Insurance During Winter Months

[rockinthesuburbs]

I know it’s a bit early- but I’m looking at switching my auto insurance when it expires in October and I’m bundled with my boat as well. Not having carried boat insurance before- is it required to carry insurance through the winter months when the boat is not in use? Is it a good idea to keep it regardless? Are there other options I can consider? Just wondering what others do with theirs through the winter. Cheers!

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Do you own the boat or are you making payments?

 

[rockinthesuburbs]

Do you own the boat or are you making payments?

Good point- financed 50%. Keep the insurance it is! Thanks!

 

[fireflymedic]

I would certainly keep it insured year round. You could have a Fire, tree fall on it, tornado, flooding, theft and that's just off the top of my head. Plus I bet it wouldn't even save you that much they know it won't be used year round if you have hard winters. I live in Florida and on my boat they didn't ask but on a motorcycle they did ask if used year long or just summer. So I'm sure that's something factored in on pricing. Also when getting new insurance quotes they ask if it's insured now. So something tells me that is a price factor too.

 

[seanmclean]

Same coverage as during the year. Probably higher odds of something terrible happening over the winter (its already had a tree fall on it once). You should be able to get a discount for it being laid up for a period of time (November to April for me).

 

[adrianp89]

Insurance is probably around $600. Keeping it uninsured for 1/4 of the year would save you $150. It's not as simple as that, but it's as simple as $150 is not worth it.

 

[tkeru408]

I use Amica, which offers an option of noting which months the boat is not being used so they can offer a little lower rate in those months (decreasing the overall annual premium). The boat is still covered if something happens to it while sitting still (e.g., a tree falls on it) as long as you're not actually using it (e.g., it wouldn't be covered if something happens to it while you're towing it or while on the water because you said you wouldn't be using it during those months). This works well for anyone who is definitely putting their boat away for the winter, but obviously would not work for anyone that still wants to get out on the occasional warm winter day.

You could see if that is an option through whomever your new insurance company will be.

 

[HangOutdoors]

I pay $483 for the full year, and it is for replacement value, which is higher than what MSRP was when I bought it. I would never not own a boat without coverage on it. Would hate to lose the boat and the time and funds I put into it for such a trivial amount.

 

[rockinthesuburbs]

My thought process is I'll be keeping it in the garage... Then this story appears in the news : Eagle Mountain home a total loss after garage explosion

One more reason to keep insurance on it!

Thanks for all the replies on this - just a quick thought in my head and a lot of comments to keep my sanity here! Cheers