I was coming in a couple of weeks ago and struck something submerged in 12' water that caused my motor to jack right out of the water an stay that way, the result was internal failure in the lower unit. Now here is the tricky part, my insurance won't cover it becuase there is not a mark on the lower unit or prop. They tell me without somekind of mark or indication of a hit they have to denie my claim. I have 2 witnesses in the boat at the time it happened we all felt it and saw the motor kick right up. The area I was motoring back in is a deep creek that has submerged tree floating all the time. They are deniying it because it's there OPINION that I didn't hit anything and that it was total internal break down caused by wear and tear. I told them they are entitled to their OPINION but I was the one in the boat and I know for a FACT that I hit something, I'm just totally fustrated at this moment and not sure what direction to turn in. Has this ever happen to anyone else or know of it happening to anyone or any ideas for what next step I should take?

Lee

Lee,

Check with the NY State Insurance Dept. Check this website. It tells you how to file a complaint.
http://www.ins.state.ny.us/complhow.htm

Good luck,

Bob

Just curious what company you have .I've never had a claim but always wounder if its kind of a joke unless you completely total it.

I feel your pain. I assume you're dealing with the actual claims adjusters and not just your agent? Have you witnesses write affidavits and get them to your agent and force your agent to force the issue. And follow Da Beak's advice. Good luck, I hope you can get it worked out.

Persistence easies resistance!

Put as much pressure on them as you can.

Good luck!

I agree with this. Get your agent to work with you against the adjusters. Not sure you have, I have always had really good luck with mine.

Like others have said, lean on them a little more, get the 2 witnesses to sign a legal paper and describe what they each saw/felt. If it was that violent of a hit, there should be some mark? If they dont, threaten to take you moolah else where. I had to make a claim similar to yours last year.. however, I did have a mark(mine was a rock) and my insurace gave me no problems at all. I am with Austin Mutual.

Tel your agent to take care of it for you or your changing companies. If he likes your bussiness he will get it done.
Lots of good insurance companies around.

Gee, now why do we hate these guys?

Well I started my complaint process through the NY State Complaint website (Thanks Da Beak). I called my agent and told them if they like my 11 years of being a customer they should help me out on this or my 12th will be somewhere else. I filled out the small claims forms and they are in an envelope ready to have stamp put on it and mailed. I called the Marina and told them to save all the parts for me for evidence if need be (I ordered new lower unit) and I'm asking a notorized person to come to the marina with me when I pick it up and take pictures of everything with written documents describing the damaged parts (I don't want them to say I caused any damage after I picked up the parts). One of my witnesses has filled out in description what happened and is getting it notorized today, the other one was a child and not sure how to handle it with him only being 9 (he was the closes to the motor when it happened and the first thing he said was "boy that motor flew up fast when we hit").

Deitz: I'm surprised as you that there is no visible damage but I've done lots a searching and talking to people and from what I'm gathering is that there could be internal damage to gears from a strike on the front of lower unit from the force of water logged tree, the only problem is me convincing Progressive that it was a submerged tree and not leaving a mark.

You could pay me to fly out to NY and hit your lower unit with a hammer, then you'd have a mark

Good luck!

marine_man

Sounds like you are doing it right and level headed. Keep us posted how it goes. I'm pulling for you.

I see you have Progressive insurance. A freind had an experience with them with his lower unit that was damanged. According to the shop they indicated that with the damage he had, most insurance companies would just replace his lower unit and get it turned around quickly. But with Progressive, they would make them tear down the lower unit and then replace just the parts that are broken. Problem is that many of the individual parts may be on back order making the fix take longer, and end up costing more than getting it replacement.

Not sure if this is always the case, or done this way with other companies.

FYI ... something happened to me similar to your story when I hit a submerged log. Motor flew up - didn't have any visible damage. Good think because it was a rental motor, didn't use it long enough to find out if anything was damaged internally.

Good luck with your Ins issues.

NCLaker: yea they made the marina do a total tear down.

I just received the denial letter and their grounds for denial was the pinion gear failure and that is what tore all the gears apart. I'm not knowledgeable on these types of things but I called Yamaha and told them my story and they told me that the only way for the gears to have total internal failure usually is from striking something. I asked them is it possible to hit something without leaving external damage and he said very likely but he can't put it in writing because my beef is with the insurance company not the manufacture, that's what the dealer told me also. I just need to have someone put something in writing for me.

Some folks can make fake ID's easy enough; you should be able to "get it in writing"

Seriously, there has to be somebody here that can write you a damage assessment on approved letterhead stating the damage was cause by an impact.