Boat Insurance Shopping Tips for Newbies

Chances are, when you think about purchasing insurance, home, health, and car insurance are the kinds that immediately come to mind. But if you’re someone who happens to own a boat, it’s also important that you get boat insurance, as well. It will cover certain repair costs (including ones that are weather-related). Plus, it can cover medical expenses should there be an unfortunate boating accident.

So how can you be sure that you’ve found the kind of boating insurance policy that is truly best for you? That’s a good question. Over the course of the next few minutes, this article will provide you with all of the right answers.

Consider several different insurance companies. Whether it’s an old sailboat or an express cruiser, your boat needs to be insured. The good news is that you can often find boat insurance with popular insurance companies like Geico or Progressive. Just make sure to consider no less than 3-5 different companies before making a final selection. That way, you can see what each features and what their rates are.

Be “boat specific” when speaking to an agent. When you’re talking to an agent, it’s not enough to simply say “I need boat insurance.” Aside from sharing with them the kind of boat that you have, it’s also a good idea to talk to them about how much you get on your boat, how many people tend to go boating with you, if you use it to take long sailing tips, and also if you would like features such as hurricane haul-out assistance and fuel spill coverage. The more specific you are the better.

Understand what an “Agreed Value” policy is. When it comes to the different kinds of policies that you can choose from, basically there are two: there is agreed value and then there is actual cash value. The difference between the two is basically based on the depreciation of the boat itself. For instance, if you were to sign up for an agreed value policy, it would take care of whatever the stated value on the policy is in the event of a total loss. This means that if your boat is worth $100,000 and you got a policy for that much, that is what you would actually get back. Actual cash value policies cost less; however, with this kind of policy, you can only get back what the value of the boat was at the time of the loss.

Don’t ignore the fine print. If you were to speak with someone who works for a company like Anchor Marine Underwriters about something else that you should keep in mind when insuring a boat, there’s a pretty good chance that they would recommend that you not ignore the fine print of your policy. All insurance policies have the tendency to be complex. This is especially the case with boat insurance. So if there’s something that you don’t understand, ask your agent. Otherwise, you could discover that you don’t have all of the coverage that you thought you had – once an accident or damage to your boat happens.

Think about bundling your policy. Being that a lot of the popular insurance companies offer boat insurance, you might want to simply bundle your boat insurance with your other active policies. It’s one of the best ways to get a discount on all of your insurance coverage. For other tips on how to save money on insurance, visit Central-Insurance and put “tips for saving money on insurance” in the search field.