Pre-Purchase Survey vs Insurance Survey

Ownership

Pre-purchase and insurance survey scope

	Pre-purchase	Insurance or condition
Written for	The buyer	The underwriter
Emphasis	Defects, cost to rectify, negotiating leverage	Condition, insurability, risk of loss
Valuation	Usually included, often as market value	Usually required, and the basis matters
Sea trial	Commonly included	Often not required
Machinery depth	Buyer often commissions a separate engine survey	Visual inspection usually sufficient
Recommendations	Advice to the buyer	Frequently become conditions of cover
Who holds it	The buyer	Shared with the insurer

Survey timing when buying a boat

Agree the purchase subject to survey, with a stated period to complete it.
Book a surveyor independent of the seller and the broker, and say the report must serve insurance as well as purchase.
Arrange the haul-out and attend if you can.
Use the findings to renegotiate, rectify or withdraw.
Send the report to insurers when quoting, and ask which recommendations they will require.
Have cover confirmed to incept when risk passes under the contract.

When insurers require a new survey

The report is older than the insurer's stated maximum age for the vessel.
Significant work has been done since — a repower, a new rig, structural repair.
The vessel has been damaged and repaired.
You are moving to an agreed-value basis and need a current valuation.
The vessel has crossed an age threshold that triggers a re-survey requirement.

Understanding survey findings

Read the recommendations before the narrative. The graded list is what you will act on, what you will negotiate with, and what the insurer will hold you to. Then read the valuation section and check the reasoning — which comparables, what adjustments — because that reasoning is what supports your sum insured if it is ever tested.

Condition is what decides marine claims

Almost every declined marine claim is an argument that a failure was gradual rather than sudden. The records you keep are what answers it.

How to make a claim

General information onlyThe information on sailboatinsurance.com.au is general educational information only. It may be wrong, incomplete or out of date, and you should not rely on it as a substitute for the current policy documents or professional advice. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs and is not personal financial product advice. Insurance cover depends on the actual policy wording, Product Disclosure Statement, certificate of insurance, endorsements, exclusions, limits, sub-limits and underwriting decisions that apply to your vessel. Always read the current policy documents before buying, renewing or changing cover. For legal, financial or insurance advice about your own circumstances, consider speaking with an appropriately licensed professional.