Buyer's Guide – Insurance
nother year of climate extremes has done nothing to reduce the cost of insuring your boat. That and the rocketing cost of raw materials and labour are pushing up premiums this year. But the main story for insurers was a surge of eager sailors returning to the water after on-off Covid restrictions came to an end.
“2022 saw a welcome return to full sailing activity and inevitably that contributed to an increase in claim numbers,” says Rod Daniel, underwriting manager at online insurer Craftinsure. “In the excitement of having all shackles lifted, it seems some threw caution to the wind in a few cases! We did see a significant increase in racing incidents as well as groundings during the past year.”
Buoyant demand for new and second-hand boats has seemingly not been dented by global instability, but it has created an issue for boat owners. Prices have surged in the brokerage market, and that means that the cost of replacing or repairing the boat has increased too. If you simply rolled over last year’s hull value when it came to renewal, then there is a risk that you are under insuring your boat.
“Requests for increase in values are difficult to quantify as some owners for the last few years have perhaps underinsured to try to keep their premiums down,” explains Greg Hill of Traffords.
