Insurance is a must for any responsible business owner. For those that have specialty businesses like jet ski rentals and other recreational sports and vehicle rental, special insurance is required to keep riders, equipment, and owners safe. Though typical insurance on your jet ski might seem sufficient, there are special insurance policies that can help protect you and your rental from damages and potential lawsuits.
What is Rental Jet Ski Insurance?
Normally called watercraft rental insurance, there are a number of different insurances that you can take out on your jet ski. If you are renting the ski to people for payment, you are required to have some sort of insurance policy on hand to help pay for medical bills and damages should the rider become injured while operating your machine. Jet ski rental insurance is specially designed to reduce liability for the owner and to help create an umbrella of coverage for the rider to help cover any issue that might occur while the machine is being
operated.
What is Boat Rental Insurance?
Boat rental insurance is much like jet ski rental insurance in that it helps to protect those renting the machine, helps to protect the machine and also helps to protect the business owner from possible damages and injury. Boat rental insurance is much like typical rental insurance and is essential to help protect both your private belongings like your home and personal vehicles as well as your business and any assets that you may have within your business. This is a specific type of insurance that is geared toward boats that are rented rather than all water craft.
Are all Watercraft Rental Insurance the same?
In most cases water craft rental insurance is pretty broad and do have smaller, more specific riders within the main coverage. A few good examples are those that we have already discussed. Though rental jet ski insurance would fall into the larger category of water craft rental insurance, it is still a specific policy that is
geared toward jet skis. Similarly, rental boat insurance does fall under the larger sub head but is still its own unique type of policy. It is always helpful to find out as much as you can about any type of insurance that you may need before you start shopping around for potential policies or companies to buy from.
What does Watercraft Rental Insurance Cover?
Though each different category under this broader title is specific, they all cover a general range of things and are easier to talk about under the larger grouping. Water craft rental insurance first and foremost covers any injury that the renter might incur while operating the water craft. This could be the result of a wreck, the result of an injury due to carelessness, or an injury that is the result of hitting into an inanimate object. This aspect of the policy is in place to protect the rider and should be used to cover injuries that are sustained while the water craft is being used. If the rider is injured because they are drinking or are being reckless, the policy is likely not going to cover their medical costs.
The second aspect of a water craft policy is that it covers damage that is done to the actual craft itself. This does not cover things like natural wear and tear from use and age but rather specific damages that are caused by riders or by accidents that occur while the craft is in use. This could be something like a wreck where the craft is badly damaged or totaled, damage that was incurred by the user where payment and damages were not directly sought from the user, and more. It might also cover things like damage from hitting debris in the water or from hitting inanimate objects like the dock or buoys. This is essential because water craft of any type are expensive, and you are at a far greater risk to incur damage if multiple people are using it rather than one owner using it.
The last thing that major water craft rental policies cover is the owner of the business or of the rental craft. This means that it helps prevent people from suing you and taking your property or your business. If they are injured while using your water craft, they are able to file a claim with your insurance to get the money they need to pay for medical bills and to pay for damages. This is perhaps one of the most important things that your insurance policy is going to cover.
Who Needs Water Craft Rental Insurance?
The next question you might have is who needs water craft rental insurance? The simple answer is anyone that rents out a watercraft for money. Though this might seem like a simple enough thing to determine, it can be trickier than you might imagine. A good way to look at it is to determine how often you rent your craft out for money and who you are renting to. If you rent it to a friend once a summer you probably are not going to need any type of special insurance aside from the policy you already have on the craft as a personal vehicle. If you rent to people you do not know on a routine basis and have a business, a business name, or have any sort of advertising, you are going to need at least some sort of renters insurance to help protect you and your riders.
Generally, owning this type of business is fairly low effort. You simply need someone to help the renters get the keys for the items then return them when done. This however does not mean that since this is a simple enough operation that you do not need insurance. The larger the business the more insurance you will need and the more varied the water craft that you are renting the more likely you are to need specialized policies for each and every craft that you rent.
Why Get Water Craft Rental Insurance?
