Stolen Boat From Marine Service Center

[Pascual]

You were asked a very similar question to what I have on 9/09.  My husband took our boat for a repair to a place we had been to before(Friday, 1/14/10). Two days later he called and said that the boat was stolen from the service yard.  He had already called the police and we had to come down to file the report.  He said that had never happened to them before.  He had the boat locked in the yard but the thieves cut the locks in the middle of the night.  He had no security system.  He does have insurance and, of course, so do we.  He told us that it should go through ours first and then anything that is not covered would probably go to their insurance.  We filed our report with our insurance, and I told them that I wanted it to be paid by his insurance because it is their fault.  (Our boat was 4 yrs old, and we bought it used for $38,900.)  The response from the insurance was that they handle it and then subrogate.  What should we do next?  We even had to sign papers so that our ins. could check our credit!  My husband is going to retire in about 3 weeks...this was his wish to retire and go fishing and now it's gone.  This service center seems like they are not going to take responsibility first.  

[Dillie]

Dawna;

I know this is not what you or your husband were hoping for when you purchased the boat. The good news is that the insurance company for the repair facility IS responsible. Also, the repair shop owner is INCORRECT in that your insurance will pay and then his will pay anything that's not covered. That's simply not true. Your boat was in their Care, Custody and Control and they had an obligation to protect it. Obviously, what elements they did have in place were not adequate enough to prevent your boat, or anyone elses for that matter, from being stolen. Having your insurance company pay you and then subrogate against the repair shops insurance company is a very common practice. I know it doesn't feel like it, but it can even be a great thing for you. You won't have to deal with the other insurance company, arguing with them over the value of the boat, having them try to settle with you for less than you feel is fair, etc... instead, YOUR insurance company will handle that. They will pay you for the value of the boat and then they'll go after the repair shops insurance company for the FULL amount. Your question was, "what should we do next?" There's really nothing you need to do right now. Settle the claim with your insurance company(the value they determine may be less than you paid for it because property depreciates). If they do offer you less, search local papers, internet ads, etc... for the EXACT same boat, same make, model, year, features, etc... and average the sales prices, your insurance company will most likely agree with you that that average, is a fair price but again, it could be less than you actually paid for it so be aware of that. After that, your insurance company will handle the rest. The only thing you'll need to do going forward is periodically check on the claim with your company. Until they get repaid by the other insurance company, it's a claim on your policy and may equal higher rates down the road. Once they receive payment from the other insurance company, they should be made whole and there should be no claim against you. I hope this helps give you some peace of mind. If you have any more questions or have additional questions as the claim progresses, feel free to email me again. Good luck!

Kristen