Your boat becomes your second home when you are at sea sailing through the waves and living free. So in addition to taking care of several legal procedures like gaining a permit to enter Mexican waters, it makes sense that you insure your boat to feel safe.
While typical house insurances can cover boats to an extent, they do not necessarily cover marine-specific risk factors like environmental damage or salvage work. Understanding the specifics like accident coverage, passenger coverage, waterways supported, and so on will help you choose the right insurance policy in Mexico.
Types Of Boat Insurances
Based on how depreciation is handled, boat insurance can be classified as an:
- Agreed value insurance
An agreed value policy can cost high initially but for the long term, it can prove to be beneficial as partial losses can be deprecated.
- Actual cash value insurance
Actual cash value policies cost less initially, you will only get the actual cash value as your boat ages and depreciates.
The policies can also be classified based on the type of boats covered. The general kinds of boats are:
- Boat
- Personal watercraft
- Yacht
- Sailboat
- Dinghy
- Boat and PWC rentals
Boat club policies can be specifically used to cover boat club members as they operate and travel in the club owned boats.
Professional boating insurance policies are used for special cases involving a tournament, long-distance travel, and are more customizable.
Types Of Boat Insurance Coverage
There are varying degrees of coverage offered — from an ‘all risk’ highly secure policy to specific term coverage. The cost of insurance heavily depends on the coverage provided. Some of the common types of coverage you can expect are:
- Salvage
Covers the cost to remove your boat from an area due to any accidents or repairs.
- Consequential damage
Covers the cost to repair or the loss incurred due to wear and tear like corrosion, rusting, and rot.
- Towing
Covers the cost to tow your boat across a waterway.
- Cruising extension
This is the typical option most cruise boats take when going on a trip to Mexico or the Bahamas. This is a temporary coverage specially meant for travel outside the USA.
- Specialized coverage
You can make use of specialized coverage to protect special equipment in the boat or a particularly costly part of it.
Insurance Cost Factors
Here are the major concerns that you should check out when trying to insure your boat. These factors help determine the cost and coverage of an insurance policy.
- What is the age of the boat?
- What are its dimensions?
- What speed/ horsepower does your boat offer?
- Does your boat conform to Mexican and US safety standards?
- Do you use your boat as a primary residence?
- Is your boat homemade? Does it carry a proper identification number/documents?
- Does it have a motor?
- Type of ownership. Do you own the boat individually or in a partnership?
- The Cruising area. Where do you intend to operate the boat (ocean, lakes, rivers,..)?
Ways To Get Cheaper Bost Insurance in Mexico
- Boating safety education. If you haven’t been formally educated about the safety standards, you may have to take a mandatory course to get the necessary certification.
- Good driving records can help you get cheaper insurance.
- Liability limits, if set high will cost you more.
- If you can quote more deductibles, you can pay a lower premium amount.
- Seasonal discounts and discounts based on good driving records can help you get cheaper insurance. You can also negotiate to cut down premium costs when your boat is in storage during winter. Another factor to note is that freshwater cruising costs less than saltwater.
Have a good talk with your agent and discuss all the possibilities for every penny you can save before opting for an insurance policy.
