Why is your quote higher than the other one?

Short answer

Usually you are comparing two premiums that stand for different things. Six variables explain almost any difference.

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When two quotes for the same boat are far apart, it is rarely arbitrary. As a rule the two quotes contain different things, you just cannot see that on the front page. Six points decide it almost every time. First the excess, by far the largest lever and the one most often overlooked: between 500 and 5,000 euros of excess sit several hundred euros of annual premium. Second the form of cover. An all-risks policy pays any loss not expressly excluded; a named-perils policy pays only what is listed, and grounding, collision and capsize are frequently missing from that list.

Third, whether the indemnity is the agreed value or the market value on the day. On a ten-year-old boat that gap is easily forty per cent of the purchase price; on a jet ski a depreciation scale often reduces the figure year by year on top. Fourth the liability limit: ten million and fifty million cost almost the same in premium but differ by a factor of five when it matters. Work out the premium per million once, and you are comparing like with like.

Fifth, blackout periods and warranties, as soon as you cruise beyond home waters. Such warranties are almost always built as conditions precedent rather than duties; miss one and you are not worse off, you are uninsured. And sixth, salvage: if it is paid out of the sum insured, less is left for the boat. One half-sentence decides that, and it sits immediately after the limit.

How do I know two quotes are comparable?

By four figures: the same excess, the same sum insured, the same liability limit, the same cruising area. If one of them differs, you are comparing two different products.

Are you sometimes genuinely more expensive?

Yes. On houseboats our own survey put us as the dearest of seven providers, and on jet skis we sit fifth of six for hull cover. Where we are cheap is liability, measured against the limit.

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