Boat Insurance FAQ
- Q.What Does Boat Insurance Cover?
- Q.Is Boat Insurance Required?
- Q. Does boat insurance cover passengers?
Q.What Does Boat Insurance Cover?
Your boat insurance policy may include the following:
- Collision damage: Includes repair or replacement of your boat, but may or may not include clean-up of wreckage unless you purchase optional additional coverage.
- Property damage liability: Covers damage you might cause to someone else’s boat, a dock, or other property or structures.
- Bodily injury liability: Covers injury you might cause someone while using your boat; includes medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and legal expenses.
- Comprehensive: Provides compensation if your boat is vandalized, stolen, or damaged in an incident other than a collision.
- Additional coverage options: Coverage for medical payments, fishing equipment, oil spills, personal property and roadside assistance, as well as damages and injuries from accidents caused by boaters who are uninsured or underinsured.
The amount of compensation you receive for a claim depends on a few things, including your deductibles, limits and whether your boater’s insurance covers your boat’s actual cash value, replacement cost or agreed upon value.
Q.Is Boat Insurance Required?
Boaters often want to know whether they have to carry boat insurance to enjoy the water. The answer is that boat insurance can be required for a variety of reasons. For example, some states require that you have liability coverage. Marinas may require you to have boat insurance in order to dock your boat there. Additionally, if you take out a loan to buy a boat, the lender will most likely require that you purchase boaters insurance
Q.Does Boat Insurance Cover Passengers?
Boat insurance covers boat passengers as well as the owner in an accident. Passengers on the boat are covered under the liability portion of the boater’s policy. However, depending on the policy, this may or may not extend to water skiers you are pulling behind the boat.
