Do boating violations affect your driver license?
 

Do boating violations affect your driver license or your car insurance?
A friend of mine told me that if you get a violation while boating, it will show on your driver's license record. - I know that if you are caught under the infuence it will, but does even a minor violation count?

As of now, boating under the influence is the only one that I am aware of. A BUI (ditto when operating a snowmobile or ATV) will result in loss of you MV license. I believe the House is looking at attaching other violations to your MV license, but nothing as of yet. IMHO, this would go a long way towards eliminating Captain Bonehead behavior.

I don't believe that boating violations, other than BWI, are "pointable" on your driver's license. But, I think they show up on your driving record.

I know of a man who drove a boat one time and was stopped and ticketed for a Safe Passage violation. A couple of years later, his auto insurance went up because of it. His agent is a good friend of mine and he told me the story. It seems that the auto insurance company interpreted the violation as a speeding ticket. This was the only blemish on his otherwise perfect driving record.

Paugus Bay Resident, are you referring to the NH state house? If you are licenced in another state I don't see how this would all work. It would mean that NH would need to have the ability to know who your auto insurer is would be able to somehow communicate with that insurer & the RMV of the state you are licenced in. Then it would have to be a law in the state you are licenced in that they can use boating violations to attach to your driving record & affect your auto insurance premiums.

Propeller, it doesn't work that way. Your MV record is available to other states whenever they run a records check. That is how the out-of-state police can tell if you have a suspended license after you have been stopped.

The insurance companies run a records check whenever you apply for a new policy or your old one comes up for renewal.

Most insurance companies now also check your credit report. It seems that if you have poor credit, you are a greater risk. Go figure. :rolleye2:

Yes, your MV record but what about your boating record? If you are from another state they may not have access to boating violations & whatever state your from they may not be able to attach boating violations from other states.

My question to Paugus Bay Resident was; is he refering to the NH house in his previous post & the reason I ask that is because many of the boaters on Winnipesaukee are from Mass & boating violations may not have any affect on their MV record or the auto insurance premiums.

Commercial license
 

Just as a note, for those of us with a commercial captain license, the state does check our MV record. For new and renewal.

I used to work for an insurance company years ago in Personal Lines Underwriting, and we would routinely order Motor Vehicle Reports (MVR) on our insureds for both Auto and Boat insurance. Even back then (10+ years ago), there were states who made BWI a part of your driving record for that state (ie:, a BWI in Maine would show up under an MVR for a NY driver with a Maine location for the incident, assuming that Maine & NY reciprocated in the exchange of information.). I never saw any other infraction for boating show, like safe passage, speed limit, life preserver violations, etc., but would imagine that a major violation such as vehiclar homicide in a boat (boating homicide????) would also show up.

We would almost routinely find in an Mass MVR a DWI in NH and possible suspension of license to operate in NH, for which we could cancel insurance, move the insured to the "high risk pool" and charge a higher premium, including points for the out of state DWI. Certainly, in states where a BWI would have the same effect on your license as a DWI, a few beers on the boat on a Saturday afternoon could end up getting very expensive. :eek:

Bottom line, it is not the particular state that is contacting insurance companies, but rather they post that data in their driver data base, and any reciprocating state can access that information, as can insurance companies.

Propeller, yes, I was referring to the NH house.