I figure the people that would make sure they have insurance are the ones risking millions of credits- the banks providing the loans for ships.
So my idea is that insurance is baked into the loan payment.
The insurance pays off to the bank, not the ship owner/operator, and it only pays off the remaining principal. So as such early on it is a bigger proportion of the payments. As the bank gets more of its principal back, the proportion drops.
The ship operator may have put in 20 years of sweat equity into that boat, but gets nothing. As we know the merchant cost game doesn’t have a built in profit margin except by dint of speculation and/or shenanigans, so this interpretation fits the rigged system sense of most universes.
On the other hand the owner isn’t on the hook for millions of credits, mostly a no fault insurance arrangement. That works great for Acts of Grandfather or piracy, reasonable unforeseen risk.
The insurer may not agree being the one on the hook for the payout, and seek to prove the operator was negligent or worse actively involved in the ship loss.
Negligence may result in loss of ship captain/crew rights/certification and prosecution especially for creating hazard (most notably crashing on populated worlds), intentional loss would be piracy and so liable for the whole insured loss plus criminal interstellar law proceedings.
Countervailing pressures are that interstellar justice processes are painful due to the time/distance problems, particularly witnesses, so unless there is compelling evidence the insurers are pressured by the banks to payout and have a limited window to pursue remuneration- unless people died, then that’s always open.
Could have a situation where the characters don’t get proved negligent/criminal by insurers, but they object to insurance for their replacement ship and it’s troublesome to get the loan as the bank and shipyard won’t go without coverage.
I’d have any such court cases happen at the subsector capital where the loss took place except in war then expedited admiralty courts on board ships will do.
If operators want to put on insurance, either as loan or fully paid off ships, that’s additional payment.
I’d start with 1% of the ship value per year. Very profitable business for the insurance companies, 40% of the ship value new over the course of a loan, although I think they would tend to payout actual aged value and have the ship title as collateral especially if pirated and they have salvage/recovery rights.
Should go on up in wartime or amber zones, 5% minimum and often higher. If the coverage isn’t paid for level of risk at time of loss, no payout.
Red zones, that’s tantamount to piracy with similar consequences.
A more affordable option might be insuring for the down payment instead of the whole thing, so the owner/operator can order that replacement and get back into the game.
Here is an article on a book about sailing era insurance, exactly the sort of milieu for us.
Underwriters of the United States: How Insurance Shaped the American Founding By Hannah Farber, Omohundro Institute and University of North Carolina Press, 2021, 352 pp, $34.95 It may be the most exciting insurance policy ever written. For a merchant ship’s voyage from Boston to the Caribbean in...
ar.casact.org
Big bucks, political manipulation, sounds like noble big play fodder.
Another play opportunity would be an insurer agent paid to find out if a loss claim is legit and gather the evidence for court proceedings. Worse in some ways then having a bounty hunter on your tail, and possibly more remunerative if the ‘aduster’ get a percentage of the recovery.
