Get expert advice.
Your marine craft insurance questions, answered by our experts.
Please read through the Safe Harbour Boat FAQ. For more information about Safe Harbour Insurance please visit our About page, or connect with us at harbour@harbourinsurance.ca. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you understand boat insurance.
What You Should Know About Insuring Your Boat
Many marinas and finance companies will require boaters to insure their vessels. It is legal to register and operate a boat without insurance, but insurance is recommended to cover accident liability costs, damage, catastrophic loss and theft.
Two important coverages to consider
Hull & Machinery: insurance for the physical boat, motor and attached equipment.
Protection & Indemnity (P&I): Includes liability insurance coverage where you are liable for property damage or if a person is injured or killed. Coverage includes damage caused to other boats or properties, and personal injury. A marine policy also covers legal costs, salvage fees, wreck removal, and any pollution or environmental damage caused by the boat. The recommended limit is $3 million.
It’s important to insure your boat (hull & machinery) to its current market value. This ensures if a total loss to your boat occurs, you will recover what the boat is worth.
To proceed with a policy we require a completed and signed application (electronic signature accepted), along with any additional information requested by the insurance company. Please contact your insurance broker with questions or concerns regarding quotes and coverages.
Surveys are very important in determining the condition and current value of boats.
A survey can confirm if the vessel is over or under insured. A marine survey will determine if there are any safety or maintenance issues with a boat and provide peace of mind prior to purchasing a used vessel.
Each insurance company has different guidelines for survey requirements based on the age, length, and type of vessel. Some insurance companies may require a survey to provide a quote.
At Safe Harbour Insurance, we prefer to offer the best coverage including comprehensive hull & machinery insurance along with liability insurance. However, Protection & Indemnity policies are available through some of our insurance partners.
Renewing, Cancelling or Making a Payment
Your policy will automatically renew, and be delivered to you electronically by email, approximately 30-60 days ahead of the effective date. Annual payment is not charged to your credit card automatically. Safe Harbour Insurance does not keep credit card info on file.
All policies are year-long (12 month) policies designed to cover your boat while on the water or on land during the season, and while in storage for the winter. Common winter claims such as vermin/rodent damage, the weight of ice and snow, vandalism, and theft can happen during the off-season months.
Agreed Value is the limit of insurance that is agreed between the Insured and Underwriter. In the event of a total loss, this is the amount that is paid, without depreciation. Actual cash value is the replacement value less depreciation. The amount you receive is the current market value of the boat or damaged equipment at the time of the loss.
An ‘all risk policy’ means that if a peril is not listed as an exclusion in your policy wordings than coverage will respond. All risk policies typically cover incidents that are sudden and accidental.
A cancellation request is always required in writing and is subject to conditions in your policy wordings. Safe Harbour Insurance cannot accept verbal requests to cancel a policy by phone. Once the policy is cancelled, any unearned premium (overage that you may have paid in advance) is returned to you, calculated on a short rate basis.
- Pleasure Craft Operators Card (PCOC) = the operators certification
- Pleasure Craft Licence (PCL) = the boat’s identification document
To obtain a replacement PCOC, contact your course provider who originally issued your card. If you don’t know who issued it you can contact Transport Canada.
Online Payments. These will be made to “Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd”. Have your Client Account Number, payment amount and credit card information ready and pay online with our secure payment system.
Online via banking institution. Add “Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd.” as the payee at your financial institution and use your account code or policy number as the account number.
E-transfer. For automatic deposit, send your payment to: accounting@harbourinsurance.ca.
Cheque. By mail to: Safe Harbour Insurance Services, 4853 Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC V5C 2L1.
Monthly Payment Plan. Your premium can be financed through Premium Pay Inc. with monthly installments withdrawn from your bank account or credit card.*
*A 5% fee applies to the total premium to be financed including tax and policy fee. In addition, Premium Pay charges a $25 set up fee for new monthly payment plans.
You can report a claim by calling our office during regular business hours or fill out the Report a Claim form.
Your claim is assigned to an adjustor and/or a marine surveyor. You can expect a call from a claims representative within 24 hours or less to discuss the incident. The adjustor or surveyor will provide instructions for obtaining estimates or proceeding with repairs. Your Safe Harbour broker is here to assist you along the way.
Important Information About Your Broker
PERSONAL INFORMATION CONSENT
As part of the application for insurance, I hereby consent to Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. (the “Broker”) to collect, use or disclose personal information, or provide such personal information to third parties as required, including insurance companies. The Broker may also be required or permitted to disclose such personal information pursuant to relevant privacy laws or other laws.
Where there are insured individuals in addition to You (the “Client”), or where the Client is a commercial or other entity, the Client hereby covenants and warrants that the Client has obtained the appropriate consent from all the insured individuals to disclose their personal information to the Broker for these purposes accordingly.
In addition, the Client also consents to receive electronic communications (e-mail) from Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd., including personal file correspondence, promotions, marketing and any other important information.
If the Client wishes to review personal information pertaining to their application or policy maintained by the broker, obtain copies of the Broker’s privacy policies or standards, or make other enquiries or express concerns, the client may do so by contacting the Broker’s Privacy Officer.
The Client agrees that all personal information that provided to the Broker will be complete and accurate, the Client also consents to electronic communications.
Brokerage Privacy Officers: Allicia Campbell and Evan Miles
We’re experts in pleasurecraft marine insurance – we’ve been in business for over 50 years in Ontario, and recently expanded our operations into British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec. Our role is to provide you with the knowledge you require to purchase marine insurance products and services that are available, affordable, and understandable.
It is important to us to provide personal, quality service to our clients, including professional advice when it comes to your boat insurance policy, and claims support when you need it most.
We represent the following companies, which pay us a commission of your overall premium on new and renewal business:
April Marine: 10% to 20%
Beacon Boats by Cansure: 15%
NauticLife by AVIVA: 20%
Pacific Marine Underwriting Managers Ltd. (PMU): 20%
PMU is owned by the same firm that owns Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd.
Intact Insurance Company has an indirect ownership interest in our brokerage.
A copy of the Consumer Code of Rights and Responsibilities will be forwarded to you with your new policy.
