How Much is Boat Insurance?

You’re thinking about buying a boat but your need to know all the costs. You’ve heard your friends fun with you, and tell you the two best days for a boat owner are they days he buys his boat, and the day he sells it. So you have some concerns. You want to do you homework. Of course you’re going to ask, “how much is boat insurance?” That can’t be cheap. Well, maybe it’s a bit more affordable than you think.

We put together this quick boat insurance cost reference guide using information from our carrier partner Progressive. Progressive is one of the leading providers of boat insurance, so there may be no better source for this information.

According to Processive, the average annual cost for a boat insurance policy ranged between $246 and $603. While this is interesting, it needs to be noted that the cost of any insurance policy depends on many factors. Not all policies are exactly the same. The cost of personal watercraft, yacht, or boat insurance can be impacted by many different things, including your age, type of boat, boating history, coverages, location, and the insurance company you buy from.

Because location played a key role in the Progressive cost analysis, in answering the question, “how much is boat insurance,” we’ll look at the regions where the costs are low, average or high.

As you reviewed the regional differences in boat insurance costs, you likely noticed that more northern states had lower average premiums. Why is this? Well, generally speaking, and this isn’t just for Progressive, boat insurance is more affordable the further you get from the coastline. If you’ll recall, the coverage limits and type of boat are factors in cost. Coastal areas tend have have more expensive boats used in ocean navigation, thus driving up average premiums.

The Great Lakes states tend to fall in the low-cost category. In the northern or inland states, many boaters take advantage of lakes and rivers, where smaller less expensive boats are found. Heck, even the Great Lakes states tend to fall in the low-cost region for this exact same reason. Additionally, the length of the boating season also has an impact on the cost of insurance. Coastal states are more likely to have year-round boating, where inland states are more seasonal.

The data used in our post is from Progressive, and the period for the data is between 2019 and 2020. We’ll be closely monitoring Progressive for more updates to the data, and will recalculate the findings as need, so keep checking back for updates. Note, rates are always changing and any data that’s several years old may not be relevant, so pay close attention to the dates of data when conduction your research to answer the question, “how much is boat insurance?”

It’s also important to note, while this analysis provides insight into the average cost of boat insurance by region, actual premiums will depend on your unique situation. With so many variables affecting boat insurance, you’ll want explore your options, request a quote online or call us at 1-877-334-7646.