Is boat insurance based on one's driving record?

[benburch]

Somebody told me this today, and it didn't seem correct to me.

[Nickster]

1. Well car insurance is based on your credit record, so I guess anything is

possible these days.

[benburch]

2. It is???

How does that relate to safe driving???

[htuttle]

3. The magic of actuarial tables

No doubt, they've determined that, statistically speaking, people with good credit get in less accidents. :shrug:

[bjb]

5. boat insurance

Boat insurance is underwritten the same as car insurance. If someone has speeding tickets or a DWI they would pay more for the insurance because that person would probably speed driving the boat also. I don't think it is fair to use credit scoring when it comes to insurance.

[newyawker99]

13. Hi bjb!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Nickster]

7. Here's a link about it. I think it's a bullcrap practice.

http://www.iii.org/media/hottopics/insurance/creditscoring/

"An insurance score is a numerical ranking based on a person’s credit history. Actuarial studies show that how a person manages his or her financial affairs, which is what an insurance score indicates, is a good predictor of insurance claims. Insurance scores are used to help insurers differentiate between lower and higher insurance risks and thus charge a premium equal to the risk they are assuming. Statistically, people who have a poor insurance score are more likely to file a claim."

[bjb]

10. credit scoring

It is baloney. Do you think the tornado that hits your house and car knows if you have a good credit score or not? It is just another way to scam the public. Some states have had the good sense to ban the practice. More fleecing of America and I work for one of the major insures.

[pitohui]

24. it makes sense to me

anal careful people are anal careful people who pay their bills on time and don't drink and drive and don't go out speeding in their boats

your personality is pretty much with you all day long and on the boat too

it only makes sense that a careful person would be a better insurance risk

[TreasonousBastard]

27. Partly right, but...

two large problems are the probability that someone's who's broke or shaky on bill payments might not make proper maintenance a priority or just might call in Howie the Torch when the payments get a bit much-- the "moral hazard" thing.

Once, we got a guy in Long Island Sound who left the axe in the bilges when he was chopping holes to scuttle his boat. Too bad for him the boat didn't sink fast enough.

[Nickster]

31. Problem with that, what happens when a woman gets divorced and didn't have

her own credit history? She starts out with no history, then gets slammed on insurance because of it. So maybe she has to forgo insurance because of the cost. Is she any more of a risk? I don't think so. I can think of a ton of other reasons. Especially as reliable as we all know the credit scoring agencies are and how quick they are to remove bad information. Credit scoring is just way to arbitary and it takes advantage of lower income folks who have bad credit scores simply because they don't have access to credit in order to build up a score. If you have no credit cards, you can have a bad score simply because they have nothing to evaluate you on. So is someone without credit cards a less reliable person? Shouldn't they be a better risk because they pay all their bills and don't need credit?

[Tesha]

9. DUIs tend to BUI as well. Speeders speedboat. Etc. (NT)

[One_Life_To_Give]

4. At least initially

When applying for Boat-US insurance, one factor is your driving record. Although I don't think it is rated as important as the applicants experience with the size and type of vessel being insured.

At least I never heard of them requiring a Captain to command the vessel based on driving record. But it has been done based on inexperience.

[Cleita]

6. Insurance companies can do whatever they please for the

most part these days with all the deregulation of industries started in the Reagan administration.

[Nickster]

8. It seems kinda foggy based on this.

http://www.iii.org/individuals/other/insurance/boat/

Most companies provide limited coverage for property damage for small boats such as canoes and small sail boats or small power boats with less than 25 mile per hour horse power under a homeowners or renters insurance policy. Coverage is usually about $1,000 or 10 percent of the home's property value and generally includes the boat, motor and trailer combined. Liability coverage is typically not included–but it can be added as an endorsement to a homeowners policy. Check with your insurance representative to find out if your boat is covered and what the limits are.

Larger and faster boats, yachts, and personal watercraft such as jet skis and wave runners require a separate boat insurance policy. The size, type and value of the craft and the water in which you use it factor into how much you will pay for insurance coverage.

For physical loss or damage, coverage includes the hull, machinery, fittings, furnishings and permanently attached equipment for an agreed value. These policies also provide broader liability protection than a homeowners policy.

Boat insurance also covers:

Bodily injury—for injuries caused to another person

Property damage—for damage caused to someone else’s property

Guest passenger liability—for any legal expenses incurred by someone using the boat with the owner’s permission

Medical payments—for injuries to the boat owner and other passengers

Theft
Most companies offer liability limits starting at $15,000 and can be increased to $300,000. Typical policies include deductibles of $250 for property damage, $500 for theft and $1000 for medical payments. Higher limits may be available. Additional coverage can be purchased for trailers and other accessories. Boat owners may also consider purchasing an umbrella liability policy which will provide additional protection for their boat, home and car.

Boaters should also inquire about special equipment kept on the boat, such as fishing gear, to make sure it is covered and verify that towing coverage is included in the policy.

