Extended skipper liability insurance for private skippers

As a skipper of a yacht, you bear a high degree of responsibility towards the crew, the guests, and the boat's owner. Both your competence and your sense of responsibility are prerequisites for your job. Therefore, we consider taking out an extended skipper's liability insurance to be obligatory for you.

Boats and yachts are usually covered by liability insurance. Nevertheless, it frequently happens that a yacht liability or fully comprehensive insurer does not pay out in some instances, or the cover sum or the scope of the contract is insufficient. Therefore, take out the extended skipper's liability insurance from EIS European Insurance & Services LLC.!

 

What is skipper liability insurance?

If you negligently cause damage to persons or property, you are liable for your present and future assets. If you already have private liability insurance, it does not cover claims that may arise during your activities as a skipper on a charter.

As a rule, all water sports activities are excluded by insurers. An example: You charter a yacht for your holiday and want to sail off the French Atlantic coast as a skipper. In an accident caused by gross negligence, some of your fellow crew or passengers are injured, and the ship is damaged. In this case, your private liability insurance does not apply, and your assets would now be at stake. But when you have taken out the EIS extended skipper's liability insurance for the trip, it will settle the claims following the conditions up to the specified amount of cover.

 

Which damages are insured?

The extended skipper's liability insurance covers the legal liability of the insured person arising from the private, non-commercial operation of chartered/foreign sailing and motor yachts. The sum insured is EUR 3,000,000 or EUR 6,000,000 lump sum for personal injury and property damage and an additional EUR 100,000 for financial loss. The yacht liability and fully comprehensive insurance are always obliged to pay for the damages in advance so that the skipper liability insurance always pays subsidiarily. In addition, the following are regarded as co-insured:

• damage to the chartered yacht in the event of proven gross negligence up to 550,000 EUR

• deductible in the event of damage of 2,500 EUR

• Liability claims of the entire crew among each other up to 3,000,000 EUR or 6,000,000 EUR

• in the case of property damage, if the amount increases by 150 EUR per loss event, security deposits up to 50,000 EUR in the event of seizure in a foreign port

• claims by the owner for loss of charter income as a result of significant yacht damage for which the skipper is responsible up to 20,000 EUR. The primary policyholder proportionally borne the costs for the first three days caused by the loss of charter income.


• 1.000 EUR in case of interruption of the cruise due to damage which makes the return trip impossible due to the yacht's lack of navigability for hotel and travel costs to the bas

 

What is not covered by the skipper's insurance?

The following damages, among others, are not covered by the extended skipper's liability insurance. The complete list can be found in § 2 of our extended skipper liability insurance conditions. liability claims that go beyond the scope of legal liability

• damage that you suffer yourself


• damage that you cause intentionally
• liability claims arising from damage that occurs during participation in sailing regattas or motorboat races or during the associated practice trips, as not expressly agreed in the policy

• damage to your own or borrowed property or objects or persons living in the same household as you: in particular damage to the chartered yacht, its accessories, and equipment as well as tenders, provided that the damage to the chartered boat was not caused by gross negligence
 damage caused by you to certain close relatives
 liability claims arising from damage caused by the improper handling of flammable or explosive substances
 driving a watercraft if an official permit is required and the operator in charge does not have the official license when the insured event occurs

damage in connection with valuables (jewelry, watches, furs, cash, credit cards, securities, etc.) and electronic devices

 

Skipper insurance: costs at a glance

The premium for our extended skipper's liability insurance is well-structured and very inexpensive for the scope of insurance included. As you can see from the table, three criteria lead to the corresponding rate: the desired sum insured, the type of yacht chartered and its length.

 

	Sailing Yachts		Motor and Sailing yachts
Sum insured	3.000.000 €	6.000.000 €	3.000.000 €	6.000.000 €
up to 10m length	65 €	77 €	72 €	88 €
over 10m length	90 €	100 €	115 €	130 €