Boat EconomicsStorage, Maintenance, Insurance, and Reserve
Does a Lower Premium Leave You Exposed?
Compare two deductible and premium options against your liquid reserve and ownership horizon, treating the choice as resilience, not just premium shopping.
Premium shopping alone misses the resilience question
A lower premium is a real, guaranteed saving every year; a higher deductible is a cost that only shows up if a claim happens. Comparing two options on premium alone treats those very differently timed dollars as equivalent. This engine puts the deductible's cash impact next to your own reserve, so the trade-off is visible before a claim forces the issue.
How this is calculated
For each option, reserve after a claim is your liquid reserve minus that option's deductible, flagged if it falls below your stated reserve floor. Horizon premium total is the annual premium times your ownership horizon, and the premium delta between options converts into a horizon-long savings or cost figure. The maximum deductible your reserve can absorb while still respecting your floor is reserve minus floor.
Worked example
With a $3,000 reserve and a $1,000 floor, a $250-deductible option at $1,000/year leaves $2,750 after a claim, comfortably above the floor. A $1,000-deductible option at $750/year leaves $2,000 after a claim, still above the floor here, and saves $250 a year, or $1,250 over a 5-year horizon. The maximum deductible this reserve could absorb while keeping the $1,000 floor is $2,000.
Common mistakes
Picking the highest deductible purely for the lowest premium without checking it against your own reserve can leave you self-insuring more than you intended. The other mistake is ignoring the ownership horizon; a small annual premium difference compounds over a multi-year hold.
Frequently asked questions
Is a higher deductible always the smarter choice?
Not automatically. A higher deductible usually means a lower premium, but it also means a bigger cash hit if a claim happens. This tool checks that hit against your own stated reserve floor rather than assuming the premium savings alone settle the question.
What does the "self-insurance warning" mean?
It flags when your reserve after paying a deductible would fall below the floor you said you want to keep. That is not automatically the wrong choice, but it means part of the premium savings is effectively being funded by your own safety margin.
Does this estimate how likely I am to file a claim?
No. This generates no probability of loss and no coverage recommendation. It compares the numbers you enter, premiums, deductibles, and your reserve, against your own stated risk tolerance.
How is this different from Boat Extended Warranty Break-Even?
That engine solves the repair size an extended warranty needs to reach to pay for itself. This one compares two insurance deductible and premium combinations directly against your cash reserve and horizon, a different kind of coverage decision.