Each syndicate has a Finance Manager who is responsible for the maintenance accounting and its reporting to fellow owners. Using the Fractional Association’s accounts package with their spreadsheet templates helps create completely transparent visibility – in real time on the yacht’s website – for all owners to get an accurate handle on the ongoing running costs.

As most owners invariably get their capital outlay back, less some depreciation over time when selling their yacht (or their yacht share) the running costs actually form the greatest expenditure of yacht ownership over time. Only paying a small percentage of all the maintenance costs therefore becomes very refreshing in comparison!

Because each owner only pays a fraction of the actually running costs there are many benefits that outright owners can’t avail themselves of.

For example, replacing the external upholstery on a yacht would cost circa €5,000 and needs to be done every three years or so. That becomes a bitter pill to swallow for an outright yacht owner, but for a 6 weeks a year fractional owner that same expense only comes to €625 instead of €5000!

The temptation is therefore to replace items sooner, meaning fractionally owned yachts often look in better condition than their adjacently moored privately owned yachts.

This same philosophy applies to the cleanliness of the vessel. By the very nature of the need for a weekly changeover valet throughout, fractionally owned yachts are serviced, cleaned and polished once a week. Privately owned yachts sit unattended for many months at a time, rapidly deteriorating in a salt encrusted, burning sun environment, with the occasional clean only occurring before the outright owners’ next arrival.

The same applies to mooring costs. Fractional Yachts are often berthed in the most desirable and therefore the most expensive mooring locations in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Again, by only paying for the mooring when one is actually on board, as other owners pay while they are on board, it suddenly makes good economical sense. To be specific, taking Puerto Portals in Mallorca as an example, a 60ft mooring is about €60k p.a., where an equivalent 20m mooring in a lesser marina in say Palma might cost about €30,000 per annum less. A significant saving if one only uses ones privately owned yacht for 6 weeks of the year, equating to €5000 per week’s use.

In contrast although the Puerto Portals mooring is €30,000 p.a. more expensive, a 6 week fractional owner is only actually paying €576 per week of use extra, to be moored in the best marina in the Med. The fuel savings alone for the saved hour or two a day in cruising, make it a better financial proposition to be based in vibrant Puerto Portals, aside from all the time saving, enjoyment, convenience and aesthetic benefits.

All in all, one of the most significant benefits of fractional ownership is that one only has to pay a fraction of the yacht’s ongoing running costs.