Do you read your insurance policy details? I thought I ought perhaps skim through them this time as I came to renew Herbie's insurance, especially as last year we changed insurer. We're now with GJW if anyone's interested. To cheer us all up, here are some of the more interesting exclusions.
Speed: Sadly they won't insure Herbie if she's capable of exceeding 17 knots. Cor, I'd like to see that! Maybe on the rip tide out of Denver sluice or something. I think you might do 10 knots on the outgoing Thames tide through Barnes if memory of the Jubilee cruise rehearsal serves me right.
Accidental damage: We're covered if an aeroplane drops something on Herbie as long as it's not a bomb, or I suppose if the bomb were accidentally dropped in peace time, I think we might still be covered. How reassuring.
Theft/ Burglary: If the boat is unoccupied for 60 or more consecutive days, any subsequent theft or burglary is not covered while the boat is still vacant. Ooh I bet that would affect a lot of us this year. I'm pretty sure the marina wouldn't accept responsibility.
Sports: Bang goes my chance of parascending ( or indulging in "similar aerial activities") off the back of Herbie - the personal injury cover forbids it. Neither can we go scuba diving off her. I'm not even allowed to be or become insane apparently!
Age: Now here's an interesting one. They won't pay for any personal injury if I'm 75 or older. Next year that'll be me. Oh well I might as well go insane next year then.
Injury payouts: I get ten grand for every leg or arm permanently lost and the same for every eye. How can you temporarily lose a leg? Lord Nelson would have been quids in at any rate.
Third party damage: Apparently I'm not allowed to launch a cyber attack from a computer on Herbie. Are we not allowed any fun?
Plumbing - a warning to us all. To stay insured against damage from burst pipes you either have to have central heating set at 10 degrees or higher between November and April or turn your water off at the tank stop cock. I'm OK there, just before the November lockdown I got out to Herbie, drained the plumbing as best I could and turned of the tank tap. Any bit of water still lying in the pipes after that should be OK especially if you leave the sink and shower taps open.
Lastly they wont pay if my gun barrel goes rusty and/or bursts. Quite right too.
Well there you are, something to keep us amused while we wait for our jab letter. Stay safe folks.
1 comment:
On the other hand, GJW will pay if you foolishly think that you can sneak past the small branches on the end of a fallen tree, only to find that said small branches were in fact ivy, concealing a very solid broken off trunk. Said trunk entering via the stained glass window at the front of the cabin, then hooking behind the window frame like a giant lever, powered by the momentum of a narrowboat, demolishing the frame and bending the steelwork behind into an arc, and pulling down the corner of the roof.
GJW paid up like troopers for it all, including the very nice specialist stained-glass worker which the boatyard in Northwich recruited as a subcontractor.
They did rather increase our excess this year, but I guess that's fair enough, now they know we're beating through the untamed CRT vegetation in a stained-glass-tipped unguided missile.
We got use of a nice mooring, with power and everything, just down from Yardwood's basin while it was all fixed.
Simon.
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