[Freedom_Aflaim]

11. Depends on the insurer, but often it is

I got serious about buying a boat about 10 years ago, it didnt happen but I did go far enough to get insurance quotes.

At that time I had a horrid driving record and I was told by many insurers that I had to have high risk boat insurance. There was a few that didnt look at my driving record.

Nowayadays, they proably look at your credit to.

[TreasonousBastard]

12. Sometimes-- after 15 years of insuring boats...

as a large part of what I managed as an underwriter, I can safely say that there is no way to properly underwrite individual boat owners. So, many underwriters look at driving records to get some handle on the personal responsibility of the applicant-- it's part of what's called "moral hazard." Unlike auto and other lines of insurance, there is no decent record of boating accidents to refer to, so we're flying blind on the applicant's past history.

Not that that actually had much bearing on the losses we saw, so I rarely used it myself. What I found was that if I had a big yacht loss everyone, including myself, was scrambling to find an excuse for insuring that boat. All the way up the management line we were covering our asses, and showing that the guy had a good driving record was one piece of the cover. If they found something wrong with the guy, anything, it was reason enough to blame everyone downstream for fucking up. So, a good driving record in the file could be ass armor.

My end of the business was yachts over 36' in length, and I went more by underwriting rules for the commercial vessels I was primarily involved with. Smaller ones were were written by the personal lines dept., where they were more used to digging around through credit reports and driving records as a matter of course.

Small bit of trivia-- we found out at one point that, as a class, airline pilots had among the worst experience for both driving and boating losses. We had lots of theories, but never really knew why.

[benburch]

17. Interesting.

My neighbor has a large boat on Lake Michigan, and we were talking about insurance for it. He (and the boat) moved from Florida a few years ago, and he said that when he got here they checked his driving record, and they never had in Florida. So that explains the variability in how it is done.

Thanks!

[TreasonousBastard]

26. I should add that...

most of the time I was pretty lucky to be able to be very flexible with the rules, and often enough I was the guy who made the rules.

But, some companies had very strict underwriting rules, and when asked why they do some things, the answer was usually along the lines of "We've always done that."

[Freedom_Aflaim]

21. Pilots as bad drivers...the really interesting and

really fascinating..

About 15 years ago I got very interested in flying and became a private pilot. Every extra nickle I had went into planes and gas money.

Anyway that was also the same time that I had a terrible spat of accidents, about 5 accidents and 7 tickets inside of a year. I wasnt wreck-less..I was never hotdoging or playing around, in fact I was extremely careful and despite by absolute best efforts, accidents continued to happen. Thinking back, my string of accidents paralleled my short flying career.

In the 15 years since I've stopped flying, I've had one accident and that was some other guys fault who turned directly in front of me.

I never had equated the two until I read your post.

strange.

[benburch]

28. Jet transport pilots are also the most dangerous small plane pilots!

They seem to not comprehend the limitations of a small plane any more, and get themselves killed.

[TreasonousBastard]

29. LIke I say, we never figured it out, but...

my personal pet theory was that pilots somehow subconsciously let loose and reduce the apparent dangers when in something other than a plane.

A car or boat just doesn't seem dangerous compared to what happens if a plane gets in trouble.

[mtnsnake]

14. The new impending law requiring seatbelts in boats really sucks

but I guess it'll lower your boat insurance by 3%.

[LifeDuringWartime]

15. that seems like a very bad idea

what if the boat capsizes and you cant unbuckle??

[mtnsnake]

16. Yeah starting in July I heard you gotta wear 'em even in rowboats & canoes

what if the boat capsizes and you cant unbuckle??

Chances are you'll have time to unbuckle just before she rolls over. Make sure you carry a sharp knife just in case.

[benburch]

18. You are kidding, right? nt

[mtnsnake]

19. When the seatbelt law for motorcycles goes into effect in June of '07,

You are kidding, right?

That would be a yes.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. :evilgrin:

[benburch]

20. Thought so!

Stranger laws have been passed though...

[mtnsnake]

22. The worst one is the dreaded seatbelt law for bicycles, due out in October

once Congress reconvenes after its 3 month summer vacation to vote it into law. All I gotta say is our bicycle insurance better go down after that.

:hi:

[pitohui]

23. do you have a DUI?

they're starting to crack down on drunk boating more altho it still doesn't carry the same consequences, a local DA's kid around here killed another kid drunk boating and walked just a few years ago

i would expect a DUI to affect your insurance for even your boat

[benburch]

25. Nope!

Not even a speeding ticket.

:-)

[pitohui]

30. i think it'll be all right then

i really think it's the drinking and the speeding that worries them, a cautious driver is likely a cautious boater

anchors away or whatever they say! :-)

[benburch]

32. Oh! My question was theoretical.

I have no boating aspirations other than renting a canoe and paddling about on the Fox.