Motor Yacht Insurance: Worldwide Cover for Powered Yachts
World Yacht Insurance arranges motor yacht insurance through London Marine Insurance Services Ltd, a Lloyd's-accredited broker (FCA 308599), covering powered yachts worldwide, including the Caribbean, for agreed-value hull and machinery plus liability up to $5M. Premiums typically run 1 to 1.5% of agreed value a year. Trimarans, ferro-cement hulls and cigarette boats aren't eligible.
One policy built for flybridge cruisers, trawlers, sportfishers and express cruisers, quoted from the Lloyd's market in about 48 hours.
- Lloyd's
- Placed via a Lloyd's-accredited broker
- $5M
- Hull & liability authority
- Worldwide
- Including the Caribbean
- 48h
- Typical quote turnaround
What Is Motor Yacht Insurance?
Motor yacht insurance is a specialist policy for a powered pleasure yacht: a flybridge cruiser, trawler, sportfisher, express cruiser, or cabin cruiser. It covers your boat on an agreed-value basis, so the hull and its machinery are insured for a figure you and the underwriter fix up front. Sitting on top of that hull cover is third-party liability, or P&I, which responds if your yacht damages another vessel or injures someone. Agreed-value hull and machinery, plus liability. That's the shape of it.
A motor yacht is not a generic runabout. High hull value, twin-engine machinery, real speed, so it gets written as a yacht-grade risk rather than squeezed onto a single-line powerboat form. We arrange cover for sail and power monohulls and catamarans up to $5M in-house, and route anything above $5M through the Lloyd's facility. We're also plain about what we don't take. Through LMIS, we do not insure trimarans, ferro-cement hulls, or cigarette boats. Own one of those and this isn't the right product. We'd rather say so now than after you've filled in a form.
Sail-yacht owners have their own page: sailboat insurance. Multihull owners should use catamaran insurance.
World Yacht Insurance is a yacht-insurance introducer arranging hull and liability cover up to $5M for sail and motor yachts worldwide, including the Caribbean, placed at Lloyd's of London through London Marine Insurance Services Ltd, a Lloyd's-accredited broker.
How Much Does Motor Yacht Insurance Cost?
Motor yacht insurance from World Yacht Insurance typically runs 1 to 1.5% of agreed value per year, placed through London Marine Insurance Services Ltd, a Lloyd's-accredited broker. In round numbers, a $500,000 motor yacht runs roughly $5,000 to $7,500 a year, and a $1,000,000 yacht runs roughly $10,000 to $15,000.
The table below works the band across common agreed values. These are indicative examples, not a quote.
| Agreed value | About 1% / year | About 1.5% / year |
|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | $2,500 | $3,750 |
| $500,000 | $5,000 | $7,500 |
| $1,000,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 |
| $3,000,000 | $30,000 | $45,000 |
| $5,000,000 | $50,000 | $75,000 |
Put a motor yacht next to a sailboat of the same value and it usually sits at the upper end of that band. The reasons are practical. Twin-engine machinery is expensive to repair, planing speeds raise the liability exposure, and the hull tends to carry more value for the length. That's not a penalty. It's just what the risk looks like.
What moves your premium
- Where you cruise, and your hurricane exposure
- The yacht's length, agreed value and age
- Engine hours and machinery condition
- Your boating experience and claims history
For context, broad-market boat cover often gets quoted at anywhere from 1 to 5% of value depending on region and provider. Our band is tighter, 1 to 1.5%, because it comes from LMIS indications for yacht-grade risks rather than a blended personal-lines rate. We never publish a single point price. The exact figure comes from underwriting.
Not financial advice. Premiums depend on underwriting, and the figures above are indicative examples, not a quote or an offer of cover.
What's Covered and What Isn't
The terms below come straight from the LMIS policy wording we hold, not from marketing copy. That's the difference. We can show you the coverage boundaries before you apply.
Covered
- Agreed-value hull and machinery
- P&I (third-party) liability up to $5M
- Salvage and wreck removal
- Fuel-spill and pollution liability
- Tender and dinghy (within limits)
- Personal effects and onboard equipment
- Medical payments and passenger accident
- Uninsured and underinsured boater
- On-water towing and emergency assistance
- Named-windstorm with a signed hurricane plan (10% deductible)
Not covered or conditional
- Trimarans, ferro-cement hulls, cigarette boats
- Gradual wear, corrosion and mechanical breakdown from age
- Unseaworthiness
- Cruising outside your declared area without an extension
- Named-windstorm damage without a signed hurricane plan on file
- War, unless bought back
- Racing, such as sportfisher tournaments, without an endorsement
- Loss-of-charter-hire, unless a charter endorsement is added
Agreed value is the setting that matters most here. You and the underwriter fix the insured figure up front, so a total loss pays that agreed number rather than a depreciated actual cash value argued over after the fact. On a motor yacht carrying high-value engines and electronics, that difference is real money at claim time.
