Boat breakdown at sea: your rights & compensation

Who does what? Filovent, the charter company, the insurer

This is the most common question, and the source of most misunderstandings. Filovent is your intermediary: we select the owners, arrange your charter and support you before, during and after the cruise. But the boat belongs to the charter company: it is the charter company that maintains it, that hands it over to you, that holds your deposit and that decides, ultimately, who is liable for any damage. Understanding this division of roles saves you valuable time if a problem arises.

Why are you referred back to the charter company? Because only they can send an engineer, release a part, rule on damage or release your deposit. This does not mean Filovent steps back: our concierge service takes up your case, insists on the supporting documents and negotiates on your behalf. But we cannot decide in the charter company's place, nor return a deposit that we do not hold.

Responding on board: the five steps, in order

1. Make everyone safe first. Make sure all passengers are safe and have them put on lifejackets if necessary. In a genuine emergency (water ingress, fire, man overboard), make a distress call on VHF channel 16, or press the DISTRESS (DSC) button on the radio if your boat is fitted with one. This is the international distress frequency: the nearest maritime rescue centre will answer you, whatever the country, with no local number to remember. You can also call 112 anywhere in the European Union, 999 in the UK (ask for the Coastguard) or 196 in mainland France.
2. Assess the seriousness. Some faults are sorted out in a few minutes and do not mean interrupting the cruise. Water ingress, on the other hand, calls for lifejackets and an immediate alert. The table below helps you place the situation.
3. Notify the charter company without delay. Call the base, then confirm in writing (text, WhatsApp, email) stating the time. It is this call that starts the downtime clock, and therefore any compensation you may be owed.
4. Do not carry out any repairs yourself. A repair carried out without the charter company's written agreement may be charged to you, even if it was well intentioned. Wait for their instructions, and get written approval for any work or any purchase of parts.
5. Document everything immediately. Dated photos, exact time, circumstances, the name of the person you spoke to. It is this file, and this alone, that will make the difference when it comes to compensation.

Can I lose my deposit if I report a fault?

No. Reporting a breakdown never puts your deposit at risk: only damage that is established and attributed to you can lead to a deduction. In fact the opposite is true: silence weakens your position.

• A breakdown that is not reported and is discovered on return will be attributed to you by default, as there is nothing to date when it occurred.
• Without a report, the downtime clock does not start: you lose any right to compensation.
• Without a written record, you have no evidence to put forward if the charter company withholds all or part of your deposit.

So the right thing to do is to report it in writing, immediately, even a minor fault, and have the reservation noted on the boat's paperwork. That is what protects your deposit, not silence.

The faults that are often fixed in ten minutes

Before bringing the cruise to a halt, a few simple checks resolve a good many alerts. The charter company will talk you through them over the phone, so it is worth knowing them:

• The engine won't start: battery isolator switched off, gear lever not exactly in neutral, kill cord not properly clipped in, service battery mistaken for the engine battery.
• The engine stalls or loses power: fuel genuinely low (the gauge is often optimistic), raw water filter blocked by a bag or weed, air in the fuel line needing bleeding, propeller fouled by a rope or net.
• Temperature or oil alarm: first check the cooling-water discharge at the exhaust and the oil level. An alarm that is ignored turns a minor fault into major damage, potentially charged to you.
• No water, no cold, no 220 V: circuit breaker at the panel, a closed valve, an empty tank, the inverter not switched on.

If the problem persists, you are entitled to insist that an engineer attends. A charter company that tells you to "carry on like that" without a diagnosis is not meeting its obligation. Ask for its position in writing and, if it drags its feet, contact our concierge service: we escalate the matter to the owner.

Simple fault or genuine emergency? How to tell them apart

Not every situation calls for the same response. An engine failure, a rigging problem or an electrical fault are unpleasant but rarely dangerous: make the boat safe, anchor if you can and call the charter company, which will arrange the repair. Water ingress, a fire or a man overboard, however, are life-threatening emergencies: lifejackets, an immediate distress call on VHF channel 16, then the charter company. If you are unsure how serious it is, treat the situation as an emergency: better one alert too many than one raised too late.

"The charter company says it's fine, but I don't feel safe"

As the skipper, you are the sole judge of the safety of the boat and of your crew. No charter company can force you to put back to sea if you consider the boat unsafe, particularly where there is structural damage (hull crack, rigging, rudder or rudder blade). In that case:

• Stay in harbour or at a sheltered anchorage, and say so clearly to the charter company.
• Ask it to confirm in writing that the boat is safe and that it accepts responsibility. A charter company confident in its diagnosis has no reason to refuse.
• If it refuses to put it in writing, immediately send a time-stamped email to the charter company, copying in Filovent, describing the damage, your request and its refusal, with photos to support it.

