Insurance

 

Insurance is an interesting industry in Bonaire.  Mostly, it's unusual to us because it is different than insurance in the US.  We have a broker (not unusual) : Crooij & Flipse. This company of 2 individual brokers has our home and car insurance. Our insurance is through two different companies Guardian for the house and Ennia for the car. 

  Each year you have ask to renew your insurance with Ennia through our broker.  They send us a letter in Dutch (which we can not read or understand) explaining the coverage and fees.  Our car is so old that we only insure it for liability. The first time we got insurance from them we had to pay cash at the Banc de Carib (not the Ennia office as they don't accept cash or credit cards). This time we have no idea how to pay.  Since we have a bank account on the island we could probably do a transfer.

We upped our home insurance due to the break-in. We are now insured for replacement value.  Insured for fire, hurricanes and the other stuff that can go wrong with a house. Our broker said that at the time we make a claim, the insurance company will make a determination of the value of our house and its contents.  If they think we are over or under insured, they will pay us what they determine as the replacement value. The insurance only covers what is inside the house and the structure.  Our broker told us to move everything inside the house if we think a storm is going to hit.  That way everything is insured.  

Whatever. Insurance is a racket no matter where you buy it.