How much does boat insurance cost?

How much you’ll pay to insure your boat depends on a few important factors. The most significant ones are:

• What type of boat it is: for example, trailer boat, racing yacht, luxury launch, jetski.
• How much you paid for the boat, as that will give us an idea of its current value.
• How big it is. As a general rule, the bigger the boat, the more it will cost to insure.
• The vessel’s age and construction type, as this may affect the cost and difficulty of repairing it.
• Where it is stored —at home on a trailer, at a hardstand, in a marina or on a swing mooring.
• The skipper’s boating experience and claims history. If you’ve been good on the water, we’ll be good to you!

The good news is, boat insurance in New Zealand is a lot cheaper than insuring a car. As a guide, a trailer boat worth $50,000 costs around $520 per year to insure, compared to a $50,000 car which might cost around $1380. 

Likewise, a $100,000 trailer boat might cost around $850 to insure each year, compared to almost twice that for a car of the same value. 

And a $500,000 launch costs around $2900 per year to insure, compared to around $4600 for a similarly priced car. Yet another reason to go boating!