Let’s say that one day, your boat sustains damage. You might have a wreck, or an unforeseeable occurrence might damage it. If the damage falls into a scenario covered by your boat insurance, then you might have help available paying for the damage costs. So, you often don’t have to worry about paying the total cost yourself, as long as you have the correct coverage. What protection do you need for boat damage? And, how much can you expect to receive for the costs of damage?
What Coverage Do I Have?
Different groups—state laws, financial lenders—might require you to carry certain amounts of boat insurance. However, in a lot of cases, any extra coverage you carry is largely up to you. You’ll have a choice in what coverage to buy.
It isn’t necessarily kosher to just buy as much coverage as possible and hope it sticks. Instead, you need to make sure that you have the appropriate types of insurance for your vessel. Therefore, when it comes to covering damage to your vessel, you likely need physical damage insurance. Most policies include:
- Collision Insurance: Coverage will pay for damage to your boat in the event of a collision with another object or vessel.
- Comprehensive Coverage: This policy pays for boat damage not related to collisions, such as damage from vandalism, theft, fires or severe weather.
In most situations, you must tell your insurer that you would like to include damage coverage on your policy. They likely won’t include it automatically in your initial quote, though they can likely provide it.
How Much Will Policies Pay?
Once you have physical damage protection, there is no guarantee that your policy will pay 100% of all damage costs to your vessel.
In cases of a total loss, policies will usually often offer one of three types of compensation:
- Actual cash value: Coverage will pay you the depreciated value of the boat, as it stood at the time of the accident.
- Replacement cost value: In this case, coverage will pay you enough money to replace the vessel with a new one of similar make, model and value.
Agreed value: With this coverage, you will agree on a value to receive for a replacement boat at the time you set up the policy.
In cases where there is not a total loss for the vessel, the insurer will pay for the boat’s damage, minus the cost of your collision or comprehensive deductibles. The deductible is a portion of a claim cost you agree to pay yourself. We can gladly help you select deductibles that you can afford to pay in case damage claims arise. Contact us today for more information.