One of the reasons you may need to hire boat surveyors Palm Beach is for the purposes of damage survey. This is a survey done to determine the extent of damage to a boat. A damage survey is mostly requested after an accident or bad weather. A boat owner may hire a surveyor for this to know how many repairs are needed. In most cases, damage surveys are requested by insurance companies. In this post, we will be taking a look at a few facts you should remember about a damage survey.
Terms and reporting
The first point you should understand is that damage surveys should not take more than a day to complete. The boat surveyors Palm Beach will require no more than one full day of attendance. However, depending on the extent of damage, the marine surveyor may request additional time.
Once the survey is completed, the surveyor will provide you with a preliminary report. This report includes an outline of the incident as well as the extent of damage to the vessel. In many cases, the report will also include the estimated cost of repairs. You will then receive the final damage survey report.
How long it takes for you to get the final report will depend on a number of things. The main influencing factor is the availability of information. For example, missing invoices can delay the final report.
Cause of damage
So long as the boat owner presents an allegation as to the cause of damage to their boat, the marine surveyor will give an opinion regarding the cause of damage in the report. If no allegation has been presented by the owner, the surveyor will state their opinion regarding the cause of damage. This will be included in a separate message.
The surveyor will not give an opinion on the cause of the collision or elaborate on any appointment of blame. The surveyor will also never discuss liability. This is because doing so will prejudice underwriter’s and owner’s positions.
Purpose of a damage survey
A damage survey is usually done to report on the condition of a boat after an incident. The boat surveyors Palm Beach will simply observe then report on the extent of the damage. The surveyor will not dismantle components to determine the extent of the damage. He only listens and observes.
The above are the most important points you should understand about damage surveys. If you are hiring your own surveyor, it is always good to go with one that has many years of experience surveying boats that are similar to yours.