This message serves as a formal warning: it protects you if the damage gets worse, and it shifts the responsibility onto the charter company.

What compensation, depending on the situation?

It all depends on who is responsible for the fault. There are four scenarios:

The key distinction is between an accidental breakdown and poor maintenance. A pump that fails midway through the week is bad luck. A boat delivered with a broken tender outboard, tired rigging or a maintenance job that should have been done before you arrived amounts to a failing on the charter company's part: the service is then not as sold, and you can claim more than a pro rata credit note. Where French law applies to your contract, Articles L.211-16 et seq. of the French Tourism Code govern this requirement to properly perform the services set out in the contract.

Key point: the length of the downtime is calculated from the moment you notified the charter company. Every hour of delay in reporting is an hour that will not be counted towards your compensation.

How are the lost days counted?

Downtime is counted in hours from your alert, then converted into full and half days of sailing lost. The basis for the calculation is the boat's daily price (the charter cost divided by the number of days), not the total holiday cost including extras.

Example: on a week costing £2,800, the daily price is £400. A fault reported on the Tuesday at 9am and repaired on the Wednesday at 3pm represents about a day and a half of downtime, i.e. £600. If the charter company offers only one day, you can point to your timeline of events and your written exchanges. This is precisely why the exact time of the alert must be recorded.

Credit note or refund: can I refuse a credit note?

Yes. A credit note, a goodwill gesture or a free cruise are offers, not an obligation you are bound to accept. You can decline them and ask for a cash refund (bank transfer or a refund to the card used).

Give your reasons: distance, age, no plans for another cruise, a credit note whose validity does not suit your circumstances. A written, reasoned counter-proposal very often succeeds. Our concierge service passes this request on to the charter company and helps you to word it.

Which additional costs can I claim back?

Costs directly caused by the breakdown can be claimed, against receipts: a hotel night forced on you by downtime, transfers and taxis, a paid mooring you had to use because you could not reach the intended port, provisions spoiled by a broken fridge, extra fuel used to get back to base.

Replacement boat: what can you insist on?

A replacement boat may be offered in a case of force majeure, but also when a breakdown makes the original boat unavailable. In both cases, your rights are the same:

• Genuine comparability: equivalent capacity and comfort. A boat offering fewer cabins or berths than your crew needs is not an acceptable replacement, and you can refuse it.
• No extra cost to you: if the replacement is imposed on you, the price difference, like the cost of transferring to another port, falls to the charter company, never to you.
• A written agreement before you accept: model, year, number of cabins, dates, port of departure, who covers the transfers and any price difference. Do not leave the base without this document.

If no comparable boat is available, you can refuse the replacement and ask for a refund pro rata for the days lost.

Deposit, excess and bail bond insurance

Filovent works exclusively with professional owners: the boat is always insured (third-party liability, damage and personal injury), with an excess. This insurance is included as a matter of course, because a boat is never chartered uninsured. But the deposit / excess system remains front and centre:

• You always pay a deposit at the start, which acts as security for the charter company to cover the excess in the event of a claim.
• In the event of damage: if the amount is below the excess, the charter company takes part of the deposit; if it is above, it keeps the whole deposit and calls on its insurance for the rest.
• So you remain exposed up to the amount of your deposit: this exposure is not cancelled out by default.

What reduces this exposure is bail bond insurance. It is a paid option offered through our partner Gritchen, for worldwide cover. Take care not to confuse these protections with comprehensive insurance: the latter does not cover damage to the boat (that is the role of the charter company and of bail bond insurance) but the personal risks that affect you during the cruise (medical costs, repatriation, cutting your holiday short for a covered reason, luggage). The two are complementary: bail bond insurance protects the boat, comprehensive insurance protects people.

Pre-authorisation or charge: what's the difference?

Seeing a large sum "held" on your account is worrying, often needlessly. Three ways of taking the deposit exist side by side:

• Pre-authorisation (a card hold): the amount is held but never debited. If there is no damage, the hold is released automatically, with nothing for you to do. The time this takes depends on your bank, generally a few days to a few weeks after the end of the charter.
• An actual charge: the sum is genuinely debited, then refunded after the check-out, by transfer or by a refund to the card.
• Cheque or cash: the cheque is not cashed and is returned to you on your return; cash is handed back to you. In both cases, insist on a receipt both when you pay and when it is returned.

A sum on hold is therefore not a sum lost. If the hold lasts abnormally long, ask the charter company for written confirmation that the pre-authorisation has been released, which you can pass on to your bank.

