Category: Boat/Watercraft Insurance

Going out on the boat can be a fun outdoor activity in Waxhaw, NC. In addition to having fun, it is essential to pay attention and keep yourself and everyone on the boat with you safe. Before you go out and launch your boat, check out these safety tips. Also, give us a call at Hausmann Insurance & Financial Services’ Charlotte to discuss how to protect your boat with an insurance policy. 

Keep Navigation Lights On

When traveling on the water at night, you should keep your navigation lights on. Having your lights on from sunset to sunrise ensures other boats can see you. In addition, keeping the lights on lessens your chance of having an accident with another vessel. 

Do Not Overload the Boat

Check the vessel’s capacity and carry the number of allowed passengers and weight the boat can handle. Overloading the boat can make it slow in the water and could cause it to tilt more to one side or another and possibly capsize it.

Have Life Jackets Available

There should be enough life jackets on board for each passenger to have one. Additionally, young children and those who are not strong swimmers should wear their life jackets at all times while out on the water. 

Check the Emergency Kit

An emergency kit, complete with navigation charts, flares, a first aid kit, and fire extinguishers, should be kept on the boat at all times. Regularly check the emergency kit to ensure everything is there, and nothing has expired. 

Tell Someone Your Boating Plan

Tell someone who is not going out on the boat with you where you plan to be and what time you will return. Then if you do not return, there is someone who can alert the authorities and tell them where to start looking for your boat. 

Before you go out on the water in Waxhaw, NC, call our office at Hausmann Insurance & Financial Services’ Charlotte for details on how to protect your boat. 

While you enjoy the lakes and coast of North Carolina, Hausmann Insurance & Financial Services, serving the Charlotte metro area, wants you to understand why you need boat insurance. Your boat in Waxhaw, NC could sustain damage while on the water, in the marina, on the road to the water, or to dry-dock. Your boat insurance policy protects it in all of those situations.

The same boat policy that provides you with property damage protection also provides you with liability coverage. Liability insurance pays if you cause an accident that hurts another person or their property. If you hurt an individual while operating your boat or an individual hurts himself while operating the boat, your liability insurance pays their medical bills. It also covers any court settlement that arises from the injury.

A boat policy contains a few types of insurance. It contains a liability policy, collision, comprehensive, and property damage coverages.
You probably think that makes it sound like an auto policy, and it does. It provides the same types of protection. The collision component covers accidents with collisions on the water or road, though.

Most states do not require boat insurance, but you need it all the same. The only protection your home insurance provides is the liability, which typically equals ten to twenty percent of the home value. That can quickly erode when an accident occurs since the average hospital stay costs $15,000. The home policy also provides little property damage coverage for the boat. Could you financially withstand having to purchase a replacement boat? If the answer is no, you need boat insurance.

Contact Hausmann Insurance & Financial Services to learn more about boat coverage and other watercraft insurance. Although we’re located in Waxhaw, NC, we serve the Charlotte metro area.