What if the charterer never brings the boat back?

Short answer

The boat leaves and does not come back. For anyone chartering out that is the core loss, and in insurance terms it is misappropriation, excluded almost everywhere.

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A boat that is stolen is a covered loss. A boat a hirer simply keeps after the charter ends usually is not. The difference is called misappropriation, and it rests entirely on the fact that you handed over the keys voluntarily. For a private owner that exclusion is right. For someone chartering out it strikes precisely the case the policy was bought for.

The market has settled on a shared view: whoever writes charter has to write misappropriation with it, because that is the real risk of the business. Several wordings therefore withdraw the exclusion expressly as soon as charter use is agreed in the policy. Others stay silent, and then the exclusion stands. So look for that write-back sentence before you sign a charter policy.

Our current conditions exclude misappropriation, fraud, breach of trust and extortion, and the failure to return items handed over voluntarily, with no write-back for an agreed hire. That is a point where we currently stand behind part of the market, and we would rather tell you than have you find out in a claim. What helps meanwhile: a contract in text form, handover and return records, a checked entitlement of the hirer, and a deposit at least equal to the excess.

Is that not simply theft?

Not legally. Theft is taking against your will; misappropriation is keeping something you gave up voluntarily. For cover, that is the whole difference.

What should I do first?

Demand return in text form, set a deadline, report it to the police and notify us. That separates a payment dispute from an insured event.

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