Insurance question

On the 4th I was out on the lake running about 50mph when the motor just died down and quit. No alarms sounded or warning of any kind. Ended up getting towed back to the docks. Brought it to a shop on Fri. Just got the call today that there is mouse damage- chewed wires, oil line etc. Sounds like the motor is blown Called the 800 number made a claim, 20 min later the adjuster calls me and says hes not sure, but most policies have a “rodent exclusion” and if it is covered it will need to go before some board for review. I’ve never made an insurance claim so not sure about that. When I bought the policy I was told “even money” for the boat. So I’m hoping it will be covered. What do you guys think? 3 years of payments on a dead motor? (150 h.p. v6) I hope to hear in the next day or two but am pretty nervous now just waiting. Anybody ever had this happen? Thanks

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Called the 800 number made a claim, 20 min later the adjuster calls me

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I can’t help you with your claim questions, but after this is settled do yourself a favor and call Justin Schnider.

I read my policy pretty good and I didn’t see or remember seeing a “rodent clause”.

What is the name of the insurance company – ?

First call should be to your agent. Let him/her deal with this BS…

Rodent exclusion…..

Hmmmmmm….

Dog

I’ve spoken to a few of my marine insurance underwriters regarding this instance and the general consensus is that the vast majority of marine insurance policies exclude any type of bird, vermin or rodent infestation.

I’ll get in touch with the rest of my insurance carriers here this afternoon and see if their rodent exclusion is of the same nature.

The insurance co is Progressive. Ive carried insurance with Justin before on a previous boat with no issues. I went with progressive for this one because my local agent has my house and truck policies as well. She never mentioned anything about a mouse voiding the policy… Kind of b.s. if you ask me. Paid my insurance in full for the year, now a blown motor may not be covered because a mouse? The shop manager just called and said the agent was there so hopefully i here something before I have to start work at 3.

Justin

Do most insurance policy cover motors out of warranty? I’m a “fine print” type of guy and I don’t recall EVER seeing a policy that would cover a motor for mechanical failure. Now if the boat ran into a rock and destroyed the lower unit and powerhead… yes, that’s covered. But the blown motor due to oiling or electrical issues would be new to me.

I don’t understand what chewed wires (from a mouse) has to do with a blown motor. Did you hear a “clank” or anything else that would indicate a metal failure causing the motor to quit? Depending on the age of the motor, most these days “shut down” automatically if the oil is low or something else is happening that will cause major motor damage. I’d be checking out the “blown motor” claim before I got to excited.

If the mice just chewed wires that is something vastly different from a blown motor.

As I’m thinking about this, even though I didn’t see a “rodent clause” (that through me off), I doubt that any company will cover that. Might not specifically say “rodents” ect.

It’s going to be interesting on how this shakes out.

OK I just re-read your post. I see you mentioned the mouse chewed the oil line. I still think the motor may have went into it’s self preservation mode. What year and brand is this motor?

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Do most insurance policy cover motors out of warranty? I’m a “fine print” type of guy and I don’t recall EVER seeing a policy that would cover a motor for mechanical failure. Now if the boat ran into a rock and destroyed the lower unit and powerhead… yes, that’s covered. But the blown motor due to oiling or electrical issues would be new to me.

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Hey James,

Short answer is not really. Certain marine insurance companies do offer an additional rider for “mechanical breakdown”, but these typically only provide coverage for motors 5-7 years old and newer. Since most new outboard motors are already under warranty for 5-7 years, I personally do not see the value of this additional rider and seldom offer it to my clients.

Hope this helps.

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Do most insurance policy cover motors out of warranty? I’m a “fine print” type of guy and I don’t recall EVER seeing a policy that would cover a motor for mechanical failure. Now if the boat ran into a rock and destroyed the lower unit and powerhead… yes, that’s covered. But the blown motor due to oiling or electrical issues would be new to me.

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Hey James,

Certain marine insurance companies offer an additional rider for “mechanical breakdown”, but these typically only provide coverage for motors 5-7 years old and newer. Since most new outboard motors are already under warranty for 5-7 years, I personally do not see the value of this additional rider and seldom offer it to my clients.

Hope this helps.

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It does help clarify. Not sure how my question applies to the OP, if at all, but I’m glad you replied. I’ve had a lot of boat insurance policies over the years and the “mechanical failure” add-on was a new one to me.

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OK I just re-read your post. I see you mentioned the mouse chewed the oil line. I still think the motor may have went into it’s self preservation mode. What year and brand is this motor?

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Its a 1997 150hp Mariner. Just got off with the adjuster, he said at least 2 cylinders are shot. A rebuilt power head is around 4500.00 he said. Now it will go before some board to see if or what will be covered. My policy is called “an agreed value”, it supposed to cover up to the current value of the boat. It was my understanding that meant full coverage up to the full value of the boat, with no depreciation. I guess I’ll find out Wed or Thur.

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I don’t understand what chewed wires (from a mouse) has to do with a blown motor. Did you hear a “clank” or anything else that would indicate a metal failure causing the motor to quit? Depending on the age of the motor, most these days “shut down” automatically if the oil is low or something else is happening that will cause major motor damage. I’d be checking out the “blown motor” claim before I got to excited.

If the mice just chewed wires that is something vastly different from a blown motor.

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No clanks or anything. Just shut down at 45-5000 rpms..

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Justin

Do most insurance policy cover motors out of warranty? I’m a “fine print” type of guy and I don’t recall EVER seeing a policy that would cover a motor for mechanical failure. Now if the boat ran into a rock and destroyed the lower unit and powerhead… yes, that’s covered. But the blown motor due to oiling or electrical issues would be new to me.

