Boat insurance, with the storm plan attached
In this market the two clauses that decide a boat claim are the navigational limits and the named storm provision. Both are usually skimmed, and both are where claims get denied.
What this touches
- Hull, at agreed value or actual cash value
- Machinery, and whether wear and tear is treated as an exclusion or an endorsement
- Protection and indemnity, the liability that a marina lease demands
- Fuel spill liability, wreck removal and salvage, which are far larger numbers than owners expect
- Uninsured boater, and personal effects
Named storm plans
Most South Florida hull policies contain a named storm haul-out or preparation requirement, sometimes with a reimbursement allowance. If the plan says the boat comes out of the water and it did not, the claim is in trouble. We read that clause with you when the policy is issued, not when the cone appears.
What moves the premium
- Hull value, age, and the engine configuration.
- Navigational limits: Florida coastal, the Bahamas, further.
- Where it is kept, and whether the marina has its own requirements.
- Your boating experience and completed safety courses, which some carriers credit.
Agreed value, when you can get it
An agreed value policy pays the number written on the declarations page without depreciation. Actual cash value depreciates the hull and the electronics. On an older boat you may not have the choice, but on most vessels you do, and it is worth knowing which one you bought.
If you are in one of these
Questions people actually ask
Does my policy cover the Bahamas?
Only if the navigational limits say so. Crossing outside them is not a grey area.
Work it out before anybody sells you anything
Four calculators that run in your browser, a page for every situation Florida puts people in, and the claims data for your own county. All of it free, and none of it behind a form. The form is for the other half of the job: when you have read enough and want a person on the phone.
Leave a name and a number and a licensed Florida agent gets in touch. No obligation, and no call from six companies you have never heard of.
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