Two things worth knowing before you apply. Older or higher-value motor yachts usually need a current marine survey, and underwriters may ask for recent photos. Neither is a hurdle for a well-kept boat. Both simply confirm the agreed value is fair.
We don't hide the exclusions. Reading them now saves an awkward conversation later. Every line in this table comes from the LMIS policy wording.
Motor Yacht vs Sailing Yacht vs Superyacht
Higher hull values, powerful twin-engine machinery, higher speeds: a motor yacht's hull and machinery premium sits at the upper end of the 1 to 1.5% band next to a sailboat of the same value. The trade is straightforward. There's no rig, mast or sail cover to think about, but the machinery, fuel and tender exposure is larger.
Value is the other boundary. We arrange cover up to $5M in-house. A motor yacht valued above $5M gets routed through the Lloyd's facility, and now you're in a superyacht insurance conversation rather than this page. If you're near the line, tell us the agreed value and we'll place it at the right desk.
Comparing vessels? See sailboat insurance for monohull sail yachts and catamaran insurance for multihulls.
Engines, Twin-Screw Machinery and Machinery-Breakdown Cover
Owners ask about this part of a motor yacht policy more than any other, so here it is plainly. Hull and machinery cover responds to sudden and accidental machinery damage. Ingesting debris that wrecks a running gear, a fire in the engine room, damage from a grounding: covered events, subject to your deductible. What it won't cover is gradual wear, corrosion and mechanical breakdown from age. An engine that simply reaches the end of its service life is a maintenance cost, not an insured loss, and the wording draws that line clearly.
Why does this matter on a motor yacht and less on a sailboat? Because the machinery is the boat. Twin inboards, shafts, gearboxes and running gear carry the value and the exposure. On an older or high-hour yacht, underwriters may ask for an engine survey or oil analysis before they set terms, and a recent service history works in your favour.
The rule holds across the fleet, whatever you run: express cruiser, flybridge, trawler, sportfisher, or motor cruiser. Live aboard the boat? See liveaboard insurance so the cover matches how you use it.
Worldwide Cruising Limits and the Hurricane Box
Your policy covers a declared navigation area. Worldwide cover, including the Caribbean, is what we arrange, but cruise outside your declared area without an extension and a claim can fall through. So declare where you actually run the boat, and extend the area before a longer passage.
The region that changes the terms is the hurricane box, broadly the named-storm risk area south of Florida and the Bahamas and through the Caribbean. The NOAA Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, with the peak around September 10. Some pages round the end date to November 1; it is November 30 per the National Hurricane Center, and getting that wrong can leave a late-season storm outside your assumptions. Keeping or cruising inside the box during the season is what triggers the signed hurricane plan requirement and the 10% named-windstorm deductible.
Not every motor yacht lives in hurricane country. Owners on the Great Lakes, in New England or the Pacific Northwest run a winter lay-up and haul-out instead, and their cover is written around that. Tell us where the boat spends the season and we'll match the terms.
| Area | Season dates | What it means for cover |
|---|---|---|
| Caribbean / hurricane box | June 1 to November 30 | Signed hurricane plan required; 10% named-windstorm deductible |
| Croatia (Adriatic) | Year-round | Doubled deductibles under LMIS terms |
| Mediterranean (general) | Year-round | Standard terms; extension needed for longer passages |
| Outside declared area | Any | No cover without a cruising-area extension |
A few grounds carry restrictions we state plainly: Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela are restricted cruising areas under LMIS terms. If a passage plan touches them, raise it before you go rather than after.
Hurricane season dates: NOAA National Hurricane Center
Eligibility, Marine Survey and Who Needs It
Most powered pleasure yachts up to $5M are eligible. Underwriters typically ask for a recent marine survey and current photos, especially on older or higher-value boats, and the agreed value is set from that survey or a formal valuation. We publish our constraints instead of burying them: no trimarans, no ferro-cement hulls, no cigarette boats, and named-windstorm cover in the box needs a signed hurricane plan with a 10% deductible.
