German yacht with Dutch host country flag on the IJsselmeer. German sailors are generally welcome in the neighboring country - just not as customers of all insurance companies
In the letter of termination from Unigarant, which the affected owners received in recent weeks, it is said that it is becoming too expensive to offer water sports insurance abroad. For a new insurance for the ship you should contact your broker.
Several hundred people affected who had once taken out their policies directly with Unigarant, i.e. without going through a broker, received mail from the Dutch yacht insurance broker Eerdmans at the same time as the termination. He has taken over the portfolio of direct insured persons from Unigarant and offered them a new insurance under the old conditions. Anyone who agreed to this or did not contradict it was insured through Eerdmans with another Dutch insurance company, the Europeesche Yachtverzekeringen.
From the rain in the eaves?
From Dutch broker circles, however, it was quickly heard that, following the example of Unigarant, Europeesche apparently also wants to part with its foreign customers. When asked by YACHT, a spokesman for the insurer only partially confirmed this. In fact, it was made clear in a letter to the insurance brokers that the Europeesche no longer accepts foreign boat owners as customers. However, German and Belgian sailors are excluded from this.
Robert L. L. Raaman from the yacht insurance broker Datacombinatie in Brielle near Rotterdam preferred to place his customers who were insured through him with Unigarant with other insurance companies. Among others at Allianz. It is currently more reliable than the Dutch insurance companies.
Raaman does not understand why a German customer should be more expensive than a Dutch customer. It does not matter whether you pay the insurance tax in Holland or in Germany, depending on the customer. It couldn't be because of that. Nor has it been proven anywhere that German sailors are more likely to cause costly damage for insurance companies.
Foreigners do not fit into the corporate concept
The Unigarant, which incidentally is a 100 percent subsidiary of the ANWB, the counterpart to the German ADAC, no longer justifies the wave of termination towards the YACHT with excessive costs. Rather, it suddenly only means that German customers no longer fit into the corporate strategy. One does not want to say more about it.
How many German - and also other foreign - boat owners, mainly Belgians, are affected by this surprising change in strategy, Unigarant did not want to provide any information about that either. The number is estimated to be close to a thousand.
If you want to search for a suitable boat insurance for your ship yourself, you will find a lot of useful information in the YACHT-online insurance special, as well as an online form that can be used to request offers from several boat insurance providers with a click of the mouse, free of charge and without obligation.