Hurricane Insurance!

We'd like to take a moment to congratulate one of our Patrons on buying their first floating home! How awesome is that?! 

They've owned pleasure boats in the past, but never as their full-time home. After their purchase, they sent us some questions concerning hurricane insurance so I thought that might be a good topic to post about! 

We have Geico Marine Insurance. We used to go with liability only until hurricane Matthew came through. Sitting there knowing that our insurance wouldn't do a thing if the boat was damaged sucked. We didn't want to feel that stress again so we upgraded once they were accepting new applications (they sometimes freeze any new policies during hurricane season or if there is an active hurricane approaching). We've since had full coverage including being covered in the event of a hurricane or other named storm.

Upgrading wasn't TOO expensive although it's much more then our old policy. It's about $900 a year now compared to about $100 a year for the liability only policy. We have an "agreed value policy". That means we should be reimbursed the amount that we paid for our boat if something big were to happen. When we requested the policy, we had to provide the purchase survey, proof of payment, photos and some signed agreements. The great thing is, unlike a lot of boat policies, we aren't limited to an area during hurricane season. It covers us in any US waters and in the Bahamas at any time. Which is cool. So many people can't be in specific areas from June until November. Some even have to submit a float plan before going anywhere...Which has to be approved by the insurance company before you go! 

To sum it up, the hurricane insurance has been completely worth the extra cost in our minds. Our boat has been hit directly by Mathew and Irma over the last two years. Having the hurricane insurance helped us have a little peace of mind when Irma came along. I hope this helps you with your insurance decisions!!

Love, The Geckos!