DiveMaster insurance options...

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Swamp_monster

Contributor
Messages
80
Reaction score
10
Location
Florida
# of dives
500 - 999
Hey, I am inquiring about options for DM insurance. I see Dan has a policy for $398 and V&B is similar... What other options are there? Do any of the big insurance companies have some sort of policy or is this it? If this is it seems like a huge ripoff.
 
Hey, I am inquiring about options for DM insurance. I see Dan has a policy for $398 and V&B is similar... What other options are there? Do any of the big insurance companies have some sort of policy or is this it? If this is it seems like a huge ripoff.

This is one of the reasons I have not been an active DM since around 2000.
 
We do take a huge responsibility when teaching/guiding underwater, hence the expensive liability insurance. My guess is that if most pros realized the costs associated with teaching and how little they would earn teaching through shops, they may not go that route.
 
This is one of the reasons I have not been an active DM since around 2000.
I don't blame you... I am just trying to be a part-time DM because I like it but not if thats the cost. I would be working for free practically. I am hoping to find a cheaper option.
 
I don't blame you... I am just trying to be a part-time DM because I like it but not if thats the cost. I would be working for free practically. I am hoping to find a cheaper option.
~$400 is about what you are going to pay.

When you see agency's throw their own instructors under the bus even when they follow the written standards you'll understand this is all part of the game.
Agencies outsource the risk and costs to instructors and DMs.
Don't have any incentive to revise even the riskiest standards (have you seen the DSD ratio threads?).
Shops push high ratio classes - they're within standards right?
Most of the time they go "just fine"
Occasionally there is a problem, possibly even a fatality
Blame the instructor/DM - oh well they are replaceable
Repeat expectations that instructors and DMs foot the bill for ever escalating liability coverage.

There's a continual crop of new instructors and DMs who buy into this asinine business model to "live the dream"

Don't work for free. You are worth more than that and you run the risk of losing everything for a temporary nugget of DM prestige.
 
~$400 is about what you are going to pay.

When you see agency's throw their own instructors under the bus even when they follow the written standards you'll understand this is all part of the game.
Agencies outsource the risk and costs to instructors and DMs.
Don't have any incentive to revise even the riskiest standards (have you seen the DSD ratio threads?).
Shops push high ratio classes - they're within standards right?
Most of the time they go "just fine"
Occasionally there is a problem, possibly even a fatality
Blame the instructor/DM - oh well they are replaceable
Repeat expectations that instructors and DMs foot the bill for ever escalating liability coverage.

There's a continual crop of new instructors and DMs who buy into this asinine business model to "live the dream"

Don't work for free. You are worth more than that and you run the risk of losing everything for a temporary nugget of DM prestige.

Oh man, when I crossed over to SSI, my IT (former shop manager, GUE's "biggest fan" :wink:) reminded me that SSI requires each instructor must have an emergency action plan for each dive site for where they teach.

Since I was at a shop chain, I asked, "So does <shop name> have ones for each dive site where courses are taught?" (there are not that many dive sites used for training in the Puget Sound.

IT answers "Oh no, the shop would never assume that kind of liability!"

So the max an instructor would get for open water is $50 per student, we already pay our own insurance and agency fees, and the shop doesn't even want to address a possible issue. The risk/reward ratio is completely out of whack.

Yeah, I like being independent.

Now in hindsight, if I wasn't going to open a dive op for an early/active retirement in Greece, there's no way I'd become an instructor.

To be fair, there is one instructor in our area that has two training deaths and is still teaching from what I've heard.
 
At least V&B offers a shop policy that can include multiple staff for no added cost per head. You might be able to find a shop that uses that option and would be willing to add you to their policy. You would only be covered for that shop's activities.

The one caution is policy limits. If an incident involves multiple staff in that one policy, the dollar limits are an aggregate for the shop coverage, and not applied "per person". So multiple individuals with individual policies in the same incident would often have have better coverage, depending on coverage level the shop has purchased.
 
So I guess to answer my question there is only V&B, and DAN in the US? Off-topic but V&B is in desperate need of a website overhaul...
 
V&B is in desperate need of a website overhaul
Their response to emails and phone calls is very good.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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