Insurance Rider for a Delivery Captain: What Your Carrier Needs

I don't quote a delivery until the owner has an insurance rider in place, or has agreed to get one.

That isn't distrust on my part. It's the easiest step in the whole job, and it decides whether a bad day underway ends with a short call to your adjuster or a long argument with one.

An insurance rider for a delivery captain is a short addition to your existing policy. It names the captain as an approved operator for the dates of the trip, and it's the one part of a delivery the captain can't arrange for you. The policy is a contract between you and your carrier, so only you can ask the carrier to extend it to someone else at the helm.

Why your policy needs one

Your policy was written around the person named on it. The carrier priced it assuming you'd be the one running the boat. The day somebody else takes command, the carrier's risk changes, and whether your coverage goes with them depends on what the policy says and what the carrier has been told.

Most carriers handle it with a rider. Some require one outright. Others let a captain who meets their qualifications run the boat under the existing policy. A few policies don't address it at all, which is the worst case, because nobody knows what the carrier will do until there's a claim. You'll hear it called a rider or an endorsement, or the carrier may just say it's approving the captain as an operator. It's the same request.

If something goes wrong on a delivery, say hard contact at a fuel dock or a grounding in a badly marked channel, the adjuster's first question is who was at the helm. If the answer is a hired captain the carrier never heard about, the carrier has options, and none of them help you. The rider answers that question before anyone has to ask it.

Who the rider protects

A rider protects three parties at once. That's a big part of why I treat it as non-negotiable.

You, first. Your boat is one of the biggest things you own outside your house. If there's damage on the trip and no rider in place, the carrier can deny the claim or limit it, and the loss lands on you.

Me. I carry my own liability coverage, but your hull policy is the one built to cover damage to the boat itself, and the rider is what makes it apply during the trip. Without one, my coverage can get dragged into a claim your policy should have handled. Nobody comes out of that well.

The carrier. They'd rather approve an operator up front than find out after a claim and argue about it. That's why most of them treat the request as routine. The ones I deal with most have it down to a single email exchange.

The three things your carrier will ask for

It doesn't matter whether it's Progressive, BoatUS, Markel or Chubb. The request comes down to the same three pieces of information every time.

1. The captain's Coast Guard license

The carrier wants to know the captain is licensed for your boat and for the water the trip covers. That means the grade of license, the tonnage and the route. Mine are Master of up to 100 gross register tons on the Great Lakes and inland waters, and Master of up to 50 tons near coastal, both with the assistance towing endorsement. Copies go out with every job.

"Coast Guard licensed" with nothing after it is marketing, not a credential. A professional can tell you exactly what theirs says without looking it up. You can check all of it yourself in about two minutes, and I walk through how in checking a captain's license.

2. The Mariner Reference Number

Most owners don't know to ask for this one, and it's the one carriers care about most. Every Coast Guard credential carries a Mariner Reference Number, and it's how the carrier confirms the license is real and belongs to the person holding it. Mine is 2913289. It's on every agreement I send and at the bottom of every page on this site.

A captain who won't give you that number has ended the conversation for you.

3. A written request from you

This one has to come from you. The policy is between you and your carrier, and the captain isn't a party to it, so the request comes from the named insured. Some carriers have a form. Some take a letter or an email. Either way, you're asking for a written rider or endorsement that names the captain as an approved operator for the dates of the trip.

Don't accept "we'll note it in the file" as the answer. You want the confirmation in writing, in your inbox, before the boat leaves the dock. If anything goes wrong underway, the adjuster will ask whether the captain was disclosed, and the answer needs to be a document, not a phone call somebody may or may not remember.

Two more things your carrier may ask about

Where the boat is going. Your policy also says where the boat is covered, and a long delivery can run past those limits. A policy written for the Great Lakes may not follow the boat onto the Atlantic coast or into Florida. When you ask for the rider, give the carrier the whole route and the destination, and ask whether the navigation limits cover all of it. Extending them takes longer than adding a captain, usually 30 to 60 days' notice, so bring it up when you book. If the boat's headed south, the rest of that conversation is in my Great Lakes to Florida delivery guide.

Hours with a captain. If you're new to the boat, the carrier may also want you to log hours with a captain or take a check ride before you run her on your own. That's a different letter from the rider. I explain how it works in when your insurer wants hours with a captain, and it's what my insurance check rides are for.

How long it takes

Most carriers turn a rider around in one to three business days. Some are faster, and a few take up to a week in peak season. In most cases it doesn't raise your premium, either.

What slows it down is almost never the carrier. It's the owner waiting to make the call. Start the day you sign the delivery agreement, whether the trip is three weeks out or two months out.

What you don't want is the captain standing at the marina with the rider still pending. Then you're down to three choices, and they're all bad: delay the trip, which costs money because day rates often still apply; run it uninsured; or go on a verbal OK that won't hold up if something happens.

What a professional captain brings

None of this should be yours to assemble from scratch. A captain who does delivery work regularly has it packaged before the first call.

Mine is a one-page Professional Mariner Credential Submission. It lists my licenses and my reference number, with a short statement of what the job is, and every owner gets one before we start. The same details are on my credentials page. You forward the form to your carrier, they send back the rider, and the insurance piece is done.

If the captain you're talking to doesn't have something like it, that isn't a deal-breaker on its own. It does mean you'll be pulling the information together yourself, which takes longer and is work a professional should have done for you.

Red flags

A few things should give you pause before you hand anyone your boat:

• "My license covers it." It doesn't. A captain's license isn't insurance on your boat. Your policy is, and anyone who does this for a living knows the difference.

• No written agreement. A professional delivery is put in writing before anyone touches the boat. A handshake is fine at the yacht club bar.

• A reference number that's "coming later." There's no legitimate reason to hold it back.

The checklist

If you're about to hire a delivery captain, or you're partway through and want to make sure nothing's missing, here's the order that works:

1. Sign the delivery agreement with the captain.

2. Get the captain's credential submission, or copies of their licenses and their Mariner Reference Number if they don't have one ready.

3. Send it to your carrier with a written request to add the captain as an approved operator for the trip. Include the route and the dates.

4. Wait for the written rider or endorsement. A verbal OK doesn't count.

5. Forward the confirmation to the captain so they know your end is done.

6. Go.

That's a few minutes of your time, spread over a few business days, and it takes one of the biggest risks in hiring a captain off the table.

The standard, plainly

I don't deliver boats without a rider in place. It's in every agreement and every quote, and it's the first thing I bring up when an owner calls about a delivery, whether it's a straight delivery or an owner-assisted run where I'm coaching them down the route as we go.

If you've hired captains before without this step and nothing went wrong, you got lucky. Nothing happened, so nobody had to find out what the carrier would have done. The next captain you hire should bring up the rider before you do. If they don't, ask why.

Once the rider is in hand, the rest is scheduling. My Great Lakes boat delivery service covers the planning, the weather calls and the log. If a delivery is on your calendar, a quick call sorts out most of it.