Insurance is a necessary evil and cost is a huge factor when it comes to picking a carrier but sometimes the $100 saved isn't worth the hassle when it comes time to use it. I was curious about what TFF members' personal experiences have been dealing with their insurance companies when making a claim. I came up with a few points below to judge using the same criteria.

Timeliness - How long it took to open claim, getting the adjuster out, to finally to picking up your boat?
Convenience - Did they work with the shop and bill directly? Did they try to steer you to one of their approved shops? If applicable, did they reimburse for lost/stolen tackle and/or electronics?
Quality - Did the insurance company allow OEM parts or were they persistent about using aftermarket? Were you satisfied with the repair job?
Overall Satisfaction - Did you feel like everything went smoothly and you got your money's worth?

I have the same concerns, I've gotten no answers either on other forums.

Don't have boat insurance. Had GEICO on our vehicles, a '05 Tacoma(73K miles) and a '06 Malibu(125K mi). Old cars, but we still insure them, I December, my wife went to D/FW to deal with her mother's death(she was 87), and a motorist ran into her Malibu. Not bad, but it totalled due to the age of the car. The other driver was at fault, no police report, and USAA insurance. I assumed we would get hosed. We paid $5500 for the car 8-1/2 years ago, and put 60K miles on it.. They looked at the few comparables they could find, and gave us $6100 for the car! We were floored! If you're going to be hit by someone, make sure they have USAA insurance!

We replaced her Malibu with a '07 F-150 4-dr with 192,000 and Geico wanted $336.00 a year, just for Collision & Comp on the truck. over and above the regular insurance cost! We have had insurance with them for ten years, no claims, no tickets, and we drive less than 7,000 miles a year total for both vehicles. I had to threaten to fire them before they got reasonable. If I could get USAA, they'd get my business. YMMV. IslandJim

Progressive gets a big fat 0 from me. Right off the bat, the adjuster said he was in a hurry to get to his kid’s baseball game. Wouldn’t even let me talk. When he submitted paper work, all Progressive did was lowball me. Sent them numerous comparables, photos and quotes of same year, make, model and condition they would not budge.3 months later, I had to settle for thousands less than it was worth in any market today. I wouldn’t use them to insure my grandchild’s tricycle!

My experience with Progressive.

I have a very clean, classic, 1982 Boston Whaler Sport 15 with a 1983 Johnson 50 HP with aftermarket (CMC) power tilt / trim. It's insured with Progressive (through Worldwide Marine Underwriters). On their advice, when I bought the boat I insured it for an agreed value of $10 K

A few months ago I destroyed the lower unit and SS propeller backing off a sandbar and hitting some really solid submerged object. I called Progressive and was surprised to have an adjuster call me back the same day. She quickly took my report and assigned an estimator to look at the boat.

I really just wanted the motor repaired and would have been happy with that. The estimator tried his best to locate parts, a used or reconditioned lower unit, but could find none. So he totaled the entire boat. They very promptly paid me the $10K less salvage value of $725 and let me keep the boat with no change of title work. I have 0 deductible having been with them over 5 years so they paid me $9,275. I have now purchased a brand new 2020 Tohatsu 60 HP 4 stroke, for an installed, out the door, price of $9,100. I came out smelling like a rose and decided to add an Atlas hydraulic jackplate at my expense.

I must admit I was somewhat apprehensive about the claim, but it was handled quickly, fairly, and everything was clearly explained.

I was afraid they would send out Flo (as seen so often on TV). I asked if they could assign the cute little blonde in the "lets hide behind the chainsaws" commercial, but alas, they said they couldn't do that.

Agreed Value saved me. I have reinsured it for $10K after sending them documentation of the new motor. Progressive and Worldwide Underwriters did well by me.

Worldwide Marine Underwriters

Travelers was very good, no complaints. They replaced my lower unit with a new Mercury OEM lower unit. They paid to repair my brand new Bravo 1 XS prop but found out it couldn't be repaired. They immediately sent me another check for the difference in repairing and a new prop.

Well I’m still in the middle of a claim with State Farm right now on my bass boat. The first letter I got was a denial. I hit a stump dead center of the hull. It was dead center of the stringers so it popped it in and it popped out but cracked the fiberglass about 5’ Down the center of the hull. They determined I had previously scratched the bottom of the boat and my fiberglass boat rusted that crack!! I have the letter! Fiberglass rust! Lol. Any way after much anger and explaining that fiberglass don’t rust a marine adjuster is going to look at it. So I will update this after.

Used Progressive for many many years without problems until I had to place three claims, one which was a no fault where my trailer was run into at boat ramp by a hit and run, and my rate on renew was escalated by 50%. Way too much in my estimation. Now switching to Travelers at my old rate.

Progressive. 2 lower unit claims within past 5 years. No issues at all. Both times, they purchased the price of a reman install (4000-4250). I ended up going with original Yamaha parts for an additional 800-1k out of my pocket. Very happy with them. Both claims took 2-3 weeks for completion so no complaints there as well.

Got caught in a bad storm that blew through (60-70 mile winds). Luckily I was really close to the ramp where I put in but couldn't get it trailered. Wound up get beat to hell on a steel dock. Thousands of $$ damage. State Farm was great and everything got repaired and looked better than before.

State Farm - Red River - Excellent