Cruising owners
Running coastal or long-range passages, you want worldwide cover with the area declared honestly.
Luxury and flybridge owners
High hull values need agreed-value settlement, not a depreciated payout worked out at claim time.
Liveaboards
Some standard pleasure-use forms exclude living aboard outright, so tell us at quote stage.
Liveaboard insurance
Charter owners
You need a bareboat or crewed charter endorsement. You can add loss-of-charter-hire cover, which under the LMIS wording pays up to €600 per day, for a maximum of 67 days, while the boat is under repair from a covered loss.
Charter yacht insurance
Older-boat owners
Age alone rarely stops a well-kept yacht once the survey is in.
Yacht survey requirements
Buyers at closing
You need proof of cover bound before the marina or lender releases the boat.
How to Get a Motor Yacht Insurance Quote
Here is what happens after you reach out. Most motor yacht quotes come back within 48 hours.
No US federal law requires yacht insurance. That is separate from USCG documentation and state registration, which are required. In practice, marinas, lenders and charter programs almost always require proof of liability cover, so most owners carry it anyway.
World Yacht Insurance is an introducer, not the underwriter, and it is not FCA-regulated. We don't carry the risk or write the policy. Cover is arranged and placed at Lloyd's of London by London Marine Insurance Services Ltd, a Lloyd's-accredited broker; FCA firm reference 308599 belongs to LMIS. Read the full chain on how it works.
- 1
Tell us about the boat
Fill in the pre-qualifying quote form: year, make and model, length, agreed value, engine details, home port and cruising area, and how you use the yacht.
- 2
Send a survey and photos if the boat is older or pre-owned
A current marine survey and a few recent photos let underwriters confirm the value. Name any lienholder or loss payee too; financed trawlers and express cruisers usually need the lender listed.
- 3
We introduce your details to the LMIS producer desk
London Marine Insurance Services Ltd arranges and places the cover at Lloyd's of London.
- 4
LMIS quotes back, usually within 48 hours
You review the terms and decide.
Motor Yacht Insurance FAQ
How much does motor yacht insurance cost?+
Through World Yacht Insurance, motor yacht cover typically runs 1 to 1.5% of agreed value a year, placed via LMIS at Lloyd's. A $500,000 yacht works out around $5,000 to $7,500 a year, and a $1,000,000 yacht around $10,000 to $15,000. Motor yachts usually sit at the upper end of that band because of engine value, speed and higher hull value. Your final figure depends on where you cruise, hurricane exposure, the boat's age, and your survey and claims history. Not financial advice.
What does a motor yacht insurance policy cover?+
The core is agreed-value hull and machinery plus third-party (P&I) liability up to $5M. On top of that sit salvage and wreck removal, fuel-spill and pollution liability, tender and dinghy within limits, personal effects, medical payments, uninsured-boater cover, and on-water towing. Named-windstorm and charter cover are conditional: named-windstorm needs a signed hurricane plan and a 10% deductible, and charter use needs an endorsement.
Does motor yacht insurance cover engine and machinery damage?+
Sudden and accidental machinery damage is covered, subject to your deductible: debris ingestion, an engine-room fire, damage from a grounding. Gradual wear, corrosion and mechanical breakdown from age are excluded, because that is maintenance rather than an insured loss. On an older or high-hour boat, underwriters may ask for an engine survey or oil analysis before they set terms.
Do I need insurance for a motor yacht in the US?+
No federal law requires yacht insurance, which is separate from USCG documentation and state registration, which are required. In practice, marinas, lenders and charter programs almost always require proof of liability cover, and hull cover protects you from a large out-of-pocket loss if the boat is damaged or sunk. Most owners carry it for those reasons.
Are there boats you won't insure?+
Yes, and we say so up front. We do not insure trimarans, ferro-cement hulls, or cigarette boats. For the boats we do cover, older or higher-value yachts need a current marine survey and recent photos, and named-windstorm cover in the hurricane box requires a signed hurricane plan with a 10% deductible.
Reviewed by Costas Matheou, licensed insurance agent (Cyprus).
Coverage terms, premiums and deductibles on this page are indicative and not financial advice. Cover is subject to underwriting, survey and the policy wording.
Ready to insure your motor yacht?
Tell us about your boat today and get a Lloyd's-market quote back within 48 hours.