TMK988
New Member
This really surprised me. Some of you may remember a few weeks ago my 290DA broke loose from my mooring and wound up on a beach. My insurance company, BoatUS, is doing all the right thing. Although the boat looked to me to be in fairly good shape, they are cutting a check for almost $6800 to my mechanic (this guy is beyone honest) and almost $6500 to a fiberglass guy! All for a $20 substandard part on the mooring. Anyway, here is what is freaking me out. They are paying the towing guy, I believe he is their towing guy, BoatUS, $4600. Here is what he did. I was present for the whole 'Salvage' operation. He came out in that little towing boat these guys have and had me lower the outdrives. Then he put a rope through that 'D' hook in the front of the boat. He stayed on his tow boat until the tide came in. At this point, I could have pushed the boat into deeper water! He gently dragged my boat out into deeper water, squared away his lines and then towed my boat across a small bay to a landing where it was picked up by a land hauler. I actually addressed this issue with the representative at BoatUS, of course, he was the one who told me how much they paid the towing guy (the rep. was very gracious) and when I told him that I was horrified at how much he had paid for what sure seemed like a simple operation to me, he defended the payment. Basically, he said that IF the boat had a hole in it and started to sink, then the insurance company would have to rely on his expertise to keep that from happening. I suggested that maybe BoatUS could just pay for the hauling and then pay the salvaging fee IF the boat actually was sinking. I am not complaining here as this cost me nothing and BoatUS has treated me wonderfully (I am renewing my policy today)... the towing guy was also terribly gracious, but I feel that they had been taken advantage of and I really don't want any of my insurance companies (car, health) to get ripped off. In the end, you and I will eventually pay for that.