Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) is dedicated to maintaining and protecting the privacy of our Members and web visitors, and delivering options to you regarding the use of your private and personal individual information.
BoatUS Privacy Statement
LAST UPDATED: June 2025
This “Privacy Policy” describes how Boat Owners Association of the United States LLC and its affiliates in the United States (“Boat US”, “we”, “our”, “us”) may collect, use, and disclose personal information of visitors who access or interact with our mobile application (“App”) or our website (“Website”) that link to this Privacy Policy, as well as other personal information about our customers. The App, the Website, our membership program, and our related service offerings are referred to in this Privacy Policy as our “Services.” This Privacy Policy is applicable to consumers in the United States. We maintain separate privacy policies for our employees in the United States. We also maintain a separate Applicant Privacy Notice that is applicable to job applicants in the United States. This Privacy Policy also does not apply to our former employees and their family members, dependents, and beneficiaries.
Our Privacy Policy will be maintained at https://boatus.com/privacy-policy, and available through the link located at the footer of our homepage. It will be available in the English language.
Notice at Collection
We collect personal information as detailed below. To learn more, including how you can opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, please see the “Your State Privacy Rights and Additional Disclosures” section below.
| Categories of Personal Information | Purpose for Collection and Processing | Categories of Recipients | Used for Sell or Share or Targeted Advertising (Yes/No) |
| Identifiers such as names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses |
To notify you of such things as new services, special offers, to confirm transactions, or to provide claims related updates To provide and maintain our Services and your account |
Boat US, its parent company, and subsidiaries of its parent company Payment processors Marketing and advertising partners Vendors providing services to us |
Yes |
| Protected categories of information, such as your age range and other demographic information |
To conduct marketing personalization and advertising, including interest based advertising and cross-context advertising To improve our customer service and other internal business purposes |
Boat US, its parent company, and subsidiaries of its parent company Marketing and advertising partners |
Yes |
| Precise geolocation data (this is sensitive personal information) |
To dispatch emergency assistance when you have requested to receive it To provide other location-related services to you |
Boat US, its parent company, and subsidiaries of its parent company Vendors providing services to us |
No |
| Commercial information, such as records of your payment history, towing claims and other transactions with us |
To provide and maintain our Services and your account To improve, develop and analyze our Services |
Boat US, its parent company, and subsidiaries of its parent company Payment processors Vendors providing services to us |
No |
| Internet or other electronic network activity information, including, but not limited to, browsing history, search history, and information regarding your interactions with websites, applications, or advertisements, and other information described in the Information we collect automatically section of our Privacy Policy |
To conduct marketing personalization and advertising, including interest based advertising and cross-context advertising To provide and maintain our Services and your account To improve, develop and analyze our Services |
Boat US, its parent company, and subsidiaries of its parent company Marketing and advertising partners Analytics partners |
Yes |
| Other information you provide to us | To provide and maintain our Services and your account |
Boat US, its parent company, and subsidiaries of its parent company Vendors providing services to us |
No |
| Sensory data such as recordings of customer care calls | Personnel training/coaching |
Boat US, its parent company, and subsidiaries of its parent company |
No |
This Privacy Policy includes the following sections:
- Collection of Information
- Use of Information
- Sharing of Information
- Retention of Information
- Security
- Privacy for Those Under the Age of 18
- Online Tracking Technologies and Advertising
- Your State Privacy Rights and Additional Disclosures
- Links to Other Websites and Services
- Changes to this Privacy Policy
- Contact Us
Collection of Information
We may collect the following kinds of information when you use the Services:
Information you provide directly to us. For certain activities, such as when you register to become a member, you will provide us with:
- Contact information, such as your full name, email address, mobile phone number, and address;
- Watercraft information, such as boat make, model and year;
- Geolocation information by geographic coordinates, if you choose enter this information via the app when requesting location-based services such as towing, rather than using automated GPS location tracking on your phone or mobile device;
- Financial information, such as credit card information, for payment processing;
- Username and password; and
- Any other personal information you choose to provide to us.
We may combine such information with information we may already have about you.
Information we collect automatically. We may collect certain information automatically when you use our Services, such as your Internet protocol (IP) address, device and advertising identifiers, browser type, operating system, Internet service provider, browsing history, pages that you visit before and after using the Services, the date and time of your visit, information about the links you click, the pages you view, the general manner in which you navigate the Services, and other standard server log information. We may also collect certain location information when you use our Services, such as your computer’s IP address, or your mobile device’s GPS signal.
