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Beware Insurance Surveyors

Old 02-10-2020, 04:50 PM
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Default Beware Insurance Surveyors

Is they claim to be members of IAMI, its an insurance academy on how to survey in favor of Insurance companies. Get an true independent surveyor that IS not paid by the Insurance industry for any reason. There are some very unscrupulous surveyors out there.
GEICO/Boat US does this.
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Old 02-10-2020, 06:03 PM
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Interesting.

A few yrs ago I looked into what it took to be a surveyor and was shocked to find out that basically, anyone can claim to be one.

I have used several over the yrs and I know more than some of them did.
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Old 02-10-2020, 08:04 PM
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Ill add to the post above, one needs a hat with the company name on it , a clip board, paper and a pen. Need 2 flash lites, maybe moisture meter, one screw driver, an Ice pick, small hammer and a measure tape. That's it, no OEM class training for the apps of the survey nor any engine side tools to really test that end of it nor the drive systems.

Whats funny to me is - couple of survey people every year asked me what scan tool to buy so they can check engine hours for EFI marine engines ? I said back to them - why ?? You guys want to check engine hours ONLY is this correct ???? - they said YES so we can write true hours on their survey reports. I said that's all you need it for, They said yes cause its an engine scanned service we want to provide the customer. I fall over LMAO every time they asked this. .

Last edited by BUP; 02-10-2020 at 08:10 PM.
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Old 02-11-2020, 08:04 AM
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Originally Posted by BUP
Ill add to the post above, one needs a hat with the company name on it , a clip board, paper and a pen. Need 2 flash lites, maybe moisture meter, one screw driver, an Ice pick, small hammer and a measure tape. That's it, no OEM class training for the apps of the survey nor any engine side tools to really test that end of it nor the drive systems.

Whats funny to me is - couple of survey people every year asked me what scan tool to buy so they can check engine hours for EFI marine engines ? I said back to them - why ?? You guys want to check engine hours ONLY is this correct ???? - they said YES so we can write true hours on their survey reports. I said that's all you need it for, They said yes cause its an engine scanned service we want to provide the customer. I fall over LMAO every time they asked this. .
Add a step ladder and you can be dual qualified as a home inspector.
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Old 02-11-2020, 10:26 AM
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I review hundreds of surveys each year prior to submitting them to insurance companies for a policy. You get what you pay for. Don't expect a $12 / Ft survey to be as detailed as a $25 / FT one. Don't expect the so called certified surveyor with all the accreditation credentials beside his name to be any better than the guy who has been in the marine business for years and is now dong surveys to supplement his retirement income. Ask the surveyor for samples of surveys he has done for similar boats to yours. There is no use having a surveyor that knows nothing about the type of boat you have. Yes some of the construction is similar for most boats but a sailboat is not even close to a Hi-Performance Cat when it comes to the rigging and structure design.

Most quality surveys for a 30+ Ft boat should be in the 20 to 30 page range, maybe a little less on a Hi-Perf that does not have all the plumbing, electrical and sanitation systems that a cruiser would have. Pictures are nice but they need to have notes attached to explain what they are showing. I just reviewed a survey for a 30ft SeaRay Sedan Bridge that was 85 pages. 79 were pictures and 6 were actual information about the boat. And a 10th grader could have filled in the blanks on the 6 pages of written information.

Not only are the surveys an issue, what about the person at the insurance company that is reviewing it and making a decision on what coverage they are going to offer you. What training if any have they had. They are relying on the surveyor who wrote the report to tell /show them what condition and issues the boat has. I have seen some surveyor list recommendations in the survey that are thier personal opinion instead of something needed to meet proper marine code. Some also tend to list items that need to be done to meet current codes when they were to code when the boat was built and would cost huge $'s to bring up to currant standards.

Like anything ask around with other boaters, even the marina that looks after your boat or sites like this the more questions you ask the better off you are going to be getting what you are paying for.

As BUP said some of these surveyors are a joke you just need to do some homework to find a quality one.
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Old 02-11-2020, 02:53 PM
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Boat, surveyor, insurance. Any one or all three could screw you.
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Old 02-12-2020, 12:25 PM
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Apparently if your boat engine overheats and you turn it off the following will occur,
The engine exhaust temperature at idle is 350-400 degrees (F). At 4000-5000 RPM the temperature would be estimated (without sea
water cooling) at 1200+ degrees. The exhaust hoses and ancillary wiring around the cylinder heads and exhaust components would all be burned and melted if water
restriction or blockage of cooling water would have occurred.

HOLY cow, can you imagine the stupidity?
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Old 02-12-2020, 01:40 PM
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about 80 to 85 percent of the survey I see are this exactly right here. I folded over the paper to NOT show the names. I did NOT take out any important info other than the names - and addresses and locations. I do pre purchase many every year. I perform these after the buyer figures out THAT THERE IS ZERO DEPTH of these credited marine surveys. They lack of a whole lot and are a waste of money. A boat buyer should hire a true marine TECH to go over the boat and engines and drives and WHO KNOWS a scan tool inside and out plus all the mechanical set ups.

The days of compression testing is old out dated testing as well for EFI engines. Compression and leak downs are good tests but they are NOT 100 percent proof of a solid internal engine. Hell I had broken valve springs in 2 that had great leak down tests. Leak down tests are static tests in which is only half the battle. The engine is not running nor building heat and nor building internal pressure nor oil pressure.

Anyways below I am posting the norm of survey reports that I see afterwards ---- Look it over and give your opinions. Again this is at least how 80 percent of the surveys come thru as to what I see. Hell anyone can write this up looking a boat. My mother could do these surveys reports.

Most of the reports are 3 to 8 pages, this one is 3 pages long below - the last page -- page # 3 was HIN # pic and outside hull pics. printed on the paper. I did not post that page as again it has no merit for anything. That tells me nothing how good of a used boat this really is especially mechanically. Compression testing nor a leak down was not done either by a lot of these surveys. A certain percentage of the surveyors do not even start the engine just to let you know.

Last edited by BUP; 02-12-2020 at 01:51 PM.
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Old 02-12-2020, 01:41 PM
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Old 02-12-2020, 01:42 PM
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