Insurance

From EVEWiki

Everybody has a ship blown up sooner or later. The universe is a dangerous place, especially in EVE where PvP can happen at any time. It's one of the basic rules of EVE that you should never fly anything you can't afford to lose.

There is no way to prevent this (other than staying docked 24/7 just playing the markets) but the pain can be lessened by getting someone to pay you for what you've lost. Not that you'll get 100% of your value back, but anything will help.

Most stations have an insurance agent (look at the services buttons above the guest list). They will offer you a policy on your ship. The policies that they sell are based on the base mineral cost of making your ship; you will be offered a range of policies at different prices. The price ranges cover between 50% and 90% of the base cost of the ship. All policies last for 12 weeks. It won't cover (and no NPC will insure) your modules, rigs, ammo, etc., but at least it goes some way to getting you something to fly away from your next station in. The cheapest policy isn't good value, whereas the top "Platinum" insurance gives you a very good payout for your investment if your ship is lost.

One important thing to remember is that, as the insurance is based on the mineral cost of making your ship, a Tech 2 ship will have about the same payout as its Tech 1 variant despite possibly costing quite a few times more on the open market.

The insurance is only valid if you remain the owner of that ship; if you trade it another player -- even an alt -- or repackage it, the insurance will be voided and you will have to re-buy it.

The system keeps track of your insurance: you can go to any station insurance service to find out what you have insured, at what level, and when it will expire. If you watch your EVE-mail, you'll get an "Insurance Contract Issued" mail from the Secure Commerce Commission:

Insurance Contract Issued

Dear valued customer, Congratulations on the insurance on your ship. A very wise choice indeed. This letter is to confirm that we have issued an insurance contract for your ship, xxxxxxxx (xxxxxxxx) at a level of xxx.0%. This contract will expire at xxxxxxxx, after 12 weeks. Best, The Secure Commerce Commission, Reference ID: xxxxxxxx

Later, you will receive a notice from the Secure Commerce Commission informing you that it's expired:

Insurance Contract Expired

The insurance contract between yourself and SCC for the insurance of the ship xxxxxxxx issued at xxxxxxxx has expired. Please purchase a new insurance as quickly as possible to protect your investment. Best, The Secure Commerce Commission, Reference ID: xxxxxxxx

And if you are unlucky (or careless enough) to lose your ship during the insurance term you will be sent the following mails from the Secure Commerce Commission:

Insurance

RefID:xxxxxxxx Your friendly insurance company has transferred xxxxxxxx.xx ISK into your account for the recent loss of your ship.

If, after losing your ship, you dock at a station where you don't already have a ship, Pend Insurance Inc. will supply you with a racial newbie ship for free:

Pend Insurance Inc.

We from the friendly insurance company Pend Insurance regret the recent loss of your spacecraft. According to the agreement between Pend Insurance and SCC, we hereby grant you a brand new xxxxxxx, fully fitted. Also included is a gratuity gift of Tritanium.

Note

Apparently you can insure your ship even if you plan on suiciding it. There is an on-going series of threads on the forums trying to persuade the developers to rewrite the code so that suicide gankers do not get insurance back, but nothing has come from it to date.