Re: The grey area when your boat gets stolen !!!
bigfish17,
I'm the other guy who posted about my experience with Progressive ( I wonder if bigboneli wet his pants again or will have the guts to apologize to me). I will tell you how I handled my situations and what the result was. First I would like to clarify that I was the insured (with progressive) when my waverunner was stolen, this was the only policy I had with them (they were one fo the few insurers I could find at the time that would insure a rider as young as 14 years old), so I probably wasn't a "Valued" cutomer. In my other two auto accidents, the other drivers were at fault (one rear ender and one where a lady didn't see me and turned in front of me) and they both had Progressive as their insurance.
In all three cases, Progressive initially gave a take it or leave it attitude. They rarely returned phone calls and as I stated drug their feat. I think the insinuation that I staged the theft and the request for statement, financial records and permission for a polygraft were simply a ploy to try and get me to settle quickly. It's sounds like you are going through the same thing. What helped me in all my cases was a simple "no" and a request that they put any offer in writing. I got to the point where I did very little discussions on the phone, becuase eash time I spoke with them I received a different explanation as to where they were and what they were doing.
My Nationwide agent told me that this is a typical tactic; to try and frustrate you to the point of settling just to get it over with. Patience is the key here. As I stated before, tell them you will accept nothing less than either 1) replacement of the boat, or 2) a reasonable settlement offer for the boat. In this regard, it would help to start to get written estiamtes/opinions of the damage and repair. It will make you feel better and give you more confidence of your position when you speak to Progressive.
You said you have an agreed value policy. I think, note think, this is good. If this is similar to my policy with Nationwide, this is near what you can expect to be paid. It may also be a negative, because Progressive will have a higher incentive to repair versus pay off.
If they choose to repair, as was the case in one of my auto accidents, you really have to watch them. In the case of your boat (as with my car) they will probably insist that since the items that would need to be replaced (the stripped ones in your case) were of less value than equavalent new ones because they were used. For instance, your OEM seats were used, so they should be able to replace them with after market seats, not originals. In my auto accident this was a real problem. I ended up paying for all the repairs myself (nearly $4k) and told them I would sue them. This sucked because I would have had to sue the guy who hit my wife (and he was a really nice guy). After drafting a letter to the insurance commisioner, threatening to send it and speaking to managers a couple of levels up, they finally paid for the damages that were repaired with OEM parts. Insist that you are made whole, you want a boat that is going to be in the same condition as the one you lost (not one with aftermarket seats). I told them if they could find used parts with no damage from the same manufacturer they could use them. I just wanted it to be the same as it was before the loss.
I think contacting an attorney is premature at the moment. They are expensive and will not provide you with much help. I gave my statement openly and let them record it. The bulk of their questions concerned my financial stability and the amount of care I took in preventing the theft (was it locked etc.) It was humorous at one point, they kept asking me if I had the key... I said "no". They thought they "had me" for negligence and hammered for a few minutes until I informed them that waverunners did not have keys. The girl looked at me like I was from another planet and asked if I were sure of that. I asked her to call Yamaha if she didn't believe me. i'm not sure if she did.
The initial offer on my waverunner was about 30% below what I thought it should be. I offered that they could find me an exact or better replacement waverunner as a replacement. Since I had already lost the majority of the season waiting on them, I had nothing to loose by waiting longer for them to settle. I finally comprimised slightly and got within 95% of what I was seeking.
Lastly, 2 weeks after I settled they canceled my policy. Not a big deal I thought until I tried replacing it. No amount of explanation made this any easier, and the fact that I had a 14 year old operator made it really tough. I wound up paying a slightly higher premium for the next 2 years. Had I replaced the coverage before they canceled it would have been a non-issue.
My adivce is patience, prepare your case with as much in writing as possible and most importantly don't let them bully you into taking less than you paid for. It isn't fraud or a scam etc to ask that you recieve what you have been paying for. Please keep this thread updated with your progress.