The first and most obvious reason to get water sports equipment rental insurance is to protect your clients. Though you can require that life jackets be worn while using your water craft, unless you are right there with the users there is no way to determine if they are using the proper safety equipment. As such, the risk of someone being injured or even passing away while using your equipment is always present. If someone were to tragically pass away while using one of your rental crafts you would be held liable for some of the cost. If the death was due to an accident, you would need to be able to have an insurance policy to fall back on to help pay for costs so that your business would be safe. Though one would hope that users would be exceedingly careful while using water craft of any type, there is no way to be 100% certain that they are going to practice caution.
Another reason is that even inexpensive jet skis and smaller water craft can still run into the thousands of dollars. Should one become irreparably damaged it would cost your business money and put that machine out of service until you were able to purchase another one. This means that you would potentially be out the full cost of repair or replacement of the item even if it was not your fault that it was damaged. You could sue the renter for the cost but that would likely cost more time and money than the item was worth in the first place. An insurance policy helps to protect these items so that you can replace or repair them as needed.
The last reason you should have renters insurance on all your rentable water sports equipment is that if something should happen and you do not have a policy in place, the renter or the person that was in the accident with the renter can come back on you for damages. If you do not have the cash up front to pay, you can end up having to liquidate assets or even end up losing your property or your business.
How to determine how much Insurance you need
The first step is to take a look at what water craft and what water sports equipment you are insuring. Things like boats are going to need larger policies than a jet ski for instance. You want to make sure you have specific insurance for each different water craft as each craft has its own different issues and potential dangers that should be addressed in the policy. You should also take into consideration the cost of the water craft that you are insuring.
Those items like boats that can easily cost $25,000 alone are going to need larger policies to cover the entire cost of the boat rather than a policy to cover a $2,500 jet ski. You want to take into consideration as well how many people are going to be using the water craft at the same time. You are going to need more insurance to cover passengers if a boat holds 5 people than you would for a jet ski that only holds two passengers at once. This is going to help you find the perfect amount of coverage for each water craft.
You also want to keep in mind that some insurance companies might give you a break or a discount on policies if you are insuring more than one water craft. Though you would still be paying more than you would if you are insuring only one, discounts for fleet and multiple insurance policies should not be overlooked. You need to make sure that any water craft that has the potential to be rented is insured on the rental policy to prevent any issues that might arise.
The last thing you want to keep in mind is the size of your business. If you are a small business that rents one or two jet skis one month out of the year, you are going to need a much smaller policy than those businesses that rent boats and jet skis all year round. You should talk with an agent to find out just how much you
need to be protected when buying your policy.
Special Considerations with Water Craft Rental Insurance
Since you are not simply taking people from one place to another as you might be with a taxi service, there are special considerations that affect how a rental water sports equipment policy pays out. For starters, you want to read each policy carefully so that you can tailor your rules for usage accordingly. If the policy says that it does not pay out if the rider is under a certain age and is not authorized to drive the water craft then that needs to be detailed in your rental rules (or rental waiver agreement) to prevent misunderstandings and to prevent people from trying to sue you. If a policy says that it does not pay out if the driver of the water craft is found to be negligent, you want to make sure that you have specific usage rules in your terms when the renter signs the rental agreement.
Basically, it is important that your rental agreement is as in line as possible with your policy so that you can be sure that you are covered if the rider is at fault and the policy will not pay the damages. In most cases, rental policies are not going to cover drivers that have been operating the vehicle while under the influence so that should be in your agreement as well. If there are lifejacket rules in your area you also want to make sure that is listed in your agreement as well.
Get the Help of an Agent
The best way to get the right policy for you and for your specific business is to talk with an agent about what you might need to protect your business and the riders in your business. If your agent suggests bringing in a copy of your rental agreement so that they can help find the right policy, this is a great way to make sure all the bases are covered. The right rental policy can make a huge difference in how effective your insurance policy is in the end.
When all else fails, talking with an agent is a great way to get your policy lined out and to reduce a great deal of stress from the process of buying the right insurance policy. The right agent can help you find a policy that is going to work for all aspects of your business and is going to help you to find the perfect policy to protect you and your renters as well.