I can't explain what happen in that claims case as I didn't handle it or see the policy. I don't do boat claims but handle property homeowners claims. I used to run an office for an agent and I will say this, very few people actually want to review or discuss their insurance. They just want to pay as little as possible and think they are covered for everything and that's just not how insurance works. From experience I can say some agents are much better than others regarding coverage discussions with customers but most all will answer questions if you have them. The issue is there is so many situations you could discuss and never cover them all. People always want to blame the big bad insurance companies but there is likely blame on both sides as the consumer doesn't really seek to understand insurance most of the time and only wants to discuss when something ends up not being covered. Now to policy language being more clear that would be awesome but we all know once attorneys get involved that goes away and being a legal document between customer and company we will never be rid of attorney language in policies.

Fair enough.

I'll just update. As far as buying in cheap. And get what you pay for. I think if your going to tell a customer. This is what's covered. And this is price. Then stand buy what you told them. Don't pull a Obama!! Now the insurance claims adjuster. Has went from 95% to 85 to 60%. Now if there was nothing done wrong in the beginning. Why would you agree to change it.

Again I can't speak to the exact claim here but sounds like he has an actual cash value policy with an agreed value endorsement. There is a big difference between an agreed value policy and a replacement cost coverage policy. Replacement cost will mean that once repairs are completed you will be out only your deductible. An agreed value policy really only comes into place in the case of what is considered a total loss. If the loss is a total loss you will get the agreed upon value. In repair and other situations where the damages don't exceed the limits you get paid the actual cash value which is deduction for depreciation and deductible. From your explanation I'm assuming this is what happened to him. Now as for a settlement number changing I don't have any answers for that without all the facts including the actual policy.

Team Skeeterless and I are in the same business and experience things you would never imagine. Again, read your policy.If you don't understand it tell your agent. They have multiple ways to explain to you what you are covered for. I promise you when you ask an insured if they have any questions, they look at you with a deer in the headlights look and say no. Happens every day. Ask if you don't know. You will not be judged for what you don't understand. As Adjusters , most do a really good job but there are exceptions to everything. I spend hours re inspecting claims that were poorly scoped and explaining ACV payments and recoverable depreciation and how to recover it. It is a big industry with lots of Sharks. Watch out for the sharks and remember you do not get something for nothing. Now to get back to the re inspections I have to complete......

In near 30 years of boating I have only made 2 claims. The first one the adjuster tried to deny the claim (Allstate). I had to threaten to sue in order for them to pay the claim which they did but they dropped me as well. The second was in 2015 when I hit a stump and broke a prop blade and damaged the lower and a rod bearing. I received $100 to repair the prop and $1300 to ""REBUILD" the lower. The lower was depreciated down to the year of the motor but was actually 14 years newer than the motor. I went round and round with them over that issue but they won. By the time the adjuster showed up I had already replaced the lower with a used TM and used my spare prop so I could still fish. Within 2 minutes the first time out #5 rod bearing seized up. My argument was the sudden stoppage of the motor when I hit the stump damaged the bearing causing it to fail but that fell on deaf ears. He said #5 had leaned out causing it to seize. It didn't just seize it came completely apart and also damaged the crank! The motor was not open to where he could see it. He just made that determination on his own. I had an agreed value policy with what I thought was replacement for ""ANY"" item on the boat to include the lower. I had to rebuild the motor, replace the lower and have the prop repaired. All in all this cost me over $8300 and I got $1400. Insurance companies are a joke!!!!