3 October 2024
CompareYachtInsurance.com has announced the launch of Yachtech Insurance, a revolutionary telematics product for the yacht and boat insurance industry. Yachtech is a cutting-edge product offered by the online aggregator that promises to revolutionise the pleasure craft insurance industry in a drastic shake up of the status quo.
The concept has followed in the footprints of the car insurance telematics industry, whereby vehicles are fitted with data gathering devices that report back to underwriters. Yachtech has taken this approach and gone a step further in its collaboration with Howden Driving Data, to build an industry-first hardware and software offering that’s set to improve underwriting results across the board.
As part of the new product offering, yacht and boat owners will be provided with a smart monitoring device that connects to their onboard system. This smart monitoring device allows yacht and boat owners to monitor the vital and key systems of their vessel directly on their smartphone from the comforts of anywhere in the world. Yachtech has built in a variety of intelligent algorithms that monitor the vessel remotely, and notify the yacht owner when there is something untoward. Such as, the vessel exiting a geofence, batteries draining, high water alerts, trip logging, engine hours logging and much more.
For the first time in Yacht Insurance history, underwriters will have access to unparalleled levels of data surrounding individual assets as well as segments of their portfolio. The Yachtech team has been working tirelessly for the past year to deliver a portal whereby underwriters can assess trends in real-time, pertaining to the usage, weather conditions, vessel conditions and much more. Marcel Herrera, CEO at CompareYachtInsurance.com, has hailed the Yachtech software as a “significant advancement for underwriters looking to access new data points to reinforce their underwriting experience”. He goes on to say: “We are extremely honoured and privileged to have worked with the team at Howden Driving Data to develop this next-gen insurance telematics software to the market. Their expertise is unrivalled, and together we have been able to shape an extremely exciting insurance product that we know underwriters will love for all of its data benefits”.
Built in Collaboration with Howden Driving Data
YachTech was developed in partnership with Howden Driving Data, a leader in innovative insurance technology solutions. The collaboration between CompareYachtInsurance.com and Howden Driving Data ensures that Yachtech leverages the latest advancements in data analytics and telematics to provide robust, real-time insights.
Barney Thompson, Director of Business Development at Howden Driving Data, commented on the collaboration: "We are thrilled to have partnered with CompareYachtInsurance.com on the development of Yachtech. By combining our expertise in data-driven technology with their deep understanding of the yacht insurance market, we have created a revolutionary product. Yachtech empowers insurers with the data they need to make more informed decisions, ultimately enhancing both risk management and customer satisfaction. We believe this partnership sets a new standard for the industry."
Insurance Integration
The Yachtech Portal integrates into any digital yacht MGA that has API capabilities. At inception, the Yachtech smart monitoring device is couriered directly to the policy holder along with self-installation instructions. The policy holder’s installation is monitored and guided through a bespoke CRM system at every step of the way.
As soon as the device is live, the policyholder and the insurer will be able to access the real-time monitoring in their designated app/portal.
Portfolio Monitoring
Underwriters will now for the first time ever have live fleet monitoring capabilities. This allows them to see where their portfolio’s aggregates are in real-time, as well as based on their declared home port. Exposure management has never before been this accurate and up to date, providing underwriters with confidence and actionable insights to plan and deploy any catastrophe response.
Market Distribution
Yachtech Insurance is currently establishing a worldwide distributor network that is based on Geographical spread. Yachtech will be available to yacht owners through a bespoke yacht insurance policy in the UK and European market, distributed through an MGA of an already established and highly performing insurer.
Commercial licences are currently available to MGAs and insurance programs for utilising the Yachtech platform, and Yachtech encourages any interested parties to engage in early discussions to secure licensing rights for their geographical areas.
OnboardProtect™
The Yachtech smart monitoring device is state of the art IoT. It plugs into the vessel’s battery system, and starts logging vital data from the vessel’s onboard electrical circuit. Voltage is constantly measured to understand the draw from certain systems, as well as comparisons with GPS data to provide an accurate assessment of the systems on board.
Having access to the vessel’s full system status remotely empowers yacht owners to mitigate risk, and prevent losses from occurring.
