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Wrong fuel: who pays for the engine?
Short answer
Misfuelling is an operating error,
and operating errors on machinery are regularly excluded from hull cover.
At the fuel dock the pumps stand side by side, the hoses look alike, and on a boat the filler is often somewhere you cannot see well. Petrol in a diesel destroys the lubrication of the injection pump; diesel in a two-stroke cokes the combustion. In both cases the expensive part of the damage happens not while fuelling but on starting.
In insurance terms this is not a hull matter in the narrow sense. A hull loss regularly requires an external influence; misfuelling is an operating error, and operating and handling damage to machinery is excluded in almost every hull wording we reviewed. The right place for it is machinery cover, and there you need to read exactly whether operating errors are included, what age limit applies to the unit and what excess.
What helps most on the day costs nothing: do not start the engine. If you notice while fuelling, it stays at pumping out and flushing, a three-figure bill. Turn the key and it becomes four or five figures. Call before you turn it, and keep the fuel receipt.
Worth remembering
One movement
is all it takes
Operating error
is regularly excluded on machinery
Hull cover does not protect the engine against the person operating it. That is what machinery cover is for.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
What if the attendant filled it?
Then the business is liable, and you need the receipt and a witness. Note the time, the pump and the name at once; it cannot be reconstructed later.
Does machinery cover always help?
No. Check three points: whether operating errors are expressly named, up to what age the unit is covered, and whether servicing records are required.
Related
Not sure whether you qualify?
Whether it is “Wrong fuel: who pays for the engine?” 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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