Motor Boat Insurance

Motorboat insurance is a specific sort of boat insurance intended for owners of motorboats. It safeguards against destruction, burglary, fire, and additional hazards.

Coverage for motorboat insurance usually includes physical damage, property damage, fuel spill liability, towing, personal effects, medical payments, ski coverage, watercraft liability, and uninsured boaters.

Motorboats are the most popular among boat owners. But they also have the highest accident rates. Over time, motorboats have become more complicated, and therefore more costly. Reductions for motorboat insurance may be available if a person has a new boat or is an experienced operator.

Policies for motorboat insurance may have a number of necessities and limitations in regard to hull value, lay-ups, where and when a motorboat can be operated, and the age of a motorboat.

Boating protection should be taken seriously. The greater precaution one takes while operating a boat, the less prone an individual will be to a mishap.

Motorboats offer their owners fun and excitement. But before one begins to embark on water adventures, one should make certain to have proper motorboat insurance.

By and large, motorboat insurance covers objects such as anchors, batteries, bilge pumps, boat covers, deck chairs, depth finders, PFD's, lights, emergency devices such as EPIRBs, fire extinguishers, fuel tanks, boat furniture, generators, horns, life preservers, masts, mooring equipment, motors, engines, oars, refrigerators, seats, solar panels, stoves, ovens, tarps and trailers.

However, some of the following items are generally not covered, which include cameras or video equipment, clothing, jewelry, watches, as well as other personal items like cellular phones.

Sail Boat Insurance Basics

When it comes to insuring things those we own against loss or damage we tend to want the very best. After all, we worked hard to get what we have and we all want to make sure that we keep it and if loss or damage does occur then we want a way to replace it. Sailboats are no exception to this rule. As one of the more expensive toys we can own, Sailboats need to be insured just like we would our cars and our homes.

The major difference between boat insurance and car insurance is the amount of coverage a policy provides. This variation is simplistic in nature but can be very difficult if one does not know the very basis of the issue. The basis of sailboat insurance is the different things that can be covered by the different policies and individual companies. Of course all of this varies by the type of boat and the company and location of the boat but that is for another time.

The first thing to remember is the coverage that applies to your sailboat should always apply to the persons on the boat as well. This is called medical coverage and it works to protect you and anyone on the boat in case of an accident or sinking. The insurance company so that yourself and people with you will have their medical expenses pays this for if an accident occurs. The amount of medical coverage does have a maximum and once that amount is met then the insurance company is no longer liable for further expenses incurred. Most often the amount of coverage is more than enough to cover the medical bills, but there are some extreme cases where it far exceeds the insurance company payments.

Next you should look to cover the equipment on the sailboat itself. Car insurance does not have this feature but under sail boat insurance you can choose equipment that will be covered in case of loss or damage. For a sailboat this is most often the sails, anchors, riggings and on board electronics used for navigation. The reasoning behind this type of coverage is the fact that all of these things are necessary for the boat to be properly operated. So, in order to keep your boat in working order than you will need to make sure that those items are covered against loss. Theft from boats is a crime that grows every year so be sure to protect yourself from thieves.

Finally you should consider the liability to the people around you when choosing an insurance policy for your sailboat. If an accident occurs and it is determined to be your fault then you are liable for damages to the other person’s craft and their medical expenses if any. Liability insurance offers coverage for those situations to keep you from having huge expenses.

What Kind Of Boat Insurance Coverage Do I Need

Deciding what kind of boat insurance coverage you need depends on many variables. To start off, the type of insurance you need depends on what kind of boat you have. Being familiar with boats you would need to look at the different variations between the various types of boats that are in the world.

For instance, a speedboat capable of high speeds requires a much different type of insurance than a small fishing vessel would because of the potential liability for the insurance company that comes with a speedboat compared to a fishing boat.

Another consideration is the value of the boat. Insurance rates covering a highly expensive craft are going to be higher because the amount that could be lost is much higher. If instead you are watering a small, low cost boat and you want coverage against damage to other boats that you may come in contact with, then the rates would be much lower,

There are many similarities between boat and car insurance. Risk assessment for an insurance company is based on many factors with car insurance just the same with boat insurance. Before an insurance company will offer any kind of coverage for a water craft they will make sure to determine all the possible ways that the coverage could cost them money. To do this they will take the age of the boat, the record of the owner and primary driver, the value of the boat and the area where the boat will he housed for at least six months out of a year.

Just like automobile insurance, there are two distinct types of boat insurance. Full coverage insurance is just like it sounds, it covers pretty much everything including loss due to theft, fire, accident, and many other types as well. There are several clauses involved in full coverage insurance that work to limit the liability that the insurance company will need to cover that these are par for the course with an insurance company. Full coverage insurance is normally mandatory when you finance a boat or a car for that matter. This is in place to protect the bank against loss should anything happen to the boat before it is paid for. Full coverage insurance is the most expensive of all insurance plans as the risk to the insurance company is the greatest with this type of policy.

When financial loss will not be great and a budget is stretched a little thin then you may want to consider liability only insurance. Under a liability only policy, the insurance company is responsible to pay for only damage to other persons or property and the owner of the boat receives nothing. This is the basic insurance required by law for cars and in some areas it is required for boats as well depending on the size and usage of the craft. This type of insurance does not protect against loss of any type and will pay only a specified amount for injured persons in the case of an accident.

Why Boat Insurance Doesn't Help A Lousy Sailor

For thousands of years men have sailed the seas. From the earliest trips by the discoverers and settlers of the Americas, Australia and the Pacific Islands, through Odysseus' voyage to Troy and beyond to the time of Swashbucklers in the Caribbean mankind has made exciting voyages to the far corners of the world.

In those early days hard cold steel and brass protected the men and their ships. Today we have boat insurance, GPS systems, sonar and underwater charts.

While boat insurance is not as glamorous as a fancy cutlass nor as exciting as a cannon it does offer the boat owner something that all the cutlasses and cannons cannot. It can replace your ship if you lose it. In the wild and wooly days of wooden ships and iron men you usually needed one ship to steal another.

Why not just sail away or blast somebody to flinders if they are trying to steal your boat?

I must make a confession; I make a terrible sailor. I am one of those people that Dramamine was invented for. I get seasick watching a pirate movie or riding a Washington State Ferry, that is hardly a rough ride at sea.

It is usually as steady as a stroll in the park. When my family goes for a good time on the water I am waving merrily from the shore. Why an I happy? I know that my family will be safe; they use life vests, weather radio and GPS and have boat insurance.

I on the other hand will not be 'feeding the fishes' and watching the roll of the horizon waiting for the next 'heave ho'.

As a young man I was fascinated by everything related to the sea. Vikings and their ocean riding serpents, pirates and their magnificent galleons, the US Navy and their valiant ships of steel were all fodder for my young imagination.

I loved to dream about the time of cannons and cold steel when men were men and lived by the code of the sea. Now we have the GPS, sonar and boat insurance. Still I make a lousy sailor.