Re: The grey area when your boat gets stolen !!!
I have to agree with not getting a lawyer, at least not at this point. I would only go that route if their final settlement offer is far less than the boats value.
I too have had Progressive Ins. problems but on a different note, I was rear ended by a driver with Progressive and they fought the claim with my insurance company. My insurance company paid my claim in full without hassle in 5 days. Progressive tried to imply that my truck was illegally lifted, (it was bone stock), that I had intentionally rammed the car that rear ended me, (I was moving forward at 35 MPH when hit), and their final ploy was that I didn't have my lights on, (the accident happened at 9:40 AM on a sunny Sat. morning with two local officers as witnesses too boot).
The only wait I had was to recover my $250 deductible, which took two years but I expected that.
As said several times above, document all communication, along with time of calls with dates and names.
Get estimates and know the value of your boat at the time of the theft. NADA is a valid source.
Either way, you need to see what they offer first, then decide your next course of action.
I have in the past also taken cash offer settlements, then turned around and bought the vehicle back myself and repaired it myself. Often what they deem as totaled is only due to a dollar value. Often getting paid for the value, then fixing the boat on your own for cash might just get you a late model boat for far less, but that would off course be up to you and whether or not you even still want the boat at any cost.
I've bought back two totaled trucks and fixed them for pennies with used parts and gotten many good years of service from them. A lot of that has to do with your ability to fix things yourself. I had a 2 year old pickup truck which got hit while parked, the insurance company totaled it out since they were required by law to fix it with oem parts. I bought the truck back for $1500 off of the settlement, then fixed it for an additional $600 in used body parts at a local junk yard. I even got lucky and found matching parts. The truck was valued at over $15,500 at that point and since I retained the title, it never became a salvage title. I drove that truck for 5 more years and it was paid for. All of the damage was minor, no safety issues at all and I worked for the dealer as well. It worked out great for me in the end, I got rid of a car payment, ended up with a late model truck for cheap and still got paid for the balance of the value on the truck by the insurance company.
I offered to buy back the truck before I ever realized that the truck was worth more than I owed by several thousand. The insurance company was more than willing to sell me the truck, it kept them from having to pay storage at the dealership and kept them from having to auction off or dispose of it. I broke even in the end cash wise, I had three vehicles so I didn't need a rental car, and it ended my paying monthly loan payments on that truck. (I've not had a car payment since, I now look for crash damaged vehicles which I can fix cheap).
