Making a claim
We are an introducer, so we do not decide or pay claims. Underwriters at Lloyd's of London carry the risk and pay valid claims, and notification runs through the broker who placed your cover. What we can do is tell you exactly what to do first, and help you reach the right desk quickly.
The first hour
Do these in order. The first three protect people and the boat; the rest protect your claim.
- Make people safe first, then the vessel. If anyone is in danger, call the coastguard or the local emergency service before anything else.
- Prevent the loss getting worse. Almost every policy expects you to take reasonable steps to limit further damage, and doing so is not an admission of anything.
- Photograph everything before it is moved, cleaned or repaired. Wide shots and close-ups, with the damage in context.
- Do not admit liability, sign anything accepting blame, or agree a figure with another party at the scene.
- Write down what happened while it is fresh: time, position, weather, wind, sea state, who was aboard and what they were doing.
- Keep every receipt from the moment the incident happens, including salvage, towing, haul-out and temporary repairs.
- Get authorisation before any permanent repair. Underwriters normally need to agree the scope, and a repair done first can be argued about afterwards.
How to notify us
Email info@worldyachtinsurance.com or call +357 99 857 807. Send the policy or Confirmation of Cover reference if you have it, the date and position of the incident, and a short factual description with your photographs.
We pass it to the broker who placed the cover the same working day, and tell you who is handling it. We are not a 24-hour emergency line: if the situation is an emergency, contact the coastguard and, where your documents give one, the insurer's or broker's own emergency number first.
Who actually pays
This matters more when something has gone wrong than at any other time, so it is worth stating plainly. World Yacht Insurance is not an insurer and carries no risk. Cover is arranged and placed at Lloyd's of London by London Marine Insurance Services Ltd, a Lloyd's-accredited broker regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference 308599. Underwriters at Lloyd's assess the claim and pay it if it is valid.
That means we cannot promise you a settlement, dispute a decision on your behalf as though we were your advocate against the market, or tell you a claim is covered before an underwriter has said so. What we can do is make sure the file reaches the right people with the right evidence attached.
What underwriters will ask for
The list varies with the loss, but these come up almost every time.
- The policy or Confirmation of Cover, and the schedule showing the agreed value and the deductibles.
- A written account of the incident, with time, position and conditions.
- Photographs of the damage, and of the vessel before the incident if you have them.
- Repair estimates, usually more than one for a significant loss.
- The most recent survey, and evidence that any recommendations from it were carried out.
- For a named-windstorm loss, the signed hurricane plan. It is a condition precedent to liability, not a formality: without it, named-windstorm cover may not respond at all.
- For a theft, the police or harbour-master report, and in the four-country waters the written agreement that the yacht was moored in an agreed commercial marina.
The deductible you will actually bear
Your schedule states it, and it is the number that surprises people most in a storm loss. Named-windstorm cover carries a 10% deductible calculated on the hull value shown on the schedule, not on the size of the claim, so on a $500,000 agreed value that is $50,000 before anything is paid.
In Croatian waters deductibles are doubled per claim. In Cuban, Colombian, Venezuelan and Haitian waters every deductible is doubled, and confiscation, piracy and theft are excluded, with theft coverable only where the yacht is moored in a commercial marina agreed in writing beforehand.
None of this is a reason not to claim. It is a reason to know the number before you need it.
If a claim is declined
Ask for the decision in writing, with the clause it relies on. Then take it up with the broker who placed the cover, and if that does not resolve it, use the complaints route: our complaints page sets out which party in the chain owns which complaint, and how to escalate beyond them.
Last updated 14 August 2026. General information about how a claim is notified, not a description of your own policy terms and not financial or legal advice. Your Confirmation of Cover and policy wording decide what is covered.
World Yacht Insurance is a trading name of Costas Matheou, a licensed insurance agent in Cyprus, and introduces business through AKD Insurance (A.K. Demetriou Insurance Brokers Ltd, Cyprus). Cover is arranged and placed at Lloyd's of London by London Marine Insurance Services Ltd, a Lloyd's-accredited broker authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference 308599. World Yacht Insurance is not an insurer and does not carry risk.
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