Depending on your personal device and App permission settings, when using the App, we may collect or have access to your:
- Precise geolocation. When you give the App permission to collect your precise geolocation, the App may use your mobile device’s location services to collect real-time information about the location of your device (using both GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth or other methods, including in-store beacons) to provide requested location services, such as boat towing services on land or water. To turn off geolocation, please adjust the permissions on your device. If location services are disabled, other means of establishing or estimating your general location (e.g., connecting to or proximity to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, beacons, or our networks) may still be active.
- Other. The App will send and receive data to and from the Internet, and may view network connections, have full network access, control vibration of your device, or prevent your device from sleeping.
We and our vendors may automatically collect this information using various tools and technologies such as cookies, web server logs, tags, beacons, pixels, local storage, JavaScript, APIs, session replay/screen capture (i.e., how you use and navigate through our website, but not your keystroke data), search contents, form field data, and other similar technologies. For more information about the technologies we use, please see the “Online Tracking Technologies and Advertising” section below.
We may also collect technical data to address and fix technical problems and improve our Services, including the memory state of your device when a system or app crash occurs while using our Services. Your device or browser settings may permit you to control the collection of this technical data. By using the Services, you are consenting to the collection of this technical data.
Information we collect from third parties. We may also receive information about you from other sources, including through third-party services and organizations. For example, we may receive information, such as your name, address, telephone number, and email address from our marketing partner, when they sell a new membership on our behalf, or from a publicly available address database for purposes of updating your address in our records. We may receive information about you from subsidiaries of our parent company, to which we provide services.
Use of Information
We use your personal information for various business purposes, including, as further described below:
- Providing and maintaining our Services and your account
- Improving, developing and analyzing our Services
- Data analytics, modeling (such as predictive modeling)
- Marketing products and services of other GEICO companies and other companies that may interest you
- Detecting and preventing identity theft, fraud, or misuse of your accounts
- As required by law
Providing and maintaining our Services and your account. We may use your personal information to provide or maintain your service, products, or membership including to set up a product or service or provide a product or service, maintain your account, handle a claim, complete a transaction, or respond to customer service requests or other inquiries. We may also collect information about other parties from you to carry out necessary services and/or requests, including adding another driver to your existing membership. If you provide us personal information about others, or if others give us your personal information, we will only use the information for the specific reason for which it was provided to us.
Improving, developing and analyzing our Services. We use, or may use, your personal information and other information to:
- analyze, improve, develop or deliver our Services, develop new services, products or features using algorithms, analytics software and other similar methods,
- conduct actuarial or research studies to maintain, protect and develop our networks, services, and products and protect our customers, and
- analyze how visitors use our Services to improve the Services and enhance and personalize your experience.
We collect some information used for these purposes using analytics software, cookies and other tracking technologies. For more information about the collection and use of this information, see Online Tracking Technologies and Advertising below.
Communicate with you about your account or membership or the services we provide to you. We may communicate with you about services you have requested, your account, or membership, provide you with transaction confirmations, payment alerts or other Service related messages via mail, email, or other available methods such as push notifications. We may communicate this information to you via text message, if you have opted in to receive certain transactional messaging via SMS, including the status of a requested tow.
Provide marketing communications. We may use your personal information to send you promotional communications about products, services, features, and options we believe may interest you. We may send communications via e-mail, regular mail or may send push notifications via a mobile device. We may also use your information to serve you ads or customized content online.
Comply with legal requirements and protect the safety and security of our business, and Services. We may use your personal information to comply with laws, regulations or other legal obligations, to assist in an investigation, to protect and defend our rights and property or the rights of third parties or enforce terms and conditions. We may also use your personal information to prevent suspected fraud, threats to our network or other illegal activities, prevent misuse or for any other reason permitted by law.
Update or correct our records. We may receive personal information about you from other sources, including publicly available databases or third parties from whom we have purchased data, and combine that personal information with other personal information we have about you to update our records. For example, we may obtain change of address information from public sources and use that personal information to update or correct your address.
Find locations on request. Your location may be obtained from the mobile device or the network using your device's Global Positioning System (GPS) functionality or directly from you. We will only use your location information when you have requested a tow, to search for the nearest service provider, identifying the location of an accident or identifying the location of a roadside or waterside event you are reporting. If you do not want location information used, you can disable the GPS functionality on your mobile device. We may not be able to provide you with certain location-based services if your GPS functionality is disabled.
Our use of sensitive personal information. Your precise geolocation may constitute sensitive personal information under certain applicable laws. We use or may use sensitive personal information only as reasonably necessary to perform or maintain the services you requested, to perform services on behalf of the business such as maintaining or servicing accounts, processing payments, to provide analytics services or similar services, to detect security incidents, resist malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal actions and to prosecute those responsible for those actions, to ensure customers and other peoples’ physical safety, for short-term use such as non-personalized advertising as part of our current interactions, to verify or maintain the quality or safety of service, improve, upgrade or enhance service, or other reasons that do not require an opt-out of this use.
