Insurance might be a bit of a yawn, but when you’ve invested in an amazing hot tub you won’t want to leave it to fate.

If you offer hot tubs in a commercial setting, maybe in a holiday home, glamping site, spa or hotel you’ll need to talk to a commercial insurance broker about getting the right cover for public liability and for physical damage to the hot tub itself. If it’s a hot tub at home in your garden, it’ll be a matter for your home insurer. But as we’ll see, it isn’t always simple – which is why it’s wise to be aware of the hot tub insurance facts.

How hot tub insurance became a hot pandemic topic

The covid pandemic inspired thousands of locked-down Brits to buy a hot tub for the garden. EBay said hot tub sales shot up by 1,080% year-on-year and manufacturers struggled to keep up with demand. It’s no surprise the insurance sector saw a corresponding hike in claims for damage to hot tubs, and to things accidentally dropped in the water.  No wonder, according to Aviva, hot tub claims almost tripled in 2020.

Insurance companies paid out a fortune in claims for damage to posh permanent hot tubs. Claims for drowned smartphones, tablets, headphones, watches and hearing aids hit record levels, up more than 200% on the previous year.

Some people burst their inflatable hot tubs with garden tools, lawnmowers, strimmers, tent pegs, garden tools, bottle openers and barbecue accessories. Birds decided hot tub covers were a fun game, pecking holes in them. We heard tales of diamond rings ripping holes in hot tubs and cats clawing the plastic, causing small yet fatal leaks. It might be hard to believe but some particularly determined thieves actually stole entire hot tubs from gardens as well as nicking deflated tubs stored in garages and sheds. 

Different ways of approaching hot tub insurance claims

Some insurers might ask for more money to cover an expensive hot tub, others will roll it into your existing policy with no extra charge. It depends on the value of the hot tub and whether it’s temporary or permanent.

Some insurers don’t cover hot tubs so it’s always best to check just in case they’re excluded. If the insurer has encountered a flood of costly hot tub claims they might decide it isn’t worth covering them full-stop.  In that case you’ll need to find specialist hot tub insurance.

Assuming you have a permanent fitted hot tub, it’ll belong under the ‘buildings’ section of your home insurance policy. It only qualifies under ‘buildings’ when it’s a permanent fixture. Most policies define ‘buildings’ as covering your home, its fixtures and fittings, swimming pools, permanently fixed hot tubs, tennis courts, patios, terraces, service tanks, drains, septic tanks, pipes and cables, central heating fuel storage tanks, drives, footpaths, garden walls, hedges, gates and fences. Because hot tubs fall under a buildings policy they’re insured up to the ‘total rebuild sum insured’ for buildings, which is often as high as £1m and can be unlimited depending on the policy.

If it’s a blow-up or portable hot tub it’ll fall under the ‘garden contents’ or ‘contents’ part of your home insurance policy.

Specialist garden insurance policies usually only cover non-fitted hot tubs, simply because fitted permanent tubs fall under an ordinary home buildings policy and there’s no point paying to insure the same thing twice.   

Watch out for policy exclusions. If the tub is out in the open, check to see if loss or damage from storms, floods and snow are included or excluded. The same goes for water escaping from fixed tanks, frost damage, subsidence, landslip and ‘heave’, where the ground is forced upward. Loss or damage to hot tub covers is often excluded. And you’ll only be covered if it’s at your main home, not a holiday home, an unoccupied second home, or let to tenants.  

You might have a hot tub endorsement added to your policy, a special condition that limits the cover you get. The excess on the hot tub might be bigger than on the rest of the policy, an excess being the amount you pay yourself before a claim kicks in.

Your policy should cover the full value of the tub, otherwise you might end up under-insured and left out of pocket after a claim. ‘Accidental damage’ cover is the best choice if you can get it. Otherwise accidental damage isn’t insured.

Handy hot tub warranties

The best hot tub retailers, online or offline, provide a warranty with your new tub. UK hot tub warranties usually last 1-3 years and cover the main components. Warranties usually cover defects in the materials and workmanship for the most important parts: the shell, frame, pipes, and equipment. The best warranties give you a lifetime shell warranty to cover the tough, strong outer layer of the tub, with the choice to add extra protection.

Because the warranty won’t be valid unless you follow the manufacturer’s maintenance guidelines it makes sense to keep detailed records, just like you would for a car. Keep the receipts for everything, register your warranty straight away (some only give you ten days to get it sorted), and file all the invoices and documentation for cleaning, spare parts and everything else.

A professional maintenance expert might be your best choice unless you actually love spending time doing it yourself. And a good quality hot tub cover will help keep it in the best condition. 

Labour isn’t usually covered under a warranty, although some warranties cover labour for a year. Some elements, for example the jets and cover, might only have a limited warranty on them. If there’s damage caused by chemicals a warranty won’t pay out.

As you can tell, it’s wise to pin down exactly which components are covered for the full warranty time period and which aren’t.

Doing all this means you can budget for non-warranty repairs, avoid losing the warranty’s protection because you didn’t do the maintenance, and spot problems before they become nightmares. Bear in mind different hot tub brands come with different warranties, and that you can pay for some warranties to be extended to give you protection for longer.  

Good hot tub practice and maintenance

Owning a hot tub means following the recommended timing for cleaning, getting the water chemistry right, and changing the filters as directed. If you don’t, the warranty will be ‘void’ and you won’t be able to claim on it.

You should only use the manufacturer’s approved accessories and chemicals. It’ll need to be carefully winterised and looked after properly in bad weather. And it helps to address minor issues before they get worse. This won’t just keep your hot tub looking good and working well, it means you’ll have a lot more fun for years to come.

Insurance-inspired hot tub tips

 Don’t wear jewellery or a watch in a hot tub. The hot tub chemicals can damage some metals and watches never respond well to being underwater in a high water pressure environment. Phones and other electronic gadgets are no good for hot tubbing either, unless you’ve invested in a 100% waterproof mobile phone case.

If you want your time in the hot tub accompanied by music, keep the phone or whatever else you’ll play it on well away from the water itself and dripping wet people.

Broken glasses and crockery can cut you and damage the hot tub. You might want to use safe plastic or paper glasses, plates, and cups instead. And keep your pets away from the tub if possible so they can’t damage it or drown themselves. Child safety is, of course, paramount where hot tubs are concerned.  

Insurance is all about putting you back in the same financial position as you were before you claimed. Once you’ve found good accidental damage insurance to cover it, you can chill out in your tub with confidence. If something goes wrong, you’re covered.

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