What is an insurance claim? It is a request of a policyholder to an insurance company to compensate any losses which are the results of damages to the things included into his or her insurance policy. There exist various types of insurance policies with different coverage: it may be a house, any types of belongings, health, life, even your pets may be insured. Before giving a detailed description of how to make a boat insurance claim, let’s recollect some general rules for such a process as filing any insurance claim.
The first necessary thing is to keep all insurance documents concerned in a correct order.
The second important thing is to understand your insurance policy, so as to know well what to expect.
Then, do not forget that insurance companies have specially limited period for making a claim (the quicker you manage to do it – the better).
And the fourth general rule is to get material evidence or witnesses to prove the damage. The rules are very simple but vitally important to succeed in claiming your insurance company.
Now let’s examine the peculiarities of making a boat or a yacht insurance claim. If your boat suffered an accident and received any damages, collect all insurance information of the other party of the accident. Your insurance company may need it. If it is possible, try to take photos just after the accident to make a real picture of what had happened. Let some reliable person or persons (three will be enough) evaluate how much money will be needed to eliminate all the defects. Ask them to give written opinions so as claim managers can understand the nature of the damages. People from your insurance company may come and see everything themselves, they also may interview eye-witnesses, take photos of your boat to analyze the situation from their point of view. Your insurance agent may be helpful to file the claim form. This is the most usual way to make a boat insurance claim. Observation of these rules is a guarantee to your claim to succeed. But you should be ready to wait for monetary compensation for about several weeks or even months. It depends on some formal procedures (filling all necessary claim documents, formal official approval of your claim, and some others).