Sharing of Information
We may share your personal information, including information about your transactions and experiences, among GEICO companies and with other non-GEICO companies that perform services for us or on our behalf for our everyday business purposes, such as providing services to you, administering your account, and marketing products and services of GEICO companies and other companies in which you may be interested. Unless you agree otherwise, we do not share your personal information with non-GEICO companies for them to market their products or services to you. We may tell you about a product or service that other companies offer and, if you respond, that company will know that we selected you to receive the information. We will not share your phone number with non-GEICO companies for the purposes of text messaging. Only GEICO companies who have obtained your prior express written consent will be able to contact you via text messaging. You may be able to access services of other GEICO companies via our Website or App, such as if you click to purchase a GEICO Marine policy or view policy information. In that case, you will be taken to a separate instance on GEICO.com, and collection, use and storage of your personal information while you are navigating that instance shall be governed by the GEICO.com Privacy Policy.
If you are a member, your membership plan may include certain third party products or services. You agree that we may share your personal information with such third parties to enable them to provide you with such products or services. You understand and agree that such third party’s use of your personal information shall be governed by their privacy policy. By way of example, presently, Boat US membership includes membership in the West Advantage Gold Rewards program offered by West Marine. Boat US will share your personal information, namely, information collected at the time that you establish a membership account with us, with West Marine so that they may enroll you as a West Advantage Gold Rewards Member, and provide you with the associated advantages of enrollment. The information we share with West Marine may include: your name; email address; boat-specific information, such as: towing codes indicating service level, boat make and model, hull type, length, primary use, and year; and membership information, such as: join/expiration dates, and membership status. West Marine’s privacy policy can be found here.
We may also share your personal information as permitted or required by law, including, for example, to law enforcement officials and regulators, in response to subpoenas, and to prevent fraud.
Retention of Personal Information
We retain personal information in accordance with applicable laws or regulatory requirements and also for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected and to fulfill the business or commercial purposes that are explained in this Privacy Policy.
Security
We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information. The people authorized to access your personal information need it to do their jobs, and we require that they keep your information secure and confidential.
Privacy for those Under the Age of 18
We do not market any products or services to children under the age of thirteen or knowingly collect any information from children under the age of thirteen. We do not knowingly sell or share for cross-context behavioral advertising the personal information of consumers under the age of sixteen. Our website is not intended for children.
Online Tracking Technologies and Advertising
Our Website and App may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – places on the user’s device to remember information about the user. Cookies that are set by us are referred to as a “first-party cookies.” Boat US uses first-party cookies primarily to make the Website work as you expect it to. For example, we use the information we collect through first-party cookies to allow you to navigate between pages efficiently, analyze how well our Services are performing, and understand the content that you spend the most time viewing. In some cases, we use first-party cookies to store information that we use for targeted advertising.
We also incorporate cookies and similar technologies, such as pixels, tags, and web beacons, from outside Boat US’s domain (“third-party cookies”). Third-party cookies gather information to enable our vendors to provide a range of services to us, including targeted advertising and measuring the success of our advertising campaigns.
We may use certain service providers of web and mobile app analytics services, including but not limited to Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and Nielsen marketing analytics cookies, to help us understand and analyze how visitors use our Website and App or serve ads on our behalf across the Internet and in different channels (including on the web, in mobile apps, on out-of-home digital surfaces, and in connected TV apps). We also use these services for remarketing, interest-based advertising, demographics and interests reporting, user segment analysis, look-alike modeling and impression reporting. We and our service providers may use first-party cookies or other first-party identifiers as well as third-party cookies or other third-party identifiers to provide Boat US with insight into behavior information relating to inferred visitor age range (e.g., Millennial, GenX, Baby Boomer, etc.), your interests, and to deliver advertisements to you, create a profile of you, measure your interests, detect your demographics, personalize content, and detect and associate online and offline behaviors such as site visitation, dwell time and actions taken.
Please review our Cookie Policy for a detailed list of the categories of first and third-party cookies we use on our Website and additional information related to your ability to control cookies on our Website and App.
Your State Privacy Rights and Additional Disclosures
Depending on the state in which you reside, you may have certain privacy rights regarding your personal data as explained in the following sections.
Collection, Use, and Disclosure of Personal Information
During the 12 months leading up to the effective date of this Privacy Policy, we have collected the following categories of personal information as described in more detail in Section 1, Collection of Information, above: Identifiers/contact information, protected classifications such as your age range, and other demographic information, payment details, internet or other electronic network activity information, precise geolocation data, other information you provide to us, including user-generated content, sensory data such as recordings of customer care calls, and inferences based on the above categories.
