MorningBird said..
I believe it to be a scam because the actual risk is only about 20% of the premium. I did a lot of consulting in the insurance and reinsurance broking industry and found commissions gobble up between 30-50% of the premium. Remuneration in the industry is high relative to other industries, noting insurance work doesn't generally require trade or tertiary quals.
An industry that uses approx 80% of revenue to feed itself is in my view a scam. In my view it preys on people's fears.
That doesn't mean it isn't an option for those who need to cover very high consequence risks, even if they are very low probability. I was hoping the Royal Commission was going to 'fix' the industry.
A rort maybe, over priced -yes, and definitely a weasel industry that has stacked the odds in their favour (as you would expect to some degree from a business with various stakeholders). But it is not a scam (Ok I may be a little pedantic with the wording here).
I don't like having to pay insurance (although it has paid off for me and I am sure many others), but unfortunately to me, it is a necessary evil. You can be the most experience, conservative sailor who will never have an incident, but we call all agree that there are many d@#khead bogans out there with no clue and a belly full of p!ss and guaranteed no insurance. What happens if one of them run into you? Here in WA I think rego (assuming its registered) will cover injury and death, but not damage to your boat. How are
you gong to repair
your boat when you can't squeeze blood from a stone?