The platinum package, please

23rd August 2008 – 11.51 am

When buying insurance on a new ship, or renewing insurance on a current ship, it is often advised by many sources to get the platinum package. For a new space cadet advice is always welcome, but often the advice isn't fully explained and you are to take it as face value, from the voice of experience. This is all well and good, but can lead to learning lessons the hard way still.

The problem is that it may seem sufficient on face value to get the gold or silver insurance plan. It pays back at least the cost of the ship, and if you're running missions you'll probably have some spare modules kicking around the hanger, so why pay more? You can replace the ship and you won't need to pay for many modules to reequip it, and if you do they are generally pretty cheap at the low-end anyway. But there is a cost of buying a new ship that can be overlooked: the insurance itself.

I only fully realised the extra cost of insurance when buying my Drake. I have lost a few ships, mostly on the Kobayashi Maru simulator When Worlds Collide mission, and then foolishly threw my Caracal in to a nest of vipers, so there was no way I was going to take my brand new Drake out of the hangar without getting it insured. I couldn't afford the platinum package right away so I considered a cheaper plan, enough to cover the cost of the ship should the worst happen. But if I can't afford to insure it now, I won't be able to insure it with the insurance payout only covering the cost of the ship. This is why I've been busy running missions to make some quick ISK.

If you realise that you might lose a ship and need to replace it you will buy insurance. If you buy insurance you need to realise that the cost of a replacement ship is the cost of the ship plus the cost of the insurance. This combined cost is effectively the payout you are ideally looking for in the insurance plan, and this is why the platinum package is generally the best option and recommended. It costs more, but it pays for itself.

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