How do you make a bail bond insurance claim?

Bail bond insurance does not trigger by itself: it is up to you to report the claim, within the time limit set out in the policy (often a few working days after the damage or the deduction is established). Report it without waiting for the outcome of any dispute with the charter company: the two processes run in parallel.

The documents usually required:

• The charter contract and the bail bond insurance certificate;
• The check-in inventory signed and the check-out inventory signed;
• The dated photos of the damage;
• The incident report or a detailed written account of what happened;
• The repair quote or invoice from the charter company;
• Proof of the deduction (bank statement or receipt from the charter company);
• In the event of theft or loss of equipment (tender outboard, propeller, gear): the police report filed with the local authorities, often required by the insurer.

It is the absence of one of these documents that drags cases out for weeks. Gather them before you leave the base: once you are home, getting a document out of the charter company becomes far harder. Our concierge service can help you put the file together.

At embarkation: the check-in is what counts

The check-in inventory is the document that protects you throughout the cruise. Without it, any damage found on return can be charged to you, including a defect that was there before you arrived.

• Insist on a signed copy of the check-in and keep it. Photograph the document as soon as it is signed: it is the simplest backup.
• Photograph every vulnerable point, with the date turned on: hull and fenders, rudder blade and propeller, rigging and sails, portholes, tender and outboard, electronics, interior, gauges (engine hours, fuel, water).
• Have every reservation noted on the inventory, however minor, before you sign. A scratch noted on arrival is a scratch you will not be charged for on return.
• If the check-in takes place at night or too quickly, have it noted ("check-in carried out at night, hull condition could not be verified") and follow it up at daybreak with a time-stamped email to the charter company, with photos to support it, copying in Filovent.

On returning the boat: the check-out, the real battleground

It is at handover back that most deposit disputes arise. A few simple rules are enough to protect you.

• Insist on a joint check-out inventory, carried out in your presence and signed by both parties. Never leave the base without a copy of it.
• Take the same series of dated photos as at embarkation, at the same time as the check-out. The comparison between arrival and return is your best defence.
• Never sign under pressure. If you are handed a damage report to sign when your flight leaves in two hours, you have two options: refuse to sign, or sign while adding the handwritten note "signed with reservations, damage disputed, subject to a joint survey". In both cases, immediately send a time-stamped email to the charter company, copying in Filovent.
• Damage that is not on the check-out cannot be charged to you after you have left. That is why this document, signed, must remain in your possession.

What to do if the charter company refuses to sign the check-out or note a reservation?

It happens, and it is not a dead end. Build the evidence yourself:

1. Write your own report: date, time, place, the name and role of the staff member, the precise facts and the refusal you were given.
2. Photograph the boat, the disputed points and the document left blank or incomplete.
3. Send it all by email to the charter company, copying in Filovent, before you leave the base. A time-stamped message that is precise and not challenged by the charter company carries real evidential weight.

How do you dispute a deduction from your deposit?

A deduction must be justified, quantified and proven. You do not have to accept a charge announced with no explanation and no invoice. The steps to follow:

1. Ask the charter company, in writing, for a breakdown of the deduction: the exact nature of the damage, reference to the check-in and check-out, before-and-after photos and the repair quote or invoice. You are entitled to insist on these documents.
2. Put forward your evidence: dated photos from embarkation and return, written reservations, exchanges with the base. The burden of proof rests on the comparison between the check-in and check-out inventories.
3. Send the complete file to our concierge service. We chase the charter company, insist on the supporting documents and take up your dispute.
4. At the same time, submit a claim to your bail bond insurance, if you took it out, without waiting for the outcome of the dispute.
5. As a last resort: a formal letter of demand, referral to the French Tourism and Travel Ombudsman (Médiateur du Tourisme et du Voyage), then the competent court under the terms of your contract.

How long to get my deposit back or receive a reply?

Timeframes vary depending on the charter company, the bank and how complex the case is. The rough figures to bear in mind:

If a stated deadline is not met, do not sit without an answer: contact your Filovent adviser with your case reference. We chase the charter company and keep you informed of progress.

The right instinct: document everything to be compensated

Compensation comes down to evidence. As soon as safety on board is assured, note the exact time of the problem, describe the precise circumstances and take photos of the damage. Keep a record of your call to the charter company (time, who you spoke to) and confirm it in writing: that is what starts the downtime clock. Without these, an otherwise legitimate claim for compensation can be impossible to enforce.

A question about your situation?

Our concierge service is here to help you work out what to do and what your rights are, depending on your contract and your destination. For any questions, contact your Filovent adviser or our concierge team on +44 20 4576 3186.