Written by Jeff Walls - The Mount Desert Islander
Friday, July 11, 2008
SOUTHWEST HARBOR — Christina Butler has opened her latest venture, Butler Marine Insurance, to fill a niche in the boat insurance industry; leveraging her experience to help boat owners.
Butler deals primarily with privately owned pleasure boats in a variety of sizes. “The insurance covers things like hulls and liability plus ancillaries like towing coverage, personal effects, medical payments if somebody gets injured and it is not your fault, and they don’t have health insurance,” said Ms. Butler. “Boat insurance isn’t required by law, so the people that get insurance are trying to protect their investment.”
Getting boat insurance begins with an interview. “We would have a discussion about your boat and what it is you want to insure,” Ms. Butler said. “We would look at your past experience and what you plan to do with the boat, where it will be in the summer, in the winter, your navigational territory. We would also ask whether you ever plan to charter the boat, either with you as captain or a bare boat charter where they basically take your boat.”
Butler Marine Insurance is an independent agency that works with a variety of underwriters. “That is why it is important to gather the information from the client about what they want to do. Some companies won’t cover you in the Caribbean. So if you decide to go to the Caribbean that rules out company A or B,” said Ms. Butler. “Each company also rates differently depending on where the territory is. I have the ability to write coverage not only in Maine, but almost anywhere the boat is. So if they are going to keep their boat in Chesapeake Bay it would be different than in Maine,” she said. “They [insurance companies] love Chesapeake Bay because it is all sandy bottom.
“My personal experience on the water started with rowing and sailing lessons at the Northeast Harbor Fleet as a child,” Ms. Butler said. “My grandfather, Phil Caughey, was the office manager at the fleet for 60 years. As a teenager I was employed as his assistant so I gained a firm knowledge of boats from an early age.”
“I started in 1994 at Hinckley Marine Insurance. I was there when Hinckley was acquired by Marsh, which is a huge worldwide insurance brokerage agency,” said Ms. Butler. “I moved into a management position there but then things started to change. They wanted to focus on the larger megayachts versus the smaller private pleasure vessels. So I decided to open my own business to fill that need.”
After the amicable parting with Marsh, Ms Butler maintained her focus on the smaller boat owner. “I am the only other boat insurance specialist in this area. Other agencies can cover boats, but what I bring to the table is 15 years of experience,” she said. “That is all I have done is boats and yachts, continually networking with people and underwriters from around the country. I am, as an agent, still an advocate for the client versus being a representative of the insurance company.”
To be effective at her job, Ms. Butler must be technically knowledgeable about boats as well as be able to navigate the backwaters of the insurance industry.
“This insurance is personalized and customized for what you need. It is less cookie cutter than auto insurance where you just punch numbers into a computer and it spits out a result and that’s it,” Ms. Butler said. “It is still a part of the industry where it is important to have an advocate, somebody who can follow trends in either the boat-building world or the insurance world. You really get to know a lot about a person when they are talking about their boat. It is a very personal thing, said Ms. Butler.
“I have the ability to cover everything from personal watercraft or a runabout to private pleasure boats.”
—Christina Butler
If a claim does need to be filed, Ms. Butler’s knowledge can really be of help to the boat owner. “I was a dedicated claims person at Hinckley. So I know what it means to have to file a claim,” she said. “It really pays to have an advocate in that situation. Everything is so detail specific and often you are dealing with a marine surveyor. It is different than car insurance where some guy comes out and says that is worth this much according to this book,” she said. “We would have a surveyor come out and assess the damage then it becomes a negotiating process.” “My business comes to me primarily by word of mouth – referrals by current clients and people in the boat and yacht industry such as yacht brokers, fellow insurance colleagues, and marine surveyors,” Ms Butler said. “I also have a direct referral connection to the boatyard in Washington State who sells boats all over the country.”
“I have markets available to place coverage in places all over the country (with exception of full-time Florida) and for extended navigation, said Ms. Butler. “In addition to the domestic companies that I represent, I also have the ability to place coverage through a London Broker for Lloyds.”
“Although my focus is on private pleasure vessels, I do also have the ability to place coverage on boat yards and marinas.”
Maine also has a unique heritage that most insurance companies just don’t understand: “Another thing that happens here is that people have owned boats for 40 years,” Ms. Butler said. “When the insurance company hears about it they don’t think that it is worth much, but these boats are pristine. So that is where I have to think, “How I am going to approach this with the company?’”
Our thanks to The Mount Desert Islander for granting permission to reprint this article.
