Not long ago I was discussing boat and boat insurance with the owner of an insurance agency in Kailua Hawaii, I guess he noticed I was wearing a Kailua Canoe Club sweatshirt. We discussed some of the types of water toy, boat and marine businesses that he secured. He pointed out that everyone who owned a jet ski had to have a license and insurance. If there is no proof of insurance, it could be seized by the authorities, but more importantly, if it was stolen, you would eventually get it back if it was properly registered with your identification number.

This all made sense to me, and as I thought about it later that night, I saw on cable TV that someone had stolen a kayak from the back of the owner’s truck. It had a decal on it and the owner provided a digital image of it, this was broadcast all over Oahu. Think about it, where are you going to go, it’s an island, you can’t go anywhere with it, and I don’t know anyone who has ever kayaked to the mainland or anywhere outside of that chain of islands. It’s a lot like the FBI’s most wanted list at the post office, or the Child Predator TV shows, and keep in mind that TV put this on the airwaves for free by a simple kayak, maybe with a $600.00 value, but not much more than that for sure.

The next night, at the same cable station, there was a story where a car was driving down Hawaii’s main highway (the H1) and going under an overpass, suddenly a surfboard came through the window. Fortunately, this rare event did not kill or injure anyone, but the highway was closed to the frustration of all motorists. Was there an altercation on the overpass between young surfers? Accidentally dropped the surfboard? Do you think it was a stolen surfboard? Lastly, I don’t imagine the owner of the surfboard had insurance on it.

I bet the owner of the Mercedes SUV had some kind of uninsured motorist insurance though, I wonder if flying surfboards without insurance counts. Maybe I’ll ask my new insurance acquaintance what happens at such an event the next time I see him. The reality is that you never know what could happen, just that it could happen and you will need insurance at some point. In fact, I hope you will please consider all of this and think about it.