Wear, damage, disputes: how a professional protects your boat

What happens when there is no inspection report

Information article, based on the official texts consulted on 26 September 2026. It replaces neither legal advice nor the opinion of the competent State services for your case.

Reviews published by owners on peer-to-peer rental platforms tell the same story: a broken propeller, the tank not refilled, and a customer who left “without signing the inspection report”; the result: no withholding possible from the security deposit, and the repair at the owner’s expense.

The law points the same way: “if no inspection report has been drawn up, the hirer is presumed to have received [them] in good condition […] unless proven otherwise” (French Civil Code (code civil), art. 1731).

The six protections of a well-run rental

1. The joint inspection, at departure and on return, time-stamped, with a photo plan specific to the boat, and signed by the customer.
2. The security deposit by card pre-authorisation, at least equal to the insurance excess, taken at departure — see security deposit, excess, waiver.
3. Checking the customer: identity document and original boating licence, recorded on the prior declaration that Division 240 requires for each rental.
4. The navigation zone: the equipment on board limits the distance from a shelter (2, 6 or 60 nautical miles) (French Ministry of the Sea); the contract repeats it.
5. Tracked maintenance: the annual inspection register, and a log in which each job is dated and documented.
6. GPS tracking: position, leaving the zone, impact, water ingress. The CNIL (the French data protection authority) accepts geolocation of a rented vehicle to prevent misappropriation (2026 recommendation), provided the customer is informed.

Normal wear is not damage

The hirer is not liable for “what has perished or deteriorated through age” (French Civil Code (code civil), art. 1730). A rented boat wears faster: that is a cost for the owner, to be factored into the profitability calculation (see the real figures), not a dispute with the customer. Hence the value of a precise inspection report that distinguishes what wears from what breaks.

What an owner can demand of their rental company

• See the check-in and check-out inspection for each rental, with its photos.
• Know who pays the excess, and when a repair is recharged to the customer.
• Consult the maintenance log and the annual inspection register.
• Receive a detailed statement with each payout.
• Be notified of an incident without waiting for the end of the season.

With SunSea Hub

An owner whose rental company uses SunSea Hub sees all of this in the Sup portal: the signed inspection reports, the maintenance log, the GPS tracker alerts and the payout statement — see renting out your boat through a professional.

Information article, based on the official texts consulted on 26 September 2026. It replaces neither legal advice nor the opinion of the competent State services for your case.

Read next

• Boat owners

  Entrusting your boat to a professional operator: management agreement, weeks kept, signed photo inspection at every rental, payout statement.

• Check-in inspection

  With Check: a photo plan per boat, inventory, fuel and engine hours, the customer’s signature at departure and return, return compared with departure.

• Is renting out your boat profitable? The real figures

  Days actually rented, a berth at €2,700 to €7,100 a year, the manager’s share, insurance surcharge, wear, tax (BIC, micro-BIC €83,600).

• Security deposit, excess, excess waiver: the rental company’s side

  The excess comes from the operator’s insurer, the deposit guarantees it, the excess waiver reduces it for the customer. Pre-authorisation validity with Viva.