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(no email)
Date: Wed Nov 01 2006 - 12:54:04 EST
I think I have reached a final point on the insurance trail. I just hung up
with my independent agent and she made some very good points. She represents
several companies, but the key one is ACE, and that is the company she is
defending in our discussion, as she wants me to re-insure with them despite
the close to 200% rate increase. She knows that I got a much better quote
from TL Dallas/Great Lakes (actually ATLASS). She countered with several
points. 1. The ACE policy is agreed upon value vs Dallas Great Lakes which
will depreciate equipment, i.e. if they insure me for $100K, don't expect
that amount in the event of a total loss. They will pay a deprecated amount
based on their formulas. 2. She worries that Dallas/Great Lakes is writing a
great deal of insurance and are not in a position, due to different
regulatory requirements, to take a large hit like ACE took in the last 2
years and was successful in weathering, and remained in business, and
honored all it's claims. 3. She advised me to become more familiar with the
"rules of engagement" that foreign based companies operate under versus a US
based insurance company, she was speaking about guaranteeing getting claims
paid etc. I didn't follow it entirely. 4. ACE numbers include $500K for
protection and indemnity, $500K uninsured boater, Oil Spill etc included in
P&I, whereas the Dallas/Great Lakes numbers are smaller across the board.
I tried to convey to her that my perception, whether accurate or not, was
that ACE was trying to recover a huge chunk of its losses too quickly. They
are in the insurance business and should be willing to accept the risks AND
the likelihood that if they take a hit, don't take it out on the clients,
realize that it may take upwards of a few years to regain their footing
again. They have been realizing profits for years. They should have been
able to absorb this type of hit without asking the "insured" to absorb it
for them. I would have agreed to a 30 or 40% rate increase and understood
it, with the understanding that in time things would settle and level out.
However, to increase rates by almost 200% flies in the face of any
reasonable logic. She readily admits that Florida has a serious problem. She
has multiple clients attempting to sell boats (larger boats) that have
fallen through cause the new potential owner either could not get insurance,
or the rates were ridiculously high.
She was successful in getting me to step back and think about it, and I now
have to decide if I want to stay with my decision to do liability only for
$500 with Atlass, take the full policy with Atlass for $3900 or stay with
ACE and take the premium hit. Also, I had asked her to come back with some
other scenarios to reduce the premium and she said if I increase my
deductible to 5% (that is their max ceiling 5%), all my numbers stay the
same, but the premium drops by $1100. So it would drop from the mid-$6000's
to the mid-$5000's. They would also be willing to do a quarterly billing to
help make the increase more workable. I think it would be different if I
knew the real rate increase based on their losses would have been 400% and
they managed to hold it to 200%. If that were true I might feel different
about it, if I believed it. I still can't shake the notion that ACE is
trying to recoup some pretty bad losses too quickly at the expense of their
customers and the industry in general, not to mention they are doing it on
the backs of boat owners. I have thought about one key item several times in
the last few months............ACE paid off a total loss on my Tiara for
$85K in hurricane Francis, and paid it fully and promptly. Then they turn
around and insure me again for the last 2 years at a reasonable rate.
Conversely, one of our "allies", and I use that loosely, BoatUS, who had
never insured me, and consequently has never had a claim from me, refused to
insure me at all, based on a claim that ACE paid. They didn't even take the
loss, but refuse to insure me, where ACE who did pay the loss is still
insuring me.
Quite a quandry for me, I have to let the dust settle for a day or two. It
has to be 5 o'clock somewere................
Dan Lanier
Gulfstar 43 Danali Star
Lying Vero Beach Florida
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