Towing accident with a boat: who pays for the boat, the trailer and the other driver?

A road accident while towing a boat happens quickly: the rig pushes under braking, starts to snake in a crosswind or clips another car on a turn. Three questions follow at once: who pays the other driver, who pays for your boat and who pays for the trailer? The other driver's damage is normally a matter for the motor insurance of the towing vehicle, which usually extends to a trailer while it is attached. Where a trailer carries separate cover of its own, the insurers settle any split between themselves; the other driver does not have to sort that out.

The motor policy pays other people, never your own boat, trailer or car. The boat depends on its own hull cover, and the key question is whether that cover includes transport by road. The trailer is only covered if it is named on a policy that covers it against accidental damage. Your car falls to its own comprehensive cover. If the other driver was at fault, their motor insurer pays for boat and trailer too, or a share of it where blame is split. Damage caused by a badly secured load is a common exclusion.

After an accident, make the scene safe: hazard lights on, warning triangle out. Call the police if anyone is hurt or the road is blocked, photograph the rig, the boat, the trailer and the other vehicle, and note any witnesses. Do not drive on until the hitch, axle, lights and boat straps have been checked. Report the claim to the motor insurer for the other driver and to your boat insurer for the boat and trailer before anything is repaired. Read your boat schedule now for the words road transport.

Worth remembering

After a towing accident only the boat's own policy looks after the boat.