Boat Dealer Insurance
The unique risks faced by boat dealers create a need for specialized coverage.
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Christine Lacagnina has written thousands of insurance-based articles for TrustedChoice.com by authoring consumable, understandable content.
Owners and operators of boat dealerships are exposed to a variety of unique risks that must be covered with comprehensive boat dealer insurance or commercial marine insurance. You need coverage for your inventory as well as liability protection for the numerous ways in which you or your employees may cause bodily injury or property damage to someone else in the course of doing business. Without the right coverage in place, a lawsuit or other incident could cause a potentially devastating financial loss.
An independent insurance agent can help you get set up with all the right insurance coverage. They'll get you matched to the right policy for the job. But first, here's a behind-the-scenes look at boat dealer insurance.
Common Risks for Boat Dealers to Consider Getting Coverage for
Any business that sells new or used boats or regularly rents, trades, or repairs watercraft can be considered a boat dealer. Here are just a few common property and liability risks that boat dealers may face:
- Inventory damage while on a lot or at a marina
- Boat damage during seaworthiness tests
- Bodily injury or property damage during seaworthiness tests
- Damage to or theft of boats during transport on trailers
- Building and contents damage due to catastrophic events
- Business interruption losses during shutdowns
- Truth in Lending and title lawsuit claims
Independent insurance agents understand the unique risks boat dealers face. Because of this, they're equipped to help you get set up with all the right coverage to prepare for them properly.
Property and Liability Coverage Concerns for Boat Dealers
Like most businesses, boat dealers likely have buildings and contents that need to be protected with the right type of business insurance. In addition, you face property risks associated with boat inventory and interactions with the public. Property damage to your inventory can occur in any number of ways, from windstorms and hail to vandalism and customers taking boats out on the water.
Boat dealers also face a variety of unique liability risks, such as those that arise from:
- Seaworthiness tests: Customers who take boats out on the water pose a great threat to themselves as well as other boaters, pedestrians, and watercraft. If a customer causes property damage, injury, or death while operating one of your boats, you, as the dealer, could be held responsible.
- Faulty repairs: If you take customer-owned boats into your possession to perform repairs or maintenance, you could be held liable for damage to them or for faulty repairs that cause injury or death.
- Catastrophic events: Fire, smoke, or other catastrophic events can damage customer boats in your possession. You could be held liable for damage to other people’s property in your care.
- Product liability: A faulty part in a boat that you sell can cause property damage or injure someone. You could be held liable in these cases.
Considering these potentially hazardous scenarios, it's easier to see why specific insurance for boat sales is necessary.
What Does Boat Dealers Insurance Cover?
Boat dealers must assemble a special business insurance policy that considers all the unique threats to their industry. These are just a few of the most common types of coverage needed by boat dealers:
- Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance: This provides broad coverage for bodily injury and property damage to a third party caused by you, your premises, or your employees.
- Commercial property insurance: This provides protection for your business property, including buildings and contents, against disasters like fire damage, hail, vandalism, and more.
- Business income insurance: This provides coverage for lost income and ongoing expenses like employee wages if you must temporarily cease operations after a catastrophic event.
Your independent insurance agent can help you build your business insurance policy with each type of coverage necessary to protect a boat dealership.
Additional Types of Coverage Needed by Boat Dealers
You may also need the following types of coverage and others depending on the specifics of your business. Many of these policies can be purchased as endorsements to your basic liability or property policies or packaged into a comprehensive commercial marine policy.
- Employee dishonesty coverage: This covers costs associated with employee theft and crime.
- Workers’ compensation coverage: This covers the costs of medical treatment and lost wages for employees who get injured or ill because of their job duties or work environment.
- Product liability coverage: This covers losses or injuries to a user, buyer, or bystander caused by a defect or malfunction of a boat from or at your dealership.
- Commercial auto coverage: This protects vehicles your business owns as well as trailers it uses to transport boats.
- Truth in Lending coverage: This protects boat dealers who fail to comply with the Truth in Lending provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act.
- Engine hours errors and omissions coverage: This protects boat dealers from legal claims specifically related to a boat’s engine.
- Marina insurance: This protects boat dealers that also operate as a marina from damage caused by boats owned or operated by the marina and against damage to boats docked at the marina.
- Title errors and omissions coverage: This provides protection for boat dealers who make an error in title-related paperwork.
- False pretenses coverage: This protects your business if you are unwittingly coerced to release a boat to someone under false pretenses.
Working together with an independent insurance agent is the best way to ensure your boat dealer insurance policy gets completed with each type of coverage your business needs.
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Why Work with an Independent Insurance Agent for Boat Dealer Insurance?
To find the best coverage for your business, it's extremely helpful to find the right independent insurance agent. Boat dealers should work with independent insurance agents with experience in their niche and with insurance companies specializing in commercial marine coverage.
Together with your independent insurance agent, you can assess your specific business's risks and find the right mix of property, liability, and specialty coverage to protect your assets from lawsuits and claims. Your agent will also be there for you down the road if and when claim time comes.