A good friend keeps two nice kayaks on his boat. They cost around $2500 each. Last year one of the kayaks was stolen and when he filed his claim with his insurance company they denied the claim because he had not insured the kayaks separately. He had assumed they would be covered under his "personal property" coverage. Nope.
Intrigued, I checked with my Underwriter and was informed that we can include the value of a dinghy with the hull value of the boat/yacht, but that kayaks are not considered an integral part of the boat and each kayak should have its own boat policy. I'm writing my friend's insurance right now and in fact each kayak has its own HIN and I wrote a policy for each one.
Theoretically your homeowners insurance might cover the theft of a kayak, but many homeowners insurance policies have deductibles of $1,000 or more. The kayak policies can have very low deductibles (I used $100) and are very inexpensive. Additionally, many companies will raise your premiums or even cancel your homeowners insurance based on claims frequency so it is not a good idea to file small claims on most homeowners insurance policies.
This is a good question to ask your insurance agent if you keep kayaks or jetskis on your boat. Better to know in advance than to get a nasty surprise in the future.
Intrigued, I checked with my Underwriter and was informed that we can include the value of a dinghy with the hull value of the boat/yacht, but that kayaks are not considered an integral part of the boat and each kayak should have its own boat policy. I'm writing my friend's insurance right now and in fact each kayak has its own HIN and I wrote a policy for each one.
Theoretically your homeowners insurance might cover the theft of a kayak, but many homeowners insurance policies have deductibles of $1,000 or more. The kayak policies can have very low deductibles (I used $100) and are very inexpensive. Additionally, many companies will raise your premiums or even cancel your homeowners insurance based on claims frequency so it is not a good idea to file small claims on most homeowners insurance policies.
This is a good question to ask your insurance agent if you keep kayaks or jetskis on your boat. Better to know in advance than to get a nasty surprise in the future.
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