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Sale of the insured boat

Boat insurance term, area: Contract

Selling an insured boat raises a question many owners ask too late: what happens to the running policy? Under German insurance contract law a hull contract does not simply lapse. The buyer steps into the existing contract as soon as ownership passes and takes on its rights and duties, while both sides gain a short window in which they may give notice. Liability wordings often work the other way around and end the contract on the day of the sale. Either way the sale has to be reported to the insurer in writing without delay, because a claim that follows an unreported sale can be turned down.

What to check: Two questions for your own contract: when you sell, does the policy pass to the buyer, or does it end on the day ownership changes hands? And in what form and within what deadline must the sale be reported before a later claim may be refused?

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