You have auto insurance for your car, truck, or SUV, and you have marine insurance to cover your boat – but what about the trailer? Coverage for your boat trailer can be tricky to understand and it’s important to ask questions when you’re purchasing coverage.
First, let’s discuss the boat. If you have a marine policy for the boat, your marine policy provides physical damage coverage for your boat if it’s on the trailer or in the water. Your policy can even cover your boat if someone else rear-ends your boat trailer while you’re all stuck in stop-and-go traffic on the way to your boating getaway. In this case, it’s likely that your insurer will try to get their money back from the third party’s insurer through a process called subrogation.
Much like your vehicle or your boat, your trailer can be insured in two primary ways: physical damage coverage and liability coverage. Of the two, liability coverage is where you really need to focus because your liability in an accident can range from a paint scratch on another vehicle to a much more severe accident with injuries and significant damage to other vehicles.
Your liability coverage when trailering your boat is inherited from your auto insurance policy. Because your, car, truck, van, etc. is pulling the trailer, the policy for that vehicle applies to liability claims related to boat trailering accidents.
Unless you’ve specifically added the trailer to your auto policy, physical damage to your trailer may not be covered. However, if you’ve purchased a dedicated marine policy, many of these policies offer physical damage or theft coverage for the trailer as well as for the boat. Just ask your broker about your coverage options to be sure you’re as protected as you need to be – and if you haven’t reviewed your coverage in a while, schedule a time for a policy review.
Call our Wells Marine Insurance Specialists with any questions or concerns you may have.
910.251.5426