NAMBA insurance also provides you
with a $500,000 personal accident policy
which covers injuries which you may
incur while running your boat or while
assisting someone else with their boat. In
the past, this has covered such injuries as
a cut hand, or torn ligaments suffered
when a boater slipped on the mud in the
launch area. This policy is secondary
insurance. That means that if you have
health insurance at work or through a
family member, NAMBA insurance will
expect your primary policy to pay first.
Then, once your primary policy has paid
what it covers, NAMBA’s secondary
policy goes into effect. This would cover
such things as deductibles, amounts over
the policy limits, etc. If you do not have
health insurance of any kind, NAMBA’s
policy covers you the same as if it were a
primary policy. There are of course
deductibles on both of these coverage's.
$500 on the liability coverage, and $100
on the personal accident coverage.
However, in the past, NAMBA has been
able to pick up the cost of these
deductibles, and we assume we will
continue to do so in the future as long as
funds permit.
As you can see, your NAMBA
insurance provides you with the best
protection available through any of the
model boating organizations. Hopefully,
you will never have to make use of this
coverage, but if you do, you can be
assured that you are covered. Continued
availability of this exceptional coverage
is of course to some degree up to you.
Make sure that you are aware of all of
the safety regulations, and use common
sense in your running. Preventative
medicine is always better than having to
resort to a cure. By avoiding needless
accidents, we can insure that the
coverage will be available when really
needed.
PROPWASH
4
October 2016
Insurance Explained
By Al Waters
NAMBA Executive Secretary
As we end the new year of model boating, I thought it might be a good time to
provide a reminder of just what our insurance coverage is all about. NAMBA
membership provides you with liability and property damage coverage in the
unfortunate event that your boat should be involved in an accident in which a spectator
is injured or damage is done to someone else’s property. This coverage is $1,000,000
per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate. Of course, this does not cover damage done
to another model boat in the normal course of running. This coverage is primary
coverage, so you do not have to look first to your homeowner's policy for protection as
is the case with some of the other boating organizations. It is individual insurance
which protects when you are running at NAMBA site insured lakes and ponds.
Please keep in mind that you are also expected to be complying with all local and state
laws and restrictions. If you are running a boat on a lake on which you are trespassing,
or is not NAMBA site insured, you will not be covered. Several years a go, the
NAMBA Board of Directors authorized the addition of a $1,000,000 umbrella policy
to add to the above mentioned coverage's.
In addition, NAMBA offers site insurance
coverage to protect the owner of the running site
with the same $2,000,000 as is afforded the
individual member. This is required for the
individual members insurance to be in effect.
Some cities and site owners require this
additional coverage. Registered clubs may
purchase this coverage at a cost of $50.00 per
year. However, please keep in mind that
NAMBA site insurance provides insurance for,
and names as an additional insured, the site
owner only when the accident involves a NAMBA member. We do not provide
general liability coverage for site owners for all possible hazards which can occur at
their lake, but merely for those caused directly or indirectly by an insured NAMBA
member. In addition, this coverage does not cover the site owner if an uninsured
boater or a boater who has insurance through another organization causes an accident
at the site.
And yes, NAMBA's coverage is in effect any time you are running at a site with
NAMBA site insurance and not merely at sanctioned events. This includes practice
running or unsanctioned club or fun events. Of course, coverage would not be valid if
you are blatantly breaking one of the
NAMBA safety regulations, such as
operating a boat while swimmers are in the
water, running while other full size water
craft are in the water, or consuming alcoholic
beverages or illegal drugs while running a
boat. In addition, NAMBA insurance does
not cover you when you are participating in a
sanctioned event of any other organization
which has its own insurance coverage,
whether primary or secondary. So make sure
that you are confident that the coverage
provided by the sanctioning club or organization is sufficient to protect you during that
event, as you will not be able to rely on your NAMBA insurance if it is not.
For a current list of sites and locations that have been NAMBA pre-approved with
site insurance, please refer to the NAMBA web site under Resources/Insured Sites. It
is updated daily. When a current year has expired, the site insurance expires and
effective January 2 of the following year, the list will clear and a new site insurance
coverage certificate must be applied for by one of the local NAMBA registered clubs.
