Choosing Boat Insurance

How to choose boat insurance?  It sounds simple, just get several estimates and then choose the cheapest.  Easy quick and simple.  Unfortunately it doesn’t really work that way.  There are a lot of factors and considerations, and cheapest isn’t always the best, especially when you need it.  Let’s consider all the factors and then decide how to choose boat insurance.

For starters, you need to know the actual value of your boat. This can be effected by age, use and even location. A boat depreciates in value over time, just like an automobile, until it suddenly becomes a antique and then value shoots up.  The use oft he boat can indicate wear and tear, but it also means it is getting maintained.  Also an experience person will have less accidents, so usage rate should decrease the insurance.  Explaining this to the insurance company can alter and effect the rates. If it doesn’t, your insurance company does not understand boats and you should consider changing.

Location is extremely important.  Location on where the boat is stored and used can both effect how much the insurance cost, how much you need, and how much choice you have. A boat in the Caribbean can be very expensive to insure if you are north of St. Lucia during the summer.  Drop south of 15  degrees North or pull it out of the water from May through November and rates high disappear, and choices go up.

How to choose boat insurance, now that you are considering all the factors?  go to the Internet and do a search of all the boat insurers for your area.  Contact them over the Internet and ask for basic rates, and a telephone number for the nearest representative to you.  Once you get this information, head to the closest marina.  At the marina ask boaters, and the marina personal, about the different insurers, you are trying to establish their reputation.  Questions to ask include how knowledgeable are they about boats and how quickly do they respond in an emergency or even for a normal claim. You might also ask about any problems people have had with them regarding fine print!

Call the two representatives with the best combination of rates and reputation, explain your situation.  Ask them to send any applicable literature in writing to you, through the mail rather than on the Internet as Internet stuff can be changed and is not legally binding in many cases.  Read the fine print and now choose the best deal, the best rather than necessarily the cheapest!

How to choose boat insurance?  Carefully, after considering all the factors!