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Which claims leave the no claims discount alone?
Short answer
A step down the no claims scale is felt at renewal for years, so the question of what counts as a claim at all is worth more than most limits on the schedule. Assistance, pure precaution and a survey that finds nothing often sit outside, but not everywhere.
On a motor policy the no claims discount is a familiar number. On a boat policy it is one of the largest levers on the premium, and one step down the scale is felt at renewal for years afterwards. That makes one question worth more than most of the limits printed on the schedule: which payments count as a claim for the purpose of the scale, and which do not. The answer is not the same at every insurer. A broker in Britain, Ireland or the Netherlands will confirm that two wordings with identical scales can treat the same incident quite differently.
Four kinds of payment commonly sit outside the scale. A breakdown tow where nothing is damaged. Advice or a call to a helpline. A lift and survey after a grounding where the diver finds nothing. The cost of securing the boat before a forecast gale, where no damage follows. A fifth is less obvious: a payment recovered in full from a third party, because the money comes back and the file closes at nil. What almost always does count is any payment for physical damage to the boat herself, however small, which is why a scratch settled quickly can cost more at the next renewal than it ever returned.
Two questions are worth asking before a claim is notified rather than after. First, does this particular payment count as a claim on the scale? Second, how many steps does one claim cost, and how many clear years does it take to climb back? With both answers in hand, the arithmetic on a small loss becomes simple. Ask plainly, because a broker hears that question every week and it does not mark the file. Where a claim is already open, ask as well whether a reserve on the file counts, since on many wordings it does, and damage notified in autumn can move a renewal the following spring.
Worth remembering
Not every payment
touches the scale
Assistance and precautions
often sit outside it
A survey that finds nothing frequently sits outside as well. Asking costs nothing, not asking can cost a step on the scale.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Can a claim be bought back?
Some wordings allow it: repay the settlement and the step down the scale does not happen. Whether it is possible, and for how long, is set out in the discount clause rather than in the claims clause.
Does a liability payment to a third party count?
For the hull scale, usually not, because liability is often rated on a record of its own. Check whether the two records are kept separate, since one combined record behaves very differently at renewal.
Is the record portable between insurers?
A letter from the previous insurer stating the clear years and any claims is what a new one will ask to see. Request it while the policy is still live, because it is harder to obtain a year after cancellation.
Related
Not sure whether you qualify?
Whether it is “Which claims leave the no claims discount alone?” or another question: send us your residence and the flag your boat flies. You will get a straight answer in one email; including a no, if that is the answer.
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