Insurer for Delaware flag in Med?

[andypag]

Hi. I'm looking for an insurer who can cover a Delaware flagged boat in the Eastern Med (Greece and Turkey). I'm from the UK and all the brit insurers I speak to say they aren't regulated to write insurance for US registered boats anymore. All the US insurers I've contacted say they only cover US residents.


I know there are a lot of Delaware registered boats in Turkey and Greece, so wondering how everybody does it. Any help appreciated.

 

[ashtead]

Would seem to me if the risk is located in Delaware I suspect a Lloyd’s marina broker might have a fronter ie an agreement with an insurer licensed there. Have you thought of looking at the register of insurers licensed there or trying Lloyd’s of London ?

 

[andypag]

Thanks for the reply. Not sure I follow you fully. I'm no expert in the insurance market, but the online brokers I've looked at in the US only insure people with an address in the US. Is that what you mean?

 

[Robin]

Hi. I'm looking for an insurer who can cover a Delaware flagged boat in the Eastern Med (Greece and Turkey). I'm from the UK and all the brit insurers I speak to say they aren't regulated to write insurance for US registered boats anymore. All the US insurers I've contacted say they only cover US residents.


I know there are a lot of Delaware registered boats in Turkey and Greece, so wondering how everybody does it. Any help appreciated.

As a UK citizen, just drop the Delaware ownership and re-register under SSR. Delaware is a tax dodging trick for State sales and property taxes. Usually Delaware registered boats are owned by a company set up in Delaware because sales tax is 0% there. If you need a UK address, try EXPAT SERVICES

 

[Norman_E]

Delaware registration is a method used by Turkish boat owners to avoid the high sales taxes and registration taxes, based on engine horsepower, on Turkish registered boats. It follows that there must be Turkish insurers who insure those boats. But as said above if you are a UK citizen with a UK address, just register the boat on the SSR.

 

[Ningaloo]

Given the ease with which it is possible to register a boat under SSR in the UK, I wonder what advantages the OP feels there are in the Delaware registration? Are there High costs involved in cancelling this?

 

[Lucy52]

It is likely that Delaware registered boats in Turkey are "owned" by a company incorporated in Delaware for the purpose of avoiding tax. It only works if the value of the boat when bought is great enough to warrant the set up cost.

 

[mikegunn]

I

Given the ease with which it is possible to register a boat under SSR in the UK, I wonder what advantages the OP feels there are in the Delaware registration? Are there High costs involved in cancelling this?

It may be that VAT has never been paid on the vessel.
Mike

 

[mikegunn]

Set

It is likely that Delaware registered boats in Turkey are "owned" by a company incorporated in Delaware for the purpose of avoiding tax. It only works if the value of the boat when bought is great enough to warrant the set up cost.

Setup costs are not exhorbitant. There is at least one company in Albania that specialises in such matters.
Mike.

 

[Ningaloo]

It may be that VAT has never been paid on the vessel.
Mike

How would Delaware vs UK make any difference to VAT obligations in Turkey? Or EU from 2021?

 

[Lucy52]

It might be worth approaching the owner of one of the boats to find out who is local and does this for them.

 

[Robin]

More information needed to give proper responses I think. Is the OP looking to buy a boat registered in Delaware but in Turkey or does he own it already.?

 

[ashtead]

I had assumed perhaps incorrectly the OP wish to retain the location of the risk in Delaware as the vessel was owned by a company and he was looking at transferring ownership by buying the shares in the company holding the vessel and this corporate structure had some benefit. Clearly if the vessel can just be registered in the uk on sale the problem falls away but I guess it’s not as simple as that and there is a tax reason not to import into the uk or indeed any eu state.

 

[truscott]

If the primary base of the vessel is actually in Turkey, you can contact sentopsigorta.com. I used them for several years when our boat was based in Turkey. Never claimed though!

PT