Important thing is the insurance cost proportion to insured boat value, mine is just shy of 0.5%, what’s yours? I’m with GJW.
That is not strictly true. Only a portion of the premium is for the value of the boat, the rest is third party and largely independent of the value of the boat. So on a low value boat the third party element will be a larger proportion of the total.
While true they do offer better value
Interesting and logical. But the point remains that it is impossible to judge the value of insurance premium unless it is compared to the value of the asset which is insured. A premium seen in isolation is surely meaningless.
... and should only need to be paid for once, unlike annual premiums.
But that metric does not do that as the total premium is not a function of the value of the asset as I showed. A significant proportion (typically £150-200) of the premium is for third party risks which is largely independent of asset value. The only comparison is the premium against the cover offered in total. So just get 2 or more quotes for exactly the same cover and the cheaper is the better "value" except that it does not value the intangibles. Turning it into a percentage does not add anything. Also no good for comparing a premium for one boat compared with another, so does not help the OP.
Okay, we’re not going to agree but thanks anyway.
As Tranona says, a substantial part of any yacht insurance is the third party cover, which is independent of value. From having worked in an organisation that depended on ships for routine operations, I can confidently state that ANY accident involving a ship may immediately cost a 6 figure sum, even for the most trivial of things. Delay on departure while investigating alone would do that, and repair costs for the lightest "fender-bender" damage on top of that. Ships are remarkably vulnerable to damage; someone once pointed out that an accurate 1:100 scale model would have to be made of foil! And I've pointed out before that a yacht with a 14m mast sinking from whatever cause in the ship channel off Landguard Point would block the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich, with costs running into millions. Thinking about things like that puts out usual £3,000,000 third party cover into perspective, and even makes you wonder if it's enough in some places!
In most cases, a skipper's skill or lack of it restricts the type of sailing they are likely to do quite effectively. Inexperienced or unskilled skippers tend to confine their sailing in ways that reflect their skill, except in the few cases where they underestimate the dangers or overestimate their skills! Shane Actons or the like are few and far between; "Captain Calamity" types are rare enough that they get wide reporting through things like these fora. But most people who lack experience and/or skill tend to limit their ventures to waters and conditions they know they can handle.
