When it comes to insurance, it's always better to be safe than sorry. Double-checking your coverage with your broker, especially when it comes to vehicles, helps to fill in the gaps in your plan where unique situations might not always be covered. For example, just because your $50,000 boat is sitting on a plated trailer, that doesn't mean that the trailer plate offers any protection for the boat.

 

Any type of automobile typically needs to have a package policy, and you can talk to your broker about the different ways you can get coverage. Vehicles that aren't platable like ATVs and dirtbikes can be scheduled on a home policy, and some insurance companies do offer package policies for these as well. You should never assume that just because your vehicle is in storage on your property, that means that it's automatically covered under your home policy.

 

It's important to note that just because a vehicle is not in use, that doesn't mean that it's safe. Let's say you have an antique car that you only drive in the summer months and after the season is over, you take it to a garage de-plate it for the month to save some money while you get some work done on it and you're not using it. If the garage finishes your vehicle early and parks it on the street, someone could vandalize or hit and run your vehicle, and your vehicle won't be covered since you took the plates off.

 

License plates are also not interchangeable between vehicles, meaning you can't take the license plate from your regular everyday vehicle and put it on your antique car during the summer. This also means that if you're buying a new vehicle, you can't take a plate from another vehicle you own and put it on the new vehicle while you're going to get insurance for it. You have to have the plates registered with the correct vehicle in order to have the proper coverage for the vehicle.

 

There are a lot of unique situations where it's not always clear if you're covered or not, so it's always a great idea to double-check with your broker to make sure before you find yourself in one of these unique situations. Give us a call or set up an appointment with us and we'd love to discuss your coverage with you.

 

If you'd like to listen to the original radio interview about this topic, click here.