Boats & Recreational Vehicles.
Your home policy covers a canoe. It does not cover the thing you actually bought.
Homeowners policies include token watercraft cover, usually capped at a small value and a modest engine size, and it disappears entirely once the boat is meaningful. Recreational vehicles sit in a similar gap: a personal auto policy may respond while driving and does nothing for the part that makes it a home.
Two clauses decide almost everything here. How a total loss is valued, and where and when you are allowed to use it. Send us the policy and we will read both before we look at price.
Valuation, and where you are allowed to be
Owners compare premiums. Adjusters read these two clauses, and they are what determine whether a claim feels fair.
Agreed value
You and the carrier fix the figure at inception. A total loss pays that number, with no argument about depreciation at the worst possible moment.
Actual cash value
Depreciation is deducted at claim time. On a boat or RV that has held its value well, the settlement can fall far below what replacing it costs.
Navigation limits
Where the boat may be used. Coastal, inland, offshore, and foreign waters are all separate permissions, and exceeding them can leave you with no cover.
Lay-up and usage terms
Declared out-of-use months reduce premium, and using the vessel during them can void a claim. It has to reflect how you genuinely use it.
What a real marine policy includes
Hull and machinery
The vessel, engines and permanently attached equipment. The valuation basis here is the single most important term in the policy.
Protection and indemnity
Marine liability, which behaves differently from ordinary liability cover and is what responds if you injure someone or damage another vessel.
Fuel spill and wreck removal
Legally required and potentially enormous. Frequently sublimited, and worth checking against the realistic cost in your waters.
On-water towing
A single tow can exceed the annual premium. Inexpensive to add in advance and impossible to arrange once you are adrift.
Uninsured boater
A large share of recreational boaters carry no liability at all. This is what responds when one of them causes the accident.
Personal effects and gear
Electronics, tenders, fishing equipment and water toys. Usually sublimited and routinely underestimated.
A vehicle, a home, and neither policy covers both
The gap here is structural rather than accidental, and it widens the more you actually use the vehicle.
Motorhome versus towable
A motorhome needs liability while driving. A travel trailer or fifth wheel is towed under your auto liability and needs its own physical damage and contents cover.
Vacation liability
Your liability while parked and using the RV as accommodation. Not included on an auto policy, and this is when most incidents actually happen.
Full-timer coverage
If it is your residence, you need something close to a homeowners policy attached to it: personal liability, contents and loss of use.
Contents and attached equipment
Awnings, satellite systems, generators, solar and everything inside. Rarely covered adequately by default and expensive to replace.
Emergency expense
If the RV becomes uninhabitable away from home, this pays for lodging and transport. Small coverage, disproportionately useful.
Total loss replacement
Some carriers offer new-for-old replacement in the early years rather than depreciated value. Worth asking for specifically on a newer unit.
Read the terms, then shop the market
Boat and RV cover is written by specialists, and the spread between a generalist quote and a specialist one is wide in both price and quality of wording.
Move to agreed value
Where the carrier offers it and the vessel qualifies. It is frequently a modest premium difference and an enormous difference at claim time.
Match the navigation to reality
Owners are routinely insured for waters they never enter, and not for the passage they make every summer. Both are worth correcting.
Declare an honest lay-up
Real savings for months the vessel genuinely is not used, and no exposure created by overstating it.
Then shop appetite
Vessel age, length, engine type, cruising area and claims history all swing appetite hard. A risk one carrier surcharges is another’s preferred class.
Send us your policy and we will check the valuation basis.
Agreed value or actual cash value, and what your navigation and lay-up terms actually permit. Those three lines tell you more about the policy than the premium does. No cost, no obligation.
Boats and RVs, answered plainly
Is my boat not covered by my homeowners policy?+
Only small craft, and only just. Most policies cap watercraft at a low value with a horsepower limit, provide little or no liability on the water, and exclude anything meaningful. Anything beyond a dinghy or a kayak needs its own policy.
What is agreed value and why does it matter?+
Agreed value means the carrier and you fix the settlement figure at inception, and that is what is paid on a total loss with no depreciation argument. Actual cash value deducts depreciation, and on a boat or RV that difference is frequently tens of thousands of dollars.
What are navigation limits?+
The geographic area where your boat is covered. Sail outside it and coverage may not respond at all. Coastal cruising, offshore passages and travel to Mexico, the Bahamas or Canada each need specific agreement rather than assumption.
What is a lay-up period?+
The months the boat is out of the water and not in use. Declaring an honest lay-up reduces premium meaningfully, and using the boat during a declared lay-up can void a claim, so it needs to reflect reality.
Does my auto policy cover my RV?+
For a motorhome, an auto policy may cover driving liability and nothing else. It will not cover the contents, the attached equipment, the awning, or your liability while parked and living in it. Towable trailers are generally not covered by an auto policy at all.
What is full-timer coverage?+
If you live in the RV rather than holiday in it, you need cover that behaves like a homeowners policy: personal liability while parked, contents, loss of use. Standard RV policies assume recreational use and exclude full-time living.
What about towing and roadside?+
On-water towing for a boat is a specific coverage and it is not cheap to buy after the fact; a single tow can exceed the annual premium. RV roadside is different from car roadside because of weight and length, and standard motor clubs frequently will not attend.
Are there liability exposures people miss?+
Yes. Fuel spill and wreck removal on the water are legally mandated and can be enormous, and many policies sublimit them. Uninsured boater coverage matters too, since a large share of recreational boaters carry no liability at all.