You hit the boat next door

Short answer

Liability cover checks the question of liability, defends unfounded claims and indemnifies founded ones; where the other party is never identified, your own hull cover answers.

Get a quote Boat insurance overview

The bump while berthing is the most common damage two owners have to discuss with each other, and most of the time they discuss too much. Liability cover does three things: it examines the question of liability, it defends claims that are not justified and it indemnifies you against those that are. The second of the three is the most frequent, and it is the reason why assessing fault is our job rather than yours.

That is why there is a prohibition on admitting liability at the pontoon: do not acknowledge a third party’s claim yourself and do not settle it yourself. An admission made in the first shock can weigh on the settlement, even when it later turns out that the other boat’s lines were too long or that the damage was already there.

What helps instead is a collision report: what happened, where, when, witnesses and damage, signed by both sides and expressly without any admission of fault. It is the cheapest preservation of evidence there is, and the form is in the forms section. Without it there are two accounts standing against each other later, and then photographs and witnesses decide.

If you were hit and the other party is known, the claim runs through their liability cover. Expect an apportionment: in manoeuvres inside a marina it is rarely all on one side, and a share of a quarter or a third is common where a bow line was too long or a fender was in the wrong place.

If the other party is never identified, which happens often in a marina, your own hull cover answers. Collision with fixed and floating objects is insured as an accident event in the wider cover; the claim then runs through your contract with your excess. A named-perils policy is limited to its list. Report it to the harbour master straight away in any case, and photograph it before you leave the berth.

Worth remembering

No admission at the pontoon, a collision report instead. Both take a minute, only one of them helps.

I hit the boat next door. What do I do first?

Do not admit liability, fill in a collision report, take photographs and tell us. Assessing the question of liability is our job.

Why should I not admit fault?

Because a prohibition on admitting liability applies: examining the claim is the insurer’s task. An admission at the pontoon can weigh on the settlement.

My boat was damaged and nobody has come forward. Who pays?

Your own hull cover. Collision with fixed and floating objects is insured as an accident event in the wider cover, with your excess.

Can I be held partly liable while lying at my berth?

Yes, and it is common in a marina, for instance with a bow line that was too long or fenders in the wrong place. That is why documenting the state of things matters.

What is a collision report?

A sheet recording what happened, where, when, witnesses and damage, signed by both sides without any admission of fault. The form is in the forms section.

Who has to prove what in a claim? May I choose the yard myself? Can I get money before the claim is settled?