Boats and personal watercraft are big purchases, but if you love being on the water, you know they’re worth it. Even if you’re not required to have boat insurance, it’s important to protect your boat and your crew from harm.
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Hurricane
Watercraft breakdown
Property Damage
Uninsured Watercraft
Bodily injury liability
Hurricane coverage
Risk Factors
The marina where you dock your cabin cruiser is in the path of an approaching hurricane — you want to get it out of the water and hauled to a safe location as soon as possible.
Solution
Watercraft insurance helps with the cost of professional haul-out when a hurricane or tropical storm threatens your boat.
Watercraft breakdown coverage
Risk Factors
Your motorboat stalls in the middle of the lake — and won’t restart. You’re not sure what went wrong, but you need help now.
Solution
Optional coverage may help with the cost of emergency labor where your boat is disabled or a tow to the nearest location where repairs can be made. It may also cover the cost of gas, oil, or a battery if needed.
Property damage coverage
Risk Factors
Your watercraft might collide with someone’s personal property and cause damage to the same.
Solution
If you cause an accident that damages another person’s property, liability coverage may help pay for expenses you incur as a result.
Uninsured watercraft coverage
Risk Factors
You may meet with an accident involving another watercraft that is not insured or has insufficient coverage for the loss caused by the accident.
Solution
The uninsured watercraft coverage on your boat insurance policy may help pay for the resulting expenses.
Bodily injury liability coverage
Risk Factors
The people sailing in a boat may face bodily injury, making the owner pay for their medical expenses.
Solution
Watercraft insurance may help prevent you from paying out of pocket for medical bills and other related costs like loss of income.
What is Watercraft Insurance?
Watercraft insurance is an umbrella term for three types of insurance: boat, yacht, and personal watercraft. It protects against damages to vessels powered by a motor with a horsepower of at least 25 miles per hour (mph). Examples of the costs covered by watercraft insurance policies include physical loss or damage to the boat, theft of the boat, and towing.
Depending on the policy, there may also be watercraft liability coverage for bodily injury to people other than the boat’s owner and family, guest passengers using the boat by themselves, and medical payments for injury to the owner and their family. Some policies, however, require the purchase of additional liability coverage as an add-on. Again, the size of your vessel dictates the specific type of insurance you buy.
What are the types of Watercraft Insurance coverage?
Bodily injury liability
If you cause an accident and someone is injured, this watercraft insurance coverage can help pay their medical bills and loss of income.
Property damage liability
If you cause an accident, this personal watercraft insurance coverage helps pay for damages to another person’s watercraft or property. In addition, pollution liability coverage and wreckage removal are included.
Collision
Collision pays for damage to your watercraft, motor, trolling motor, trailer, and permanent and portable equipment if you’re in a covered accident with another watercraft or object.
Comprehensive
Also known as “other than collision,” this coverage can help pay for damage to your watercraft, motor, trolling motor, trailer, and permanent and portable equipment from losses other than collision. This includes damage from fire, theft, or storms.
Uninsured motorist
Helps protect you and your watercraft, motor, trolling motor, trailer, and permanent and portable equipment from an uninsured or hit-and-run boater.
Underinsured motorist
It helps protect you, your watercraft, and your equipment from drivers who do not have enough insurance to cover the costs of an accident.
Medical payments
Medical payments can help cover medical bills if you or others are injured while operating or occupying your watercraft.
On-water boat towing and labor
It covers towing expenses and other emergency services if your watercraft becomes disabled on the water.
The Importance of Watercraft Insurance
The most important reason for getting watercraft insurance is liability coverage. It protects you in case someone is injured or their property is damaged and pays for your legal fees, medical expenses, and repairs to their property.
You may also need your watercraft coverage from fire, accidents, and theft. All risk insurance covers anything that can happen to your boat except for circumstances expressly excluded in your policy, such as wear and tear and damage from freezing.
Add-ons are available so you can customize your insurance based on your needs.
Do I need Watercraft Insurance during the off-season?
Wherever you’re located, the length of the boating season is already factored into your rate. Insurance companies know that boaters aren’t going out year-round in most places. So your premium is based on typical annual use for your geographical area, however long or short the period might be.
Also, keep in mind that when your boat is insured, it is covered even when it’s docked or in storage. Your policy can cover things like sinking, weather damage, vandalism, and theft — which can happen at any time.
As a boater, you have specialized insurance needs. We can help map the various insurance options and answer your questions about what different boat insurance coverage types protect so you can build a policy that makes the most sense.
Already have Watercraft Insurance? Switching is easy
It might be time to switch insurers whenever the service that your existing insurer provides doesn’t meet your needs. For example, if you have a poor claims experience or an unexplained rate increase, it might be time to consider other options
If you cancel a previous policy before a new policy is effective, you could run into some serious financial problems.
Contact us today to help you with multiple options to choose from.
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