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I’m with you on that James. That wouldn’t be insurance as much as it would warranty work and they won’t cover meeces.

Maybe I am out of touch, but I don’t see why one would even think insurance would cover this. If a mouse screws up my car engine, I would not imagine the auto insurance company would cover it, so I don’t see why a boat insurer would cover that. Collision, sure, but not animal damage.

Good luck, though!

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OK I just re-read your post. I see you mentioned the mouse chewed the oil line. I still think the motor may have went into it’s self preservation mode. What year and brand is this motor?

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Its a 1997 150hp Mariner. Just got off with the adjuster, he said at least 2 cylinders are shot. A rebuilt power head is around 4500.00 he said. Now it will go before some board to see if or what will be covered. My policy is called “an agreed value”, it supposed to cover up to the current value of the boat. It was my understanding that meant full coverage up to the full value of the boat, with no depreciation. I guess I’ll find out Wed or Thur.

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Ouch, that’s bad news. 15 year old motor they won’t value at much. You may want to start scouting around for a used motor or somebody who does work in his garage.

Good luck with the insurance.

I’ve had mice mess up the engine on my snowmobile and that was covered by insurance, not sure this is all that different. That was many many years ago though, things are different now. Either way it sucks and sounds like you will be down for a while.

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Maybe I am out of touch, but I don’t see why one would even think insurance would cover this. If a mouse screws up my car engine, I would not imagine the auto insurance company would cover it, so I don’t see why a boat insurer would cover that. Collision, sure, but not animal damage.

Good luck, though!

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We get vehicles here with mouse nests in the engine compartments, air boxes and even under back seats… MOST people expect Chrysler to be responsible for a mouse in their vehicle ??? Mice love to pack an airbox with dogfood… Every fall I get to go through this…

Ralph, if you could track the mouse from your house or any attached building, your homeowners might cover it.

“SO you mean your wiring was ‘tampered with’ and this caused the motor failure”? Hummm…ya, this is going to be interesting.

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“SO you mean your wiring was ‘tampered with’ and this caused the motor failure”? Hummm…ya, this is going to be interesting.

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I didn’t see any any posts that said the wiring was tampered with??? This boat was purchased 3 months ago from Warners Dock. I’ve used it maybe 10 times and still owe 3 years of payments. The insurance I had to buy was from the same bank the loan was from. Why does the bank make you buy insurance? Because they also have an investment in the purchase. This would lead me to believe that I would be covered if the boat/trailer is wrecked. There is no scam, or tampering involved if thats what you were implying. I’ve owned at least 4 boats in the last 10 years(always upgrading) and have had a few issues, but never an insurance claim. If the impeller for example gets old an alarm sounds etc etc. Now heres a new boat thats dead with no warning. So I should just eat it? If I was careless and hit a wing dam or somthing, that would be covered, but something I have no control over isn’t. Thats my complaint…

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The insurance I had to buy was from the same bank the loan was from. Why does the bank make you buy insurance? Because they also have an investment in the purchase. This would lead me to believe that I would be covered if the boat/trailer is wrecked.

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You are never required to purchase insurance from the lending institution that carries the note, but they will certainly offer it, most of the time at a rate much higher than your standard insurance markets.

I had an opportunity to do some more digging into this issue and out of the 10-12 marine insurance markets I typically use, I found one carrier that didn’t have a rodent exclusion.

In their policy it reads:

Exclusions:

We will not pay for loss, damage or expense under Part A: Physical Damage Coverage casued by or resulting from:

b. Insects, animals, vermin or marine life, however resulting damage would be covered. This exclusion does not apply to loss caused directly or indirectly from collision with an animal;

What this means is that in the event rodent infestation caused a part to malfunction, which consequently caused further damage to the outboard, the additional damage sustained would be covered under this insurance carriers policy, but the initially sustained damage would not.

I’d be sure to work with your current agent and make the argument bolded above, and see if they will at least cover the resulting damage.

Hope this helps.

As usual, learning more on Ido by accident then at other places by design.

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As usual, learning more on Ido by accident then at other places by design.

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And that’s why Justin handles my home, vehicle and boat insurance. I can get in touch with him almost instantly and he’s been able to put together policies with the coverages the wife and I want at very competitive prices.

the company I represent also would cover this no questions asked. Also had a claim awhile back where a mouse started in on a wire from a battery to the trolling motor, almost started a fire the next spring, so check your wiring every spring, now I’ll start looking under the cowling also. Mechanical failure or equipment breakdown is part of the home owners policy if you choose to add it, replaced many central air units this summer, so it may be worth looking into.

Speaking of mice, a couple springs ago our friend Curt came down to another one of our sponsors, Everts Resort with his boat.

The motor wouldn’t turn over. Replaced the battery. It turned a little but wouldn’t turn over. Pulled out the spark plug…

Yep, a mouse built a nest IN his cylinder! It was totally filled with nest stuff.

Good thing it didn’t start!

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And that’s why Justin handles my home, vehicle and boat insurance. I can get in touch with him almost instantly and he’s been able to put together policies with the coverages the wife and I want at very competitive prices.

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last year I had rodents [pine squirrels]get at my boat. I ended up needing a complete new wiring harness. The ins. covered it no questions asked.

Believe it or not Bounce drier sheets will keep the mice away in the winter. Put sheets in every compartment and leave them laying on the floor and decks.

NOTHING WILL SAVE YOU IF YOU DON’T REMOVE ALL FOOD AND SNACKS WHEN YOU STORE THE BOAT!!

How many guys will be putting peanut butter on the wires in their old motors now ???