Boat Insurance

What is the difference between a boat and a yacht? There are many definitions for this. That is why a great variety of boat insurances, yacht insurances, water sports insurances, and many more are offered. It is easy to lose track of them all. At EIS European Insurance & Services LLC, it's not the designation that counts but the service!

Our yacht and boat insurances EIS TOP and EIS BASIC are just as attractive for small, motorized rowing boats or small sailing boats (e.g., tenders) as well as for water ski boats or larger motor and sailing yachts. Due to the great flexibility of our contracts, you will always get an offer tailored precisely to your needs.

We classify the vessels according to the various boat types, cruising areas, and other characteristics, resulting in an individual premium for you. Then, we offer you boat liability, fully comprehensive, and passenger accident insurance within the EIS TOP and EIS BASIC packages. This way, you can take out the tailor-made boat insurance that suits your needs perfectly – even for worldwide cruising areas.

Table of contents

• Insuring a boat - how do I find the right policy?
• The three components of EIS boat insurance
• Boat liability
• Boat fully comprehensive insurance
• Passenger accident insurance for boats
• Boat insurance: everything you need to know about our TOP cover
• Boat insurance online: our BASIC cover at a glance
• Optional co-insurances
• Comparison between the two covers
• Calculate and take out a boat insurance policy online

Insuring a boat – how do I find the right policy?

A boat insurance policy provides security and the certainty that you have a strong partner at your side in the event of a damage claim. However, insurance benefits are essential for a boat depending on the individual case. For example, while one skipper is looking for comprehensive insurance for his ship, another would prefer to take out an all-around carefree package.

With EIS, you will always pick the right boat insurer as we offer you individually tailored boat insurance policies. Within our TOP or BASIC coverage, select the range that fits your plans: liability, fully comprehensive, and accident insurance for all occupants.

Enter the most critical data of your watercraft and the region in our boat and yacht insurance calculator to determine your premium with just one click.

The three modules of the EIS boat insurance

To ensure your boat, fully comprehensive insurance is often the first thing you consider. However, liability insurance is at least as necessary for any trip. And you shouldn't forget accident insurance when engaging in water sports. EIS boat insurance, therefore, has developed a package consisting of three individual insurances. Within these packages, you can choose from two coverage concepts: TOP and BASIC.

Boat liability

Insurance covers claims by third parties arising from personal injury and property damage caused by you as skipper or your crew members. It is beneficial if the insurance cover includes liability claims by co-insured persons against each other, as with EIS TOP.

Full comprehensive insurance

In the event of damage to your watercraft and its equipment, comprehensive boat insurance will cover the costs. Here we distinguish between genuine comprehensive cover (EIS TOP) and specified risk cover (EIS BASIC). Even your personal effects are also insured with us.

Passenger accident insurance for boats

Our accident insurance for passengers on your ship is valid worldwide. It includes you as the policyholder (owner) and the skipper, all crew members, visitors, and guests. The TOP cover even applies to chartered yachts.

Boat insurance: everything you need to know about our TOP cover

1. Boat liability insurance includes, among others:
   • the personal legal liability of the skipper and other persons authorized to operate the vessel,
   • the ownership and use of tenders with a drive power of up to 60 hp,
   • the legal liability arising from the towing of water skiers and paragliders,
   • the personal legal liability of the water skiers as long as they are being pulled by the vessel (subsidiary),
   • the legal liability for damage occurring during participation in sailing regattas or during the associated transfer trips,
   • the legal liability of the insured persons if they are called upon by a boat in distress to render assistance, and damage is caused to the ship in distress as a result of this assistance measure – e.g., a line connection,
   • the personal legal liability of the policyholder and the co-insured persons arising from the driving or operation of third-party watercraft and/or their equipment, inventory, and accessories (subsidiary),
   • Liability claims of co-insured persons against each other for personal injuries that are not occupational accidents in the policyholder's business as well as property damage,
   • the legal liability arising from damage to rented storage rooms and jetties (up to EUR 200,000) rented for private purposes for the accommodation or storage of the boat,
   • the legal liability for pecuniary loss arising from insured events that occurred while the insurance was in effect,
   • The policyholder's legal liability for direct or indirect consequences of changes in a body of water's physical, chemical, or biological quality, including groundwater (damage to bodies of water).

