Winnipesaukee Forum - View Single Post - Do boating violations affect your driver license?

upthesaukee · 09-07-2005, 05:06 PM

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.

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.

09-07-2005, 05:06 PM	#8
upthesaukee Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Alton Bay Posts: 5,604 Blog Entries: 2 Thanks: 2,470 Thanked 1,983 Times in 1,083 Posts	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. 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. __________________ I Live Here... I am always UPTHESAUKEE !!!!