Dude! Sweet!

I'm thinking of having a corporation buy a performance boat (lets say a Top Gun for arguement's sake). Anyone have any experince or insight on how the corporate ownership will impact rates and insurability?

How about with a passive corporation that's only assets might be cash and the boat?

DaveP

Unless you are taking a commercial loan to buy the boat it does not matter.

You can register the boat / take a loan on a boat in a corporation but there will always be a LOAN GUARANTOR and that person would be you. Your loan would need to be approved in your name first and then transfered to the corp.

The insurance would then be in the company name & your personal name.

Hope this helps.

topfuel

I was wondering the same thing. I have seen the question asked on insurance forms before if the boat is corporate or privately owned. I would like to know why the question is asked. I have been thinking of selling my boat to my corporation, but if it is going to be more difficult or costly to insure, I won't.

DaveP

The insurance should be exactly the same unless the authorized drivers change.

If a boat is corp owned and the corp is not maintained and then you go to sell the boat is can be a pain in the a$$.

You should be able to transfer ownership to your corp (depends on the state). If you sell it to your corp - you will have to pay sales tax AGAIN.

Dude! Sweet!

Thanks guys. Topfuel hit it right on the head. I had seen the same question.

Zudnic

I've asked this question before cause when my Dad moved up in performance on airplanes, found it hard to get insurance for the new one. Placing it in a LLC reduced the insurance Corp's risk and made it possible to get a policy.

In EBM forget which issue they had an article on insurance; one of the stories was a go fast idling in no wake zone, got hit by jet ski. The latter's family sued the go fast claiming that despite the jet ski being clearly at the go fast had the performance to get out of the way! The jet ski family won the suit. I've already started a Nevada LLC, good corp veil of protection on owner/shareholder of LLC's, so I'm thinking less liability for me and the corp. should in theory translate into easier to obtain and less expensive insurance.

DaveP

LLC's have no bearing on the cost of your boat insurance. No matter if it is a Corp, LLC, S Corp etc.. the insurance is exactly the same.

f311fr1

You might want to try incorporating in DEL. The only corp. asset is the boat so financial liability is limited to the value of the vessel.

t500hps

That's what I have.....A registered corp using the "Yacht Registry" as my registered agent. Been setup with them for about 6 years and they are real easy people to work with especially when I was calling asking a million stupid questions!!!

BTW: My insurance co. didn't have any issues with this setup, just let them know what's going on.

Zudnic

Same in Nevada and if you are sued they can't go after the owners personnel assets.

Original thinking based on my Dad's placing a plane into LLC ownership. When he moved up in performance he could no longer get insurance on the new one. Forgot that he also had his flight instructor became primary pilot in command, until he received enough hrs in type to get insurance himself. He cut a deal with the instructor for free vacations when he became our personnel pilot.

For boats the only real advantage is the same as with vehicles for me anyway. With lawsuit happy people if you get into any accident the injured pass may twist it into a big pay day, so with LLC protection you could carry less personnel liability. Would that not reduce costs a bit?

I've had several B.S lawsuits filed against me over the years, so LLC veil of personnel asset protection is why I do things via my Nevada corp. One during a high school ski trip the school foolishly allowed us to take our own cars. I skidded on ice without any damage or an accident, but a passenger I did'nt know well decided to get whiplash all of a sudden and sue my parents! I'm sure that my parents winter driver was a new BMW 325IX had something to due with her sudden case of whiplash 5 days latter. Most states have foreign judgement enforement laws, hence why Nevada is attractive with its corp. veil of protection..... Due to my personnel experience I can see how someone you dont know very well could get on your boat and get a minor injury and twist it against you to turn it into a lotto ticket.