Claims service should be one of your primary concerns when purchasing any boat or yacht insurance policy. After all, isn’t that the reason you’re buying the policy in the first place?  Here at Charter Lakes we believe claims service is the value behind any marine insurance agency and the policies they sell.  Not to toot our own ‘ships whistle’, but proof is in the pudding as they say, so we thought we would share a few recent email comments from our clients who had to make a boat insurance claim…. “I can’t thank Charter Lakes enough for everything they have... Continue Reading →

The most common problem we see with physical damage claims is late reporting or repairing damage before reporting the claim. This is a serious issue because it violates policy requirements and does not allow the insurance company the opportunity to adjust your claim. When you have a claim or think that you may have a claim it is imperative that certain requirements are followed so the claims process is not jeopardized. They are spelled out in the Duties after an Accident or Loss section of the policy. In this article we review two important requirements of that clause. 1. Notify... Continue Reading →

Over the past 25 years we have seen many boats catch fire and burn for one reason or another, in many cases the reason for the fire is unknown. We recently had a claim where a boat burned to the waterline; the reason for the fire was attributed to electrical failure. During the claim investigation, it was discovered that a fuse had blown in the automatic battery charger and instead of replacing the fuse with the proper replacement, the owner wrapped the blown fuse in aluminum foil and placed it back into the fuse holder. This rendered the fuse (overcurrent... Continue Reading →

Each marine insurance policy written in northern climates (where the potential for freezing exists), has a Lay Up Warranty that indicates the period of time the insured boat is required to be laid up and out of commission. Many policies also specify whether the boat is to be laid up ASHORE or AFLOAT. Making sure your policy accurately reflects the period of time your boat will be Laid Up and whether the boat is laid up ashore or afloat is your responsibility and is as important as winterizing an engine if a loss occurs to your boat during the Lay... Continue Reading →