At American Houseboat Rentals, we get a number of common questions from our clients as we offer high-quality houseboat rentals to numerous beautiful destinations. One of the most frequent: “Do I need houseboat insurance for my houseboat rental?”
The simple answer is no, you don’t technically need any form of insurance to rent a houseboat. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t be protected in some way when you book a houseboat rental – let’s go over a couple different kinds of protection that are available here, plus which you should consider.
Houseboat Insurance
When we talk about houseboat insurance, we’re actually primarily referring to something that applies to the owners of a given houseboat. Similar to car insurance in many ways, this basic insurance is covered by a monthly premium – one that’s based on boat value, boat age, and a few other important factors.
In most cases, this insurance will cover both liability and property damage. In some cases of houseboat rentals, there are separate rental insurance plans you can take out to protect yourself in case of any incident. There are also peer-to-peer boat rental policies available. At the same time, there is no requirement that renters purchase any of this form of insurance, though you may want to do so to protect yourself.
Trip Cancellation Protection
A very different form of “insurance” (it’s being used a little differently here) is called trip cancellation protection, and it’s the kind of thing offered by most houseboat and other rental services. Because our houseboats are in high demand, they require booking months in advance – this protection allows you to pay a small amount more for the right to cancel this booking within a certain range of time in case your trip plans happen to change, which we know can happen for many people.
It’s important to note that trip cancellation protection has limits – you can’t simply cancel the trip the day before it was scheduled, for instance. Most rental companies generally require cancellations to come before 60 days before the trip is scheduled to begin, so it’s still important that you and any guests have your plans confirmed by that point. But this kind of policy is good to have if you’re considering a few different vacation types.
Which to Get?
As you can see from reading our sections above, houseboat insurance and trip cancellation protection are very different things. We definitely recommend the latter, as it’s a cheap and simple way to protect yourself from plans changing – a natural part of life. As far as houseboat insurance or some form of rental insurance, we leave that up to each individual; speak to our pros when calling about a booking to hear their personal suggestions as it pertains to your situation.
For more on the various forms of houseboat-related insurance, or to learn about any of our houseboat rentals, speak to the staff at American Houseboat Rentals today.