Before You Head to the Lake This Summer, It Might Be Worth Reviewing Your Coverage
Every year around this time, the Eastside starts coming back to life in a different way.
Boats come out of storage.
RV trips get planned.
Jet skis reappear in driveways.
Friends start coordinating weekends at Lake Sammamish, Lake Chelan, Lake Tapps or out on Puget Sound.
And after a long Pacific Northwest winter, everyone is understandably ready to enjoy it.
What many people don’t realize, though, is how often recreational coverage gets overlooked simply because these things are seasonal.
Chris Jenkins regularly talks with clients who assume:
their homeowners policy covers all of their boating equipment,
their auto policy automatically extends to trailers,
or their liability protection is already sufficient if something happens on the water.
Sometimes it does.
Sometimes it partially does.
Sometimes there are important gaps people simply never realized existed.
Summer recreation tends to come with a different set of exposures than people think about during the rest of the year:
towing trailers
inexperienced operators
guest passengers
dock accidents
equipment theft
storm damage
injuries
vacation liability
roadside breakdowns
uninsured boaters
And unlike daily driving or homeownership, these policies often sit untouched for months at a time without anyone revisiting whether coverage still matches the lifestyle.
Especially here in Washington, where many families invest significantly into boats, RVs and outdoor recreation, it’s worth making sure those investments and the people enjoying them, are properly protected.
One of the things Chris believes strongly is that insurance should support your lifestyle, not complicate it.
The goal isn’t to create fear around summer activities. It’s the opposite. It’s helping people head into boating season, road trips and weekends at the lake feeling confident that everything is structured the way it should be.
Because the best summer memories usually happen when nobody has to think about insurance at all.
And often, the best time to ask questions is before the season starts , not after something stressful happens halfway through it.