Boat insurance is one of those rare things that really doesn’t fit into another category at all. While motorcycle insurance can be grouped with other small ATV insurances, boat insurance exists in a world of its own. Due in part to the enormous variety of boats available today, finding out just how much boat insurance costs is, of course, better asked of an insurance agent. For the preliminaries, however, you’ve come to the right place.
Buying boat insurance requires more research than would be necessary with the purchase of auto insurance. The reason is that many auto insurers don’t insure boats. While there are several notable insurance companies which do, by and large, boat insurance is a specialty item, and there are companies dedicated solely to boat insurance.
Typically, finding out how much boat insurance is going to cost requires the factoring in of just about every angle of the boat, and its captain (you!) Low-risk owners live in safe neighborhoods, typically provide sheltered, secured storage for their boat, or use a secured marina, and regularly keep up on maintenance. Boat insurance companies will look at your credit report, previous accidents or traffic tickets (automobile tickets can factor in) as well as age when determining your personal status for insurability on a boat. When they look at the boat itself, they’ll look at the size of the boat, where you intend to store it, how much power the boat engine(s) produce, and how expensive the boat was. For instance, if you are a 16- year old with no experience looking to insure a $80,000 speedboat that you intend to store in front of yourhouse, chances are good that your boat insurance agent will soon be purchasing a boat of his or her own on what you’ll spend in premiums.
There are predominantly two different types of boat insurance currently available: boat owner policies and yacht policies. As you might expect, boat owner policies are considerably less expensive than yacht policies, but what you might not know about this type of boat insurance is that in reality, most boats fit into this category. Boat insurance for boat owners cover single motor boats under 26. These boat insurance policies are generally of a fixed amount. On the other hand, boat insurance for yachts is generally pretty expensive, but can be had with custom limits and coverage to better take into account that these larger boats may have more expensive furnishings or even be used (or lived on) more often than a typical boat might.
Just as there are no single types of boat on the waters, boat insurance comes in practically all shapes and sizes. While there is a wealth of information online regarding boat insurance, the only way to truly learn how much boat insurance will cost is to contact your insurance agent, who will either provide you a quote, or point you in the right direction.
