Jose contacted us because he felt his insurer didn’t pay a fair price to his claim when his boat got damaged.
What happened
Jose went to the marina to use his boat and found it had partially sunk, so he made a claim to his marine insurer. The insurer accepted his claim and made Jose a settlement offer of £4,366. This was after the insurer had asked an independent marine surveyor to assess the boat’s pre-loss value.
But Jose was unhappy with this as he had recently overhauled the boat’s engine at a cost of £3,800 and felt the hull and other equipment was worth more than £500. So he raised a complaint to his insurer. Unhappy with the outcome, he contacted our service.
What we said
We asked for a copy of the surveyor’s report and found the valuation had taken into account the overhaul of the engine.
We appreciated that Jose had recently spent a similar amount to the settlement offer on having the engine maintained. But the independent marine surveyor was qualified and independent, and there was nothing to show his valuation was insufficient. We didn’t uphold the complaint.