as 75MPH. However, if it's a bass boat the cutoff was higher (80 or 85 MPH) that pretty much blew my mind.

State farm insured my Cafe Racer for about 2 weeks - until it got to underwriters. Then they cancelled it. My family has been with them for over 3 decades, NO major claims, I have never had a ticket or accident, between the two of us we had two houses and countless cars insured through them and they wouldn't do it. Then I find out on here about all the other HP boats that are insured through them. Luckily I got married at the end of last summer and immediately canceled EVERYTHING with them and went with USAA. I'll never regret severing that relationship and I will never give them one minute of my time again - worse thing was, they cancelled the coverage effective July 3rd; day before one of the biggest boating days of the year - Screw them.....

some anwsers to a couple questions.

the reason the 99 fountain is cheaper than the 93 formula is because the fountain is not over 10 years of age yet (expect a slight jump when that happens and this also may be why some of the listed boats that are over ten years they wont write....ask them if a curent survey on your 10 year old or older boats would help) ten years or older gets a surcharge ( a simple on-line boaters safety coarse or anything superior should net you a 10% discount witha any of the big 3

another reason is based on credit score and driving record they will place you with one of their 3 internal companies at State Farm (or any of the big 3 for that matter). The better the record the better the company placed with (meaning broader underwriting guidelines and better rates)

as much as we may or may not like it the big insurance companies are not boat experts... and Cigarette is an instant red flag just because of the stereo type. The companies have a length, horspower, age, and sometimes weight formula that gets calcualted and the computer/underwriter gives a yes, however when the picture of the vessel or even worse a claim comes in that is when you find out what type of coverage you really have, also loss history and time on the books with the respective company also play a major role in exceptions through underwriting and ease of settling claims.

another thing to keep in mind when you are giving the information on the boat....things like generator and air conditioning are generally not in most performance boats and the computer/underwriter maybe considering it more of a cruiser scenerio than what it actually is...just my .02

Like others have said, I am sure location has a lot to do with it as well. I am in Oklahoma and Hurricanes are not an issue at all.

I am also financed through Key Bank so I don't think that has anything to do with it. I think boat value might. State Farm would not insure my parent's Carver because of the value of the boat.

SD, price/location may well be the issue. Don't know for sure but I would think tornados in Oklahoma could be just as much of a risk. I dunno.

Jesse, as far as the age of the boat, I don't quite follow the logic on the older, smaller boat being more expensive to insure. I'm sure in the event of a claim/loss it would cost significantly more to replace that 99 42' Fountain w/trips than the '93 Formula. Unless they had an agreed value on the Formula which was extremely high. I would imagine the Fountain with 1500hp is a wee bit faster than the Formula as well - i.e. higher risk. My boat is less than 10 years old, had a survey and is in impeccable condition. Don't let me find out that an insurance company is singling me out because of the name brand of my boat (Cigarette).

State Farm insures my 2008 39TG w/700's...includes Florida usage. I am the only insured driver and had to provide my certificate from the Tres Martin School.

I have State Farm for everything, Before I got the 382 I was looking at a Flat Deck . My agent told me that a Cigarette was not a problem with 500 hp and under . $1079 a year for a 96 382 with HP 500'S.

I questioned the underwriter as well on older being more money....the fear is old equipment is more prone to problems like transom rot which could lead to sinking, faulty fuel tank, leading to fire or fuel spill contamination....etc...etc.....but in a nut shell I think it is there way of saying we dont want to do it...

Yep, now I'll buy that! I know this, I'm going to hammer my SF agent about it until I get an answer that I'm satisfied with. If they can insure Omerta with a new TS TG w/700's............ If it takes attending Tres's course that's cool too. Additional operator education can't be a bad thing.