Does Boat Insurance Cover a Blown Engine?

You need an engine on your boat to go anywhere. Even sailboats might have auxiliary engines that you might need to turn on from time to time. Therefore, you don’t want to see any type of engine failure. It might interrupt your trip, after all. Plus, engine failures can be very costly. Even relatively simple outboard boat motors can cost from several hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. So, if yours sustains damage, you might ask if your boat insurance will cover repairs? 

Because your engine is a vital component for your vessel, your boat insurance might apply to help you pay for the necessary repairs. However, whether it will or not will often depend on the source of the damage, along with the related costs. 

When Boat Insurance Won’t Cover a Blown Engine 

Boat insurance was designed to help you afford the costs related to unpreventable or unavoidable damage to the vessel. So, one of the keys to determining whether your policy covers a blown or damaged engine is whether that damage was unpreventable or unavoidable. 

In simplest terms, your policy won’t cover an engine that failed because you neglected to maintain it. Engines require service and maintenance at regular intervals. So, if you don’t do your due diligence, and an insurer can determine that such neglect was the cause of the damage, then they could refuse to pay for your repairs. 

Policies Can Cover Certain Damage 

There are times when your engine might fail due to a damaging event that was beyond your control. For example, the engine might have a defect that leads to a sinking. Or, it might sustain damage in a sinking, collision or other event that you could not have escaped or avoided. 

In these cases, your boat’s insurance might apply. However, to ensure that you have the right coverage, your policy usually needs to contain physical damage insurance. It will pay when parts (or the boat itself) needs repairs or replacement.  

Two components of this physical damage coverage are collision and comprehensive damage insurance. Collision coverage pays following a boat wreck. Comprehensive coverage pays for damage that is not related to wrecks, such as fire damage, theft of the boat and storm damage.  

When structuring your boat insurance, don’t forget to ask your agent how much your policy will compensate you for the damaged equipment. Your policy might pay you the full replacement cost of engine damage. However, in other cases, you might only receive a depreciated cash value settlement, which reflects the value of the engine at the time of the accident. 

Your agent is more than happy to help you figure out the best way to receive adequate compensation in case of engine damage.