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Classic boat insurance
Short answer
On a classic, market value is the wrong measure: it counts age, not condition. What matters is an agreed value that fixes the real replacement cost.
A classic boat does not age like a used car. A well-kept Riva, a wooden yacht from the fifties or a restored Folkboat can be worth more today than twenty years ago, and the market value most policies use does not show it. It turns age into deductions and, on a sixty-year-old hull, inevitably approaches zero.
The answer is the agreed value: a figure fixed in writing between you and us and paid in full in a total loss, with no deduction. The basis is normally a valuation survey or clear documentation of the restoration and the market. That way the discussion which otherwise starts after the loss has already been had.
The second point is repair. On a classic there are no off-the-shelf parts; there are yards that still know the craft, and their hourly rates are above those of a production yard. A policy that only pays customary local repair costs falls short here. Talk to us about the yard you trust before the damage happens.
Questions and answers
What owners of these boats ask
From what age does a boat count as a classic?
There is no fixed limit in boat insurance.
What matters is whether the boat has a collector value above its calculated market value;
then an agreed value is the right route.
Do I need a valuation survey?
In most cases yes,
and it pays off: the survey is the basis of the agreed value and therefore of the payout.
We tell you what it has to contain.
Do you insure classic boats?
Yes.
Classics are part of our business, not an exception.
What we need is a sound valuation; with very old hulls or missing records there may be conditions,
but a classic is never a reason for us to decline.
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