boating insurance

[spacerust]

i was reading the faq that you have here for boating. do you have to have insurance like you do for a car? if so, what is an average cost?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boating insurance

if it is financed yes. usually $100-300. can you afford to replace your boat if it sinks, or is damages.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: boating insurance

It's not mandatory here but it is financial suicide if you don't have at least liability insurance. As they say, "you can't get blood out of a turnip" so if you happen to own nothing of value, then you can probably get away without insurance. However, if you have even a minor incident (as minor as pinched fingers or a bump on the head) involving a passenger or another boat, you could be sued and in hock for a very long time. If you do own your home, your car, and your boat, someone else will own it when the courts get through with you. Insurance costs vary greatly by area and the type of coverage you carry. Your boat will generally be covered (up to a certain HP) if it's stored on your property. It may also be covered when it's being towed. But once it's off the hook and in the water it is a separate entity. If you carry a personal liability or "umbrella" policy that would take care of the liability part but you still have physical damage to consider. Talk to your local insurance broker.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: boating insurance

If you have any net worth at risk, you really need liability insurance. If you have a boat financed, usually the lein holder requires protection of their investment, hence comprehensive insurance. If you own the boat and it has any net worth, you really need comprehensive insurance; small price to pay vs the cost of replacement on your own.

For what it costs, it is ludicrous to be without it. I get it from my State Farm agent with ALL my other insurance and the more things I insure with them the more discounts I get which are currently around $500 per year on less than $4000/annum policy cost for my house, trucks, boat, personal liability, tractors, farm buildings, cattle, farm liability, and mega buck liability umbrella.

Mark

 

[arks]

Re: boating insurance

Yeah, it would be stupid not to have at least liability coverage. Too many bad things can happen out there.
A $1M umbrella policy is relatively inexpensive- I pay $44/ month and it covers the house, all the cars and the 3 boats. And remember- if you have an umbrella policy, you can eliminate that coverage from all your other insured items.
I might add that insurance costs can vary widely, depending on type and age of boat, horsepower, and location where it's used. Some insurance companies won't write damage policies in certain states (S. Fla. for example) for large boats anymore because of the huge claims they've had to pay after hurricanes.
As Silvertip said, talk to your agent. It wouldn't hurt to get quotes from other sources as well.

 

[spacerust]

Re: boating insurance

thanks. i'll look into it.

 

[5150abf]

Re: boating insurance

I have a rider on my house insurance for $100,000.00, it only costs a couple bucks a year but and it is well worth it.
Of coarse that doesn't get me anywhere if I screw up my boat but it is one less thing to worry about.

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: boating insurance

Everyone probably already knows this, but if you complete a boating safety course from the U.S. Coast Guard of an organization such as Power Squadron, you can sometimes save 10% off your insurance premium.

 

[arboldt]

Re: boating insurance

I have a rider on my house insurance for $100,000.00, it only costs a couple bucks a year but and it is well worth it.
Of coarse that doesn't get me anywhere if I screw up my boat but it is one less thing to worry about.

Although we can get a rider on our homeowner policy for our boat, it is very expensive. It's much cheaper for us to get a separate boat policy trhough Progressive.

Even though our boat really isn't worth *that* much, it's still more of a loss than I'd care to withstand if it were stolen, sunk, or crashed. And of course there's the liability issues. I just sleep better knowing it's covered.