Insurance to race?

Progressive or Geico. Mine is through Progressive, its a whopping $125 a year for full coverage which is $7500 of coverage.

You have to be freaking kidding me, right?

For starters talk to your insurance agent. Whoever insures your home or auto could likely cover your boat too. Your existing homeowners or auto policy probably covers your boat in certain circumstances. For example, years ago I had an auto accident while towing my boat (not my fault luckily). Both my auto insurance policy and boat policy would cover the physical damage to the boat. But you need to talk to an agent to ascertain what coverage you might already have. Then go from there. In my opinion, the most important coverage for a boat is watercraft liability coverage. In todays litigious society, it is a must have. It protects your financial well being. Accidents can happen, especially on the water. Note that most if not all states require a certain amount of liability coverage for a car. If you have an older boat, then you can skimp on physical damage coverage. However, I don't think having $500,000 or more in watercraft liability coverage is unreasonable.

homeowners may cover your boat, for daily use, trailering, etc, but likely NOT racing. check the fine print, call your agent.

racing events like ones that require proof of liability insurance.... probably aren't covered w/Vanilla coverage.

two that do cover racing, like for hobie class regattas, etc are boat u.s. and the gowrie group (w/U.S. Sailing) one-design plan. http://www.gowrie.com/USS/one_design.aspx

Edited by robpatt on Apr 27, 2011 - 07:41 AM.

many boat policies exclude racing and many exclude sails, be sure your policy covers racing (if you race), even if they say they do (or don't) MAKE SURE YOU READ IT IN THE POLICY....

in other threads many serious cat sailors stated that thier agent was pretty clueless about the real facts on sailboat insurance. my policy (allstate) wouldnt accept that i have no motor... it took months to clear that up

Begrudgingly, I got my liability policy for my boat. Cost $100 for one year with $300,000/$500,000 liability coverage. I agree with Dave. My umbrella policy covers up to $1,000,000. Learned the importance of umbrella liability when I had a car accident (fender-bender) and the other party (ex-friend) hired a slimy lawyer and sued me for more than the limits of my policy (everyone was OK, just jumped at the opportunity to sue me). Had they not settled for the policy limits, ($50,000), I could have been on the hook for the rest, which until settlement looked like $15,000. After everything settled, my agent (USAA) recommended umbrella to cover anything over regular policy limits. I'm no millionaire, but I know what an emergency room visit can cost, and I can bet you that $7500 wouldn't even cover the first xray in the ER. If you have any other assets (car/home/money) I would HIGHLY suggest higher liability limits than $7500, JMO.

hyperope wrote: If you have any other assets (car/home/money) I would HIGHLY suggest higher liability limits than $7500, JMO.

I need to elaborate more I guess. The $7500 is for the replacement of my boat as that is full coverage and not liability. I also have a max of $500,000 per accident coverage on the liability side of things. My wife works for an insurance company so she handles that side of things.

Edited by av8erdunn on Apr 27, 2011 - 10:46 AM.

require liability insurance

The key word is liability. Race organizers don't really care about hull loss, they want to be sure that if someone is injured, or worse the at fault party has means to pay.
This might not be as slimy as it seems.
Lets say you,(the skipper) makes an error during the race, you misinterpreted one of the rules during the heat of battle, (not all instances are cut & dried as to who has right of way) & during the collision your crew is injured & requires some expensive rehab before he can regain his real paying job.
He may be your best buddy, but he doesn't have 30-40K to cover time off work & physio. The only recourse may be to sue you, & get your liability coverage to pay.
This is not an impossible scenario. A good friend in high school rolled his GTO back in the 70's. His girlfriend was seriously injured, & is in a wheelchair to this day. As school kids we were shocked that the girls family sued the boyfriend. A teacher explained the facts of life, the girl needed nearly 1/2 million in rehabilitation, & there was only one place that amount of money was going to come from.
The only thing good that can be said is they are still together...30 years later.

I didn't get any comprehensive as my 30-year-old boat probably isn't worth $500 to the insurance company. Funny thing is- my boat's liability insurance is more expensive than my motorcycle's. Go figure?

Funny thing is- my boat's liability insurance is more expensive than my motorcycle's. Go figure?

I would guess this is because boats cost a LOT more than cars (typically) and even though our cats are not powered and perhaps less able to inflict massive damage, boat accidents are much more expensive to repair than auto accidents.

Liability insurance protects you against the cost of damage and injury that you cause to others. It does not cover damage to your own boat (or car or motorcycle). The cost of your boat does not really figure into what you will pay for liability coverage on that boat. Rather it is how much damage you can do to others while you pursue your fun. Liability insurance is made up of two types of coverage, bodily injury and property damage. The greatest risk is bodily injury as Edchris so well points out. That is likely where a lot of your premium is going. I am not really surprised by hyperope's experience as it seems to me that a boat could potentially cause far more bodily injury to more persons than a motorcycle.

There is no company that offers the best deal for every person. You have to get quotes from different companies online and see which companies can provide you with the best price: http://www.quotes-center.com/auto-insurance-calculator

Edited by brian964 on Apr 29, 2011 - 07:49 AM.