2. Within the scope of the boat's fully comprehensive insurance, the following are insured, among others:
   • genuine all-risk cover,
   • in case of partial damage: "new for old" (without deductions),
   • non-named personal effects and non-fixed equipment and accessories up to 2 % of the sum insured,
   • Assumption of transport costs to the shipyard and back,
   • Expenses for salvage, salvage attempts, and, if necessary, disposal up to 2,000,000 EUR (in addition to the sum insured),
   • Expenses of the policyholder to avert and mitigate a loss up to an amount of 50 % of the sum insured,
   • after grounding, inspection costs of the boat without charging the deductible
   • abroad, the organization and cost absorption of a replacement skipper in case of unforeseen illness of the skipper (up to 1,100 EUR) to the port of departure or destination
   • in the event of a total loss: agreed sum insured minus the residual value,
   • consequential damage to the boat due to rain, snow, heat, oxidation, rodents, wear and tear, construction fault, manufacturing or material defects,
   • no deductible for the total loss of the boat, burglary of the effects, equipment, and accessories that are not permanently installed,
   • no deductible in the event of damage caused by lightning, transport damage, collision damage, and fire damage caused solely by third parties,
   • no deductible in the event of theft of the outboard motor if it is equipped with a GPS/GSM transponder.

3. What you need to know about boat passenger accident insurance:
   • the worldwide scope of application for the insured boat and its tenders as well as yachts chartered by the policyholder
   • insured persons are the policyholder (owner), skipper, crew members, visitors, and guests
   • double disability benefit as of 90 % disability
   • reimbursement of up to EUR 3,000 for sea rescue, search and salvage costs
   • reimbursement of medical fees, other operation costs, hospitalization as well as dentures costs for cosmetic operations up to an amount of EUR 3,000

Insurance for boats: our BASIC cover at a glance

1. Included in the boat liability insurance are, among others:
   • the personal legal liability of the responsible skipper and other persons authorized to operate the vessel,
   • ownership and use of tenders with a drive power of up to 5 hp,
   • the legal liability arising from the towing of water skiers and paragliders,
   • the personal legal liability of water skiers if and as long as being pulled by the vessel (subsidiary),
   • the legal liability for damage occurring during participation in sailing regattas or during the associated transfer trips,
   • the legal liability of the insured persons if they are called upon by a boat in distress to render assistance and damage is caused to the ship in distress as a result of this corresponding assistance measure - e.g., a line connection,
   • the legal liability for financial loss arising from insured events which occurred during the validity of the insurance policy,
   • the policyholder's legal liability for direct or indirect consequences of changes in the physical, chemical, or biological quality of a body of water, including groundwater (water damage).

2. Boat Full comprehensive insurance covers, among other things:
   • Insured perils: Collision, grounding, stranding, sinking, fire and explosion, theft, vandalism, force majeure, lightning and mast breakage,
   • including insurance cover for a named trailer in the event of fire, explosion, theft, and total loss as a result of an accident or force majeure,
   • in the event of a total loss: replacement of the current value (current value insurance),
   • in the event of partial damage: cost assumption of repair costs with deductions "new for old," reimbursement of transport costs to the shipyard and back,
   • Insurance cover extends to the boat, including machinery, equipment, inventory, dinghies, accessories, and personal effects,
   • Insurance cover extends on water and land, including landing and launching
   • Insurance cover for land transport and the trailered boat by ferry,
   • Expenses for salvage, salvage attempts, and, if applicable, disposal are covered up to the amount of the sum insured (in addition to the sum insured),
   • Expenses of the policyholder are also insured to avert and mitigate a loss up to an amount of 20 % of the sum insured,
   • including regatta risk/competition risk for sailboats at club regattas,
   • non-named personal effects, equipment, and accessories up to a value of 1 % of the sum insured are included in the insurance cover,
   • no deductibles in the event of theft if the boat or outboard motor is equipped with a GPS/GSM transponder.

3. The boat passenger accident insurance includes:
   • the worldwide scope of application for the insured boat and its tender
   • insured persons are the policyholder (owner), skipper, crew members, visitors, and guests
   • double disability benefits up to 200,000 EUR/person from 90 % disability onwards

Optional co-insurances

With our boat insurance's TOP and BASIC cover, you can elect optional co-insurances. These include charter risk for commercial use, charter loss for commercial use, seizure, war, and strike. The extended machinery coverage includes unforeseen damage due to operating errors, clumsiness, failure of measuring, control, or safety equipment, tearing due to centrifugal force, overpressure, under pressure, frost and icing.

Comparison between the two coverages

Boat liability

Boat full comprehensive insurance

Passenger accident insurance

Calculate and take out a boat insurance policy online

Stay as flexible with your boat insurance as you are at sea! At EIS, we arrange individual insurance cover for you. You decide whether TOP or BASIC cover is best for you and whether you prefer boat full comprehensive, boat liability, or passenger accident insurance. The boat insurance costs always depend on the tailor-made policy.

Our team of experts is happy to help you! We will be glad to advise you on all aspects of our yacht and boat insurance policies, as well as on skipper and crew insurance, from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. at +49 (0)30 214 082 0. Just call or send us your request by e-mail at info@eis-insurance.com. If you would like to know what to look out for in the event of a claim, read on here.