Insurance...?

[BigNuge]

Hey folks. I’ve been thinking about insurance lately. It’s been about 6 years since I had my last decent size boat. My last boat that I bothered to insure was a 19’ Stingray glasser with a built 350. That said, I can only imagine an 18’ aluminum fishing boat w/88 HP outboard would be cheap to insure.

Anyone willing to let me know what they’re paying for a similar boat?

Thanks...!

 

[Scott06]

I've paid anywhere from $160-425 per year depending on which of the two boats I've owned and which declared value

 

[dwco5051]

On line quotes take only a couple of minutes. My 25 year old bass boat I think only has the boat worth about 2500 when insured and cost me $100 bucks a year. That is about the minimum of the two or three companies I ran it through. Location and value of boat will vary. I found that if the boat is over 25 hp adding a rider on my homeowners would have cost me more than that.

 

[harringtondav]

"Bundling" works for me. If you are a homeowner, carrying auto, boat, motorcycle, second home, etc., under the same carrier is a real cost saver. I've got Allied/Nationwide. But that doesn't matter. They all give discounts for multiple coverage.

 

[alldodge]

I only carry liability on all my boats as a rider on my home owners policy $111 yr for cruiser, runabout and watercraft

 

[JimS123]

It all depends on the state you live in. My homeowners will insure any boat less that 25 hp and you don't even need a special rider. It won't even offer a rider for anything larger.

BoatUS has always been the best deal. $250 a year for $50,000 agreed value plus $300,000 liability. A little tinny with a 60 is about $100 a year. (now if you live in kalifornia or some other high cost state no telling what you'd pay)

Just go online and type in some data. Takes 2 minutes and no obligation.

 

[wahlejim]

My 19' Sea Ray with 228 horsepower and $5000 declared value is around $190/yr when attached to my homeowners insurance. I also have the pontoon and 2 PWCs attached as well, everything comes in under $600. For me, it is a matter of personal responsibility. If myself or anyone operating any of my watercraft injures someone or causes damage, I want it to be covered. I am the one operating the sea ray or pontoon 95% of the time, and have several family members who operate the PWCs. The piece of mind knowing I am covered is worth $600 annually to me.

One side note, talking to my insurance agent, we had a discussion on whether or not to save money by bundling or to get a separate policy. The reasoning behind a second policy is that if you do have a claim for a boat related issue, the entire package goes up. If it was separate, you would mitigate the increase. Pricing everything out separately, it wasn't worth it for me (almost $400 per year to separate). It may be worth looking into if you are only insuring 1 craft.

 

[racerone]

With insurance companies you have to READ and understand the fine print.----Your boat may be covered under a house policy.-----Read and see if it is covered while actually using the boat.

 

[robert graham]

My agent just tacks my boat onto my homeowners policy for an agreed value of boat/ motor/trailer.....

 

[JoLin]

Boat insurance cost depends on where you live and boat. Had a 16'er I kept in FL for a couple years. It cost me as much to insure as my 26'er on Long Island. Why? Florida is the boat theft capital of the U.S.

My .02

 

[jkust]

Boat insurance in my state of MN is cheap due to the 3 month season. Maybe a few hundred for my waverunner and boat plus both of the applicable trailers and that includes a hefty rate bump due to a total loss of my last boat from a storm. If you have assets to protect or alternatively if you don't but don't want a judgment to follow you around, insurance is mandatory for at a minimum the liability protection. The umbrella cover is where it gets tricky and expensive. For example, the fact I own a PWC was an exclusion for every insurance company I could find that would quote including the company that insures the underlying cover for the PWC. That meant they refused to provide an umbrella to me at all and would not even exclude the PWC but cover everything else, not that I would really agree to that anyway.

 

[dingbat]

As with auto insurance, liability coverage is what really matters.

The cost to replace or repair your boat is nothing compared to the cost associated with a liability claim for an accident, let alone a wrongful death or injury. In the scheme of things, $300,000 of total liability coverage doesn't go far.

 

[JimS123]

Boat insurance in my state of MN is cheap due to the 3 month season. Maybe a few hundred for my waverunner and boat plus both of the applicable trailers and that includes a hefty rate bump due to a total loss of my last boat from a storm. If you have assets to protect or alternatively if you don't but don't want a judgment to follow you around, insurance is mandatory for at a minimum the liability protection. The umbrella cover is where it gets tricky and expensive. For example, the fact I own a PWC was an exclusion for every insurance company I could find that would quote including the company that insures the underlying cover for the PWC. That meant they refused to provide an umbrella to me at all and would not even exclude the PWC but cover everything else, not that I would really agree to that anyway.

My Umbrella is with RLI. They DO cover my jetski as well as my other watercrafts. The caveat is that each unit has to have its own separate policy and the liability limit must be real high on the other policies.

 

[jkust]

Interesting, RLI. I hit a brick wall after a certain point. I have two agents and some direct insurance as well handle all of my policies but amazingly my company started offering a group excess insurance policy which I quickly signed up for. Similar to an umbrella as you describe but at a group rate. Other than the group policy, Lloyds was the only other product I could find and that price was crazy high.