"Michael Askin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>It's that time of year again when my insurance is due. I have two
>problems when it comes to insurance - 1. I live on my boat, therefore
>want residential contents insurance, and 2. I want to go on tideways
>below the Thames Barrier.
>
>Previous years I've been with Michael Stimpson (Mardon Marine), but
>they require an extra surcharge for navigating below the barrier even
>with a convoy (i.e. The St Pancras lot). This coming year I want to
>visit the London Boat Show, and join the SPCC trip to Barking, this
>may mean two lots of surcharge!
>Interestingly, we insure Kismet with CraftInsure.com. They are quite
>happy to let us take the boat across the Humber, but Michael Simpson
>was very adament that no insurance company would. We actually called
>CraftInsure up, and confirmed our use of the Humber before getting the
>policy out.
I've insured my barge with Michael for quite a few years. At renewal
time, I usually check around a few other insurers, but seem to find
that Michael's is the lowest price, not least because of a good
no-claims bonus system and coverage designed specifically for inland
craft (i.e. not yachts or ski boats).
Yes, he has surcharges for tidal trips. However, they are not that
high (I think I paid GBP70 to cover a recent Channel crossing to
Belgium and back; my several months of travelling in the Belgian and
French waterways was already covered by the original premium).
Overall, even adding the occasional surcharge, Michael still seems to
come out best price.
Michael is very cautious about narrow boats on tideways, and tends to
want two or more to travel together for such trips. A sensible
precaution IMHO, as I have seen conditions well up the Thames Estuary
that I think many narrow boats would have trouble surviving. Also,
based on a trip I once took on the keel Comrade on the Humber, I
wouldn't want to take a narrow boat out there either. Perhaps this
caution is one reason he can keep his premiums down.
His ready acceptance of old boats, rivetted boats, residential boats,
foreign trips, etc., and his good understanding inland boating, is, in
my experience, very uncommon in the boat insurance industry.
But, then, yer pays yer money, and yer takes yer choice.
Adrian
Adrian Stott
07956-299966
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