Not long ago, I was discussing watercraft and boat insurance with an insurance agency owner in Kailua Hawaii, I guess he noticed I was wearing a Kailua Canoe Club sweat shirt. We discussed some of the types of water toy, boat, and marine businesses he insured. He noted that everyone who owned a jet ski was required to have a license for it, and insurance. If no proof of insurance, it could be confiscated by the authorities, but more importantly, if it was stolen you’d eventually get it back if it was duly registered with its identification number.
This all made sense to me, and as I was thinking about it later that night I saw on cable TV where someone had stolen a kayak out of the back of the owner’s pick-up. It had a sticker, and the owner provided a digital picture of it, this was broadcast all over Oahu. Think about it, where are you going to go, it’s an island, you can’t go anywhere with it, and I don’t know anyone who has ever paddled a kayak to the mainland or anywhere away from that island chain. It’s a lot like the FBI’s Most Wanted List at the Post Office, or the Child Predator shows on TV, and mind you the TV put this on the airwaves free of charge for a mere kayak, maybe worth $600.00 but not much more than that for sure.
The next night on the same cable station was a story whereby a car driving down the main freeway in Hawaii (The H1) and as it passed under an overpass suddenly a surfboard came through the window. Luckily, this rare event didn’t kill or injure anyone, but the freeway became closed to the frustration of all motorists. Was there an altercation on the overpass between young surfers? Was the surfboard accidentally dropped? Do you think it was a stolen surfboard? Lastly, I don’t imagine that the owner of the surfboard had insurance for it.
Nevertheless, I bet the Mercedes SUV owner had some sort of uninsured motorist insurance, I wonder if flying surfboards without insurance counts? Maybe I’ll ask my new insurance acquaintance what happens in such an event next time I see him. The reality is you just never know what might happen – just that it might, and you’ll need insurance at some point. Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.