How to protect yourself and your family when you own a boat.

What our Research Center will cover:

• Secrets about what is exaclty covered in a standard Homeowner's Policy in reagrds to  your boat
• We clear up up the common confusion about the different kinds of watercraft insurance!
• How to save money on boat insurance...
• Depending on the purpose of your boat you may need a special kind of insurance.
• What are you really getting out of your policy?

They are called pleasure boats or pleasure crafts, but we all know sometimes owning and maintaing a boats is a pain. They are expensive to buy, maintain, and fuel. What about the potential dangers associated with boats and all watercrafts?

After your home(s) and maybe your car(s), it can possibly be your most valued asset. You can choose to own and operate a boat, yacht or personal watercraft without insurance. However, that's not a very smart choice. One reason being many marinas and yacht clubs will not allow you to dock your watercraft without the proper coverage.

What's Covered under a Homeowners Policy?

If you have a homeowner's insurance policy you may have some coverage for your watercraft but it is very, very minimal. A typical homeowners policy may pay up to $1,000 or $1,500 to repair damage to your boat. However, that damage has to occur while the boat is at your home to be covered! This is not exactly the kind of coverage you need on a watercraft with emphasis on the water. There may be some liability coverage under your homeowners policy, but it depends entirely on the size of your engine and normally only outboard engines of 25 hp or less will fall into this category to be covered.

You could gamble and not buy insurance for your watercraft, but that's a big gamble that we strongly advise all watercraft owners against. You're not only risking losing and/or severely damaging the boat in an accident, but there are many other factors at risk here. When your boat causes damage and/or injuries to other boats and/or boaters you risk losing other assets such as your home, automobiles, and more.

Lots of Options...How to Choose

Before deciding on the type of coverage for your boat, you need to know that there are three types of "boats" according to insurance companies.

• Personal Watercrafts - Anything less than 16 feet long including Jet Skis and Waverunners.
• Boats - Watercrafts between 16 feet to 25 feet, 11 inches.
• Yachts - Anything at least 26 feet long.

You will find that all insurers have varying conditions and regulations for these three types of watercrafts. When it comes to boat and watercraft insurance, smaller is not always the better choice. As an example, personal watercrafts, those classified less than 16 feet long, tend to be much more accident-prone than other types of boats and yachts.

There is a chance that an insurer will not provide coverage for a personal watercraft. They may also limit or only provide coverage if it is part of a larger policy. Your policy should, based on our recommendation, include coverage for injuries to you and your passengers, the watercraft, liability for damage and injuries to other watercrafts or people, and theft. At Hauswirth & Sons Insurance Consultants, we can help you save time by quoting several carriers to see which will offer you the best coverage at the lowest premium.

* Note. If you use your watercraft for water-skiing, make sure you get coverage for this exposure as well. Depending on the insurance company, it may not be automatically covered so you will need to ask. We can instanly answer this question for you and discuss exaclty what your policy covers. In addition, you can get coverage for the trailers you use to transport the watercraft.

Insurance for Powerboats, Sailboats

Boats are usually categorized as smaller powerboats and sailboats by insurance carriers. The standard policy for boat insurance will cover damage to the boat. The policy will also include damage caused by fire, lightning, theft, vandalism, collisions, and windstorms.

In addition to the boat, coverage is usually available for the outboard motor(s), the boat's trailer and personal property on the craft that is part of the normal operation of the vessel. Depending on the insurer, coverage for fishing equipment may not be inculded and you will need separate coverage. It depends on the purpose of the boat and other factors that an agent at Hauswirth & Sons Insurance Consultants can identify for you prior to your big fishing trip. 

Depending on the insurance company as well as the age of your boat, you may find a variety of settlement options in the event that your boat experiences a total loss.  The best coverage available that is usually only available on recently manufactured boats, is replacement cost. With this type of coverage , the company will buy you a brand new boat similiar to yours previous boat.  When the replacement cost is not an option, the next best policy is agreed value. Agreed value is an instance in which you you and the insurance company agree in advance what the settlement value will be in the case there is a total loss. The actual cash value or "ACV" is what the insurance company will pay for the fair market value of the boat at the time of the loss, depending on a specified rating base.

The standard boat policy also provides liability coverage that is offered in increments of $100,000 to a maximum amount of $1 million. If your familiar with auto insurance, it is similar to liability in terms of what is available.

Many policies for boat insurance will also cover medical expenses incurred by you, your family and any other passengers onboard your boat. There are some policies that provide additional coverage for injuries caused by uninsured boaters or by boaters who don't have enough insurance. Since boat insurance is not required, we recommend talking with an agent about this additional coverage that could save you money in the instance that this happens to you.  This aspect of coverage is similiar to an uninsured motorist coverage for an auto insurance policy serving the same purpose to cover you in the event the other person does not have coverage.

Insurance for Yachts

If your watercraft is 26 feet or longer, you may need to buy yacht insurance, which provides basically the same coverage as boat insurance, but the policy terms (or vocabulary) are different. Under a boat policy, coverage for damage to the craft is called "physical damage."

Under a yacht policy, the boat is referred to as "hull." Liability coverage under a yacht policy carries the name "property and indemnity," which insurance people often abbreviate to P&I. As with boat liability coverage, P&I is available in increments of $100,000. Depending on the size of your craft, you can buy P&I limits from $300,000 to as much as $50 million.

* Note. Like boat insurance, you should seek a yacht policy that offers coverage for medical payments (for you and your passengers) and uninsured boaters.

The cost of your boat or yacht policy is based on a variety of factors: horsepower; how fast it moves (it can cost as much as 50% more to insure a speedboat than it does a sailboat of similar size); where it is to be used; age of the craft and experience of the vessel's operator.

* Tip. Insurers often offer discounts of 5% to 20% to those boat/yacht owners who have taken an approved boating safety course. (In some states, such courses are required to operate a boat or yacht.) Discounts are available, from some insurers, for newer vessels and protective devices (depth finders, ship-to-shore radios, burglar alarms). You can also save money on the policy by electing a higher deductible.

Like boating itself, watercraft insurance is not cheap. As such, it truly pays to shop around. There are a lot of different policies and coverage options available. Some policies might be significantly cheaper than others, but they don't offer the coverages you need.

* Tip. This is a complex area of insurance with lots of options. Talk to our office. Let us help you to assess the many options out there and find the coverage that best suits your needs and best protects your assets.