Skipper liability insurance
The skipper is fully and personally liable!
The solution: skipper liability insurance from YACHT-POOL!
In principle, the skipper is liable for damages that he culpably causes to others with all his present and future assets – without limitation!
The charter contract usually states that the chartered ship is covered by liability insurance. However, they usually do not know how much. In Spain, cover amounts of € 50,000 are quite common. Ships that are insured via Lloyds London (this is very often the case in Greece and Turkey) are sometimes only insured up to the value of the ship (current value). Depending on the type of ship, we may then be talking about € 25,000 or € 50,000 or whatever the current value is. This value is always too low, because the skipper’s liability is unlimited! Our skipper liability insurance therefore covers this risk up to € 10 million!
Liability claims by crew members against the skipper are almost never insured. Not even if the ships are insured in accordance with the usual “General Liability Conditions” (AHB).
If the charter company has not paid its premium on time (which does happen), you as the skipper have no cover at all.
You are personally liable without limitation for material damage that you cause to the ship yourself (including total loss!) if your actions are deemed to be “gross negligence”. “I’m not being grossly negligent”, you may be thinking! But what constitutes “gross negligence” is an elastic concept and may be decided by a Greek, Turkish or Croatian court or wherever the accident may occur. That is your risk!
Your personal liability insurance does not pay for any of these risks! You should not take on this entire liability risk thoughtlessly. This problem can be solved with our skipper liability insurance (if the premium is split between 4 people) for almost the price of a penalty ticket for parking in the wrong place once.
Because the responsible skipper has unlimited liability!
Difference between liability and fidelity insurance:
A charter deposit claim is usually damage to the chartered ship that was culpably caused by the skipper or crew and is usually less than the amount of the deductible of the hull insurance.
This damage is covered by the security deposit insurance! If the amount of damage exceeds the deductible, the owner’s comprehensive insurance will pay.
The yacht owner’s liability insurance covers property damage and personal injury that you culpably cause to others. But what is actually covered and what is not is set out in the owner’s liability conditions, which you do not know. No liability insurance that we know of covers damage to the chartered vessel. Hull insurers fall back on the skipper for grossly negligent damage to the ship.
The skipper liability insurance covers the (unknown) gaps that the liability insurance of the charter yacht may have, e.g:
- Damage to the yacht due to gross negligence (protects you from liability towards the hull insurer).
- Personal injury to crew members
- Damage to other ships, insofar as this damage is not covered by the liability of the charter yacht, e.g. because the premium was not paid on time or other reasons.
Exclusions of the charter company’s liability insurance exclude benefits (that you are not aware of), such as personal injury to crew members or similar.
The advantages of YACHT-POOL skipper liability insurance at a glance
- YACHT-POOL's skipper liability insurance is not only valid for a specific charter, but is unlimited for a whole year!
- 12 months of deposit protection! - Pay for an insurance premium and be insured premium-free for 12 months!
- With YACHT-POOL Skipper Liability Insurance, you can charter anywhere, as often as you like and with any ship you like!
- Because, in principle, you are personally liable for damage that you culpably cause to other persons or property, with all your present and future assets.
- Because your personal liability insurance does not cover liability claims arising from skipper or crew activities.
- Because YACHT-POOL even covers gross negligence for material damage to the chartered yacht!
- Because as a skipper you are also liable to the crew members.
- Because exclusions of liability against crew members, against third parties (e.g. pension insurance of the injured party) may not apply.
- Because you do not know to what extent insurance coverage actually exists on a third-party chartered ship. Very often, the insurance benefit is only limited to the value of the ship, which can be far too low due to the unlimited personal liability. Often only certain listed damages are covered, for example only damages in the event of a collision etc.. However, you are liable for any damage.
- Because you don't know whether liability cover exists at all. Because you don't know whether the premium has been paid on time, which can mean that the liability insurer is released from payment and you then have no insurance cover at all!
- Because ships sailing under foreign flags are usually insured under foreign insurance conditions in the respective national language, making it practically impossible for you to assess the actual insurance cover.
- Because none of the liability insurances known to us covers liability claims of the yacht owner for damage caused to the chartered yacht itself as a result of gross negligence on the part of the skipper
- Material damage to the ship due to slight negligence is not covered by the skipper's liability insurance because you were promised in the charter contract that you would be covered by hull insurance and would therefore have double insurance.
Further insurances for charter skippers:
Charter deposit insurance
Every experienced skipper knows how quickly the harmony of the crew is severely disrupted if damage is caused by him or a crew member and everyone is asked to pay. As united as the crew was before the start of the charter,
Skipper accident insurance
I have accident insurance” you might think. We have developed the special skipper accident insurance for the following reason: Various accident insurers exclude accidents from “risk-prone” sports (increasing trend)
Charter consequential loss insurance
There is a risk that you will cause damage to the charter vessel and therefore the vessel will no longer be operational in time for the subsequent charter and because you are legally or on the basis of the charter contract responsible for the damage.
Charter Cancellation Insurance
The yacht for your cruise is booked, the crew is complete and the anticipation is already high – nothing can go wrong now, can it? Unfortunately already! What happens if the skipper has an accident shortly before the cruise and is unable to make the trip? If a family member is seriously