We collected personal information directly from you and from advertising networks, internet service providers, data analytics providers, and operating systems and platforms. We do not collect all categories of personal information from each source.
During that period, we made the following disclosures of personal information to affiliates (including other subsidiaries of our parent company), towing services providers, marketing and advertising services providers, payment services providers, transactional support providers, technical services providers, and governmental entities for business purposes consistent with the purposes described in Section 2, Use of Information, above: Identifiers/contact information, protected classifications such as your age range, and other demographic information, commercial information, payment details, visual information, internet or other electronic network activity information, geolocation information, and inferences based on the above categories.
During the 12 months leading up to the effective date of this Privacy Policy, we “sold” or “shared” (as these terms are defined under applicable state laws) commercial information (transaction data), and internet or other network or device activity (like a record of a browser’s visit to our Website) for marketing and advertising purposes to advertising providers, analytics companies, and social media networks.
Consumer Rights
You may request that we:
- Inform you about the categories of personal information we collect or disclose about you; the categories of sources of such information; the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling or sharing your personal information; and the categories of third parties with whom we share/disclose personal information.
- Confirm whether we are processing your personal information and provide access to and/or a copy of certain personal information we hold about you.
- Delete certain personal information we have about you. Note that there are some reasons we will not be able to fully address your request, such as if we need to complete a transaction for you, for our internal purposes, or to comply with a legal obligation. If you exercise your right to delete your account, it may result in the termination of your account, a loss of membership services offered by us and our partner West Marine, and any accrued rewards.
- Correct certain personal information we have about you.
If you would like to exercise your right to know, access, delete or correct your personal information you may do so through our webform, or by calling Boat US Customer Service at 1-800-395-2628. You will be asked to provide certain authentication information before we can consider your request. If making your request through our webform, your identity will be authenticated through use of our online tool. If making your request by phone, you will be asked to verify at least three details of your personal information. You may also correct contact and payment information, and update your eMembership options online through our self-service member portal at BoatUS.com/Account. You may also print out the information provided there.
We will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before responding to your request, which may include, at a minimum, depending on the sensitivity of the information you are requesting and the type of request you are making, verifying your name, email address, and mailing address.
Opt Out from Targeted Advertising or the “Sale” or “Sharing” of Personal Information
You may direct us not to “sell” or “share” certain personal information or use your personal information for targeted advertising as these terms are defined in state privacy laws. You can exercise these rights by:
- Choosing not to allow the placement of cookies by selecting the specific type of cookies you reject or selecting “Reject All Cookies” in our cookie banner.
- Enabling opt-out by using the Global Privacy Control (“GPC”) tool that that automatically communicates your opt-out preferences through browser.
- You may need to repeat the preference options described above from each device and browser that you use in connection with our Website, as well as in a particular browser or device if you clear cookies or reset the browser. We also may work with companies that offer their own opt-out mechanisms or do not participate in the opt-out mechanisms described above, so even after opting-out, you may still receive some cookies and interest-based ads from other companies. If you opt-out of interest-based advertisements, you will still see advertisements online but they may be less relevant to you.
Your choices do not apply to services hosted and managed by our service providers. Those service providers will present you with their own cookie consent options for the services they provide.
Requests Made by Agents
If you are an agent making a request on behalf of a consumer, we reserve the right to take steps to verify that you are authorized to make that request, which may include requiring you to provide us with written proof, such as a power of attorney. As part of the process, we may additionally require the consumer to verify their identity directly with us. For security and legal reasons, Boat US will reject requests that require us to access third-party websites or services.
Nondiscrimination
We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.
California “Shine the Light” Rights
Subject to certain limitations under California’s Shine the Light law, California residents may contact us as described at the end of this Privacy Policy to request a list of third parties to whom we disclosed certain personal information for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the preceding year. The information we will provide will describe our general practices in the prior calendar year and will not be specific to you.
Your request should indicate that you are a California resident, and you must provide your full current California address, to which we will send our response. Your inquiry must specify “Shine the Light Request” in the subject line of the email or the first line of the letter, and include your California address. We are only required to respond to one such request per individual each year. We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity and the authenticity of the request.
Links to Other Websites and Services
The Services may offer links to third party websites and other services that are not maintained by Boat US. By visiting one of these linked websites or services, you are subject to their privacy and other policies. We are not responsible for, or able to monitor or control, the policies and practices of other companies.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
From time to time, Boat US may change this Privacy Policy. Changes will be indicated by the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page.
Contact Us
- By phone: 1-800-395-2628
- By email: Membership@BoatUS.com
- By mail:
Boat Owners Association of the United States LLC
5323 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22151