Are you ready for warmer temperatures and open waters?
With summer approaching, you may be ready to get your new personal watercraft (PWC) out for some fun in the sun.
But first, you need to make sure you have the right Boat Insurance, and understand all the ways your policy helps keep you protected should an accident occur, including bodily injury, property damage and theft.
Policy details
Personal watercraft (PWC) coverage (often referred to as Boat Insurance) may cover the following:
- Bodily injury to yourself, another rider, or swimmer injured in your path (this is arguably the most important coverage because the damage amount is unknown, but can be significant if someone is seriously injured… work with your Insurance Advisor to make absolutely certain you have enough liability coverage)
- Property damage to items such as docks, other PWCs or boats
- Guest passenger liability
- Medical payments
- Theft of your PWC
A typical policy will include a $250 deductible for property damage, $500 for theft and $1,000 for medical payments.
Liability can be as low as $25,000, and can increase to $300,000, $500,000, or higher to provide you and your family the financial protection you need in case your PWC is involved in an accident.
In addition, most policies include water sports liability coverage, which provides protection when you engage in sporting activities such as waterskiing, knee boarding or tubing.
Additional liability coverage
You may also want to consider purchasing a Personal Umbrella Insurance policy that extends over your Watercraft Liability policy (as an additional benefit, the Umbrella policy can also extend over your homeowners and auto insurance policy as well) to give you additional liability protection.
The Umbrella policy starts at $1 million in coverage and go up to $10 million (or higher if needed). The policy is very affordable – often less than $200 per year for $1 million in coverage.
Your Insurance Advisor can help you determine whether this additional liability protection makes sense for you, and your specific situation.
PWC safety
Although boats and personal watercrafts provide hours of enjoyment, and are fairly easy to operate, they can be dangerous to use.
Stay safe while operating your PWC by remembering these safety tips:
- Do not operate a PWC directly behind another PWC in the water. Instead, stay at least 100 yards behind another vessel in front of you, and at least 50 yards away from someone on each side. Since you can travel at high speeds on a PWC, staying at a safe distance from others will help you avoid a collision.
- Don’t jump a wake created by a passing boat. In doing so, you could potentially misjudge the boat’s speed and cause a collision. The wake may also push you into the traffic path of other boats coming from the opposite direction.
- Remain constantly alert of what’s going on around you as you ride. Avoid other PWCs, swimmers, boats, divers and fishers. Sharing the open water with others responsibly will make for a more enjoyable experience for everyone.
Buy in bulk
If you have several personal watercrafts or boats, you may qualify for a multi-boat discount. You can also purchase additional coverage for accessories and hauling trailers to keep all your bases covered.
And you can save further by combining your Boat Insurance with the same insurance company that insures your home and auto (assuming they’re willing to offer the coverage you need).
You can count on us
Thrill-seeking on the open water can be unpredictable, but your insurance coverage shouldn’t be. Make sure your PWC is properly protected by contacting one of our Licensed Advisors today.
If you need Boat Insurance immediately, simply Request a Proposal and we’ll get to work for you right away.