Simultaneously, the data recorded from the entire portfolio is aggregated to form the foundation of a monitoring dashboard for underwriters. Underwriters will be able to monitor their aggregates and exposures in real-time based on the live GPS location of their insured’s vessels. This is an extremely powerful tool for portfolio-wide risk mitigation to be deployed, as yacht owners will receive automatic alerts when there are natural weather events occurring that are likely to impact their vessel (such as hurricanes and lightning storms).
WeatherProtect™
Windstorms, hurricanes and high-wind events are now forecasted between five and 10 days in advance. WeatherProtect™ uses APIs to continuously access this data and provide advance warnings to boat and yacht owners, allowing them to act to secure and protect their assets. Underwriters have the functionality to enable automated alerts to be sent based on specific weather parameters such as forecasted wind speed, rain, hail, snow and much more.
Alerting owners based on the real-time location of their vessel, and advance weather warnings allows them to proactively protect their vessel by either securing it against the elements or relocating out of harm's way.
LightningProtect™
Our advanced algorithms track the movement of lightning storms, as well as forecast the formation of new storms. When a boat or vessel has a lightning warning, our system automatically alerts the owner, and provides them with the opportunity to protect their asset. This may be moving out of the way of a lightning storm, or to isolate their electronics on board to limit the electronics damage.
Our onboard monitoring devices pick up changes in voltages through the system, therefore an overlay of lightning strikes allows us to make an early identification of whether a vessel has been hit by lightning, allowing for immediate loss mitigation.
YachtScorecard™
Data alone does not improve underwriting, which is why the Yachtech system focuses on delivering actionable insights. Individual risks are scored based on a variety of categories, including weather usage, depth usage, owner’s behaviour, battery/alternator performance, vessel performance and many more. These scorecards are ranked from one to 10, to give underwriters a flexible opportunity to provide credits and debits on factors that are important to their underwriting strategy.
Insurance Integration
The Yachtech Portal integrates into any digital yacht MGA that has API capabilities. At inception, the Yachtech smart monitoring device is couriered directly to the policy holder’s address along with self-installation instructions. The policy holder’s installation is monitored and guided through our bespoke CRM system at every step of the way.
As soon as the device is live, the policyholder and the insurer will be able to access the real-time monitoring in their designated app/portal.
Portfolio Monitoring
Underwriters have live fleet monitoring capabilities. This allows them to see where their portfolio’s aggregates are in real-time, as well as based on their declared home port. Exposure management has never before been this accurate and up to date, providing underwriters with confidence and actionable insights to plan and deploy any catastrophe response.
MARKET DISTRIBUTION
Yachtech Insurance is currently establishing a worldwide distributor network that is based on geographical spread. Yachtech’s intention is to provide a yacht insurance policy to the UK and European market, distributed as an MGA of an already established and highly performing insurer. Yachtech is working with market-leading capacity specialists Tysers to secure capacity for a UK and European program. Tyser’s Richard Jenkins adds: “Tysers and AUB Group firmly believe that this is the future of yacht insurance underwriting. We have been closely involved in the shaping of the Yachtech product, and we are excited to see how it will flourish. Tysers has been working with capacity providers, MGAs and brokers in the yacht insurance market for over 20 years, and are strategically positioned to place a binder for this new program. We welcome any underwriting enquiries directly”.
Outside of the UK and Europe, commercial licences are available to MGAs and insurance programs for utilising the Yachtech platform. Current licences are in discussions with US, Canadian and Australasian providers, and Yachtech encourages any interested parties to engage in early discussions to secure licensing rights for their geographical areas.
FIFTY NORTH GROUP
Fifty North Group encompasses CompareYachtInsurance.com, SailorsDirect.co.uk and Fifty North Insurance Brokers.
About Yachtech and CompareYachtInsurance.com
CompareYachtInsurance.com is an insurtech start-up looking to disrupt and improve the yacht insurance market. After seven years, it is a leading provider of yacht insurance solutions, committed to offering comprehensive coverage and exceptional service to yacht owners and insurers. Focused on innovation and customer satisfaction, the company provides a range of insurance products tailored to the unique needs of the marine industry. With the introduction of Yachtech, CompareYachtInsurance.com continues to advance marine insurance with cutting-edge technology and data-driven insights.
For more information about Yachtech and its benefits for your insurance programme, please contact our press office at mherrera@fiftynorthconsulting.com.