Yacht Charter - deposit insurance

[fobos8]

Hi guys

Off to Menorca next week for a weeks charter on a Oceanis 37. Charter company will take a deposit of 1200 euros off me in case it gets damaged.

Anyone know of an insurance company offering deposit insurance - will help me relax more knowing I will get my deposit back! There are many 3rd party insurance companies offering this for car rentals - looking for a similar thing.

Cheers, Andrew

 

[Tranona]

Ask the charter operator. Some give the option of taking out insurance. Not aware of any third party that offers it.

 

[fobos8]

Unfortunately this charter company doesn't offer anything to insure you against losing the deposit.

Anyone know of any insurance companies that do it?

 

[Germaine]

Unfortunately this charter company doesn't offer anything to insure you against losing the deposit.

Anyone know of any insurance companies that do it?

Probably a bit late for you but for anyone else looking

Eis-Insurance
Yachtpool
Top Sail
schomacker.de

All offer these sort of policies, I would check the deductable and small print though, sometimes it's a shock, other times its what you'd expect.

 

[FairweatherDave]

http://www.pantaenius.de/en/insurance/solution-for/charter-insurance.html?adid=1931

At the bottom is the option for bond insurance which is what I think you are after. It is Pantaenius Germany (I phoned the UK office but they don't do it). Simple to do on line. I used it for my charter holiday recently.
Edit.....oops, should have looked at date of first post............

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

When you collect it give it a very close inspection with someone from the charter company and take lots of photographs!

 

[Bradders]

When you collect it give it a very close inspection with someone from the charter company and take lots of photographs!

And make sure the photographs have a date and GPS stamp if possible

 

[stearman65]

And make sure the photographs have a date and GPS stamp if possible

All picture taken with a digital camera contain what is known as Exif information. This gives full details of the images & the date taken.

 

[jwilson]

All picture taken with a digital camera contain what is known as Exif information. This gives full details of the images & the date taken.

When a (rare) bad tenant left a house truly vile after one year I sent before and after photos to the Deposit Protection lot who rejected my claim to retain a deposit because "the photos weren't datestamped". I said the originals had EXIF data that showed date and time, they said "our decisions are final and can't be reviewed"......

You can actually edit EXIF data if you really want to, just as I could easily Photoshop visible datestamps. Long ago I was involved as expert witness in court attesting that there was an extremely high likelyhood that a video was an unedited original tape - but even then it just could have been altered or a complete fake if very very serious $$$$$$$ had been spent. Now anyone can do almost anything given a PC and some not that expensive software.

As someone who charters out a boat now, I'd worry if a charterer had deposit insurance. Though I suppose the insurance company would eventually pay up. I have chartered boats myself, and a big deposit focusses the mind on taking extra care, especially as the boat is unfamiliar.

 

[stearman65]

I've just chartered a motor boat on the Dutch canals in June next year. Some of the companies I checked did offer deposit insurance as an extra. What has disturbed me, the majority of the companies I checked wouldn't accept either the booking deposit or the damage deposit by credit card. In fact my company want the damage deposit of 500 euros in cash when the boat is handed over. By the way altering Exif info on a digital image can be detected.

 

[[70521]]

All picture taken with a digital camera contain what is known as Exif information. This gives full details of the images & the date taken.

which can be amended if you know how.

 

[ylop]

By the way altering Exif info on a digital image can be detected.

unless you have a specialist camera I can edit your exif data in a way you won't be able to detect, more to the point if the recipient has no knowledge of your camera there is no way for them to know; and even then I could simply change the date before taking the picture!

 

[duncan99210]

As someone who charters out a boat now, I'd worry if a charterer had deposit insurance. Though I suppose the insurance company would eventually pay up.

As I understand it, the deposit insurance works the same way that hire car protection policies work: if you have a prang, you pay the bill and then claim for this on the policy. So, the owner of the chartered boat would extract the money from the deposit and return the balance (if any), leaving the charterer to claim on his insurance policy for the money. No need for the boat owner to get nvolved with the insurance company at all.