Insurance in Star Citizen is no longer limited to pressing Claim after losing a ship. Alpha 4.8 separates basic ship insurance from loadout insurance, pledge insurance duration, Lifetime Insurance, claim fees, cargo loss, and the planned warranty system for the future release economy.
The most important current rule is simple: basic insurance returns the ship with its standard equipment. If you replace its weapons, shields, power plants, coolers, quantum drive, mining equipment, or other supported components, you must insure the modified loadout separately through an ASOP terminal. Otherwise, a future claim can return the stock configuration and remove the uninsured aftermarket equipment.
Quick answer: All ships and vehicles currently receive non-expiring basic hull insurance during Alpha and PTU testing. Claims cost aUEC and may have a replacement timer. Custom ship components require separate loadout insurance. Cargo, personal equipment, loose items, and vehicles placed inside another ship are not automatically protected by a normal ship claim. Pledge insurance duration and LTI become relevant after the game leaves testing.
Star Citizen Insurance Types Explained
Several systems use similar terminology but protect different types of value.
| Insurance type | What it protects | Current Alpha 4.8 status | What it does not automatically protect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic ship insurance | The ship or vehicle and its standard loadout | Active and non-expiring during testing | Uninsured custom components, cargo, loose items and personal gear |
| Loadout insurance | The currently installed custom ship equipment listed in the insured configuration | Available through ASOP terminals | Cargo, personal inventory, loose decorations and later unregistered changes |
| Pledge insurance | Future insurance duration included with a pledge | Duration is not counting down during Alpha | Other ships, cargo or unlimited free claims |
| Lifetime Insurance | Permanent maintenance of the included base insurance policy | Future-facing pledge benefit | Free expedite, cargo replacement or automatic custom-loadout coverage |
| Warranty | Planned future recovery or replacement entitlement | Not fully implemented as a separate Alpha 4.8 system | Should not be treated as finalized live gameplay |
| Future cargo insurance | Potential protection for transported commodities | Not part of normal Alpha ship claims | Current cargo losses |
How Basic Ship Insurance Works in Alpha 4.8
All ships and vehicles currently receive basic insurance during Alpha and PTU testing. This policy does not expire and does not require regular renewal. It exists so that players can continue testing ships after destruction, theft, abandonment, fuel loss, technical problems, or other failures.
This does not mean every claim is free. Filing a claim can require an aUEC payment, and the replacement may have a timer. The player can wait for the standard replacement or pay an additional expedite fee to reduce the remaining time.
What basic insurance returns
Basic insurance returns the insured ship or vehicle with its standard loadout. The standard loadout is the factory or baseline equipment configuration assigned to that model.
Depending on the ship, this can include:
- Stock ship weapons.
- Default shield generators.
- Default power plants and coolers.
- The stock quantum drive.
- Standard mining heads or industrial components where applicable.
- Other factory-installed equipment attached to the ship model.
Basic insurance should not be treated as full restoration of everything that happened to be inside or attached to the ship during the lost session.
What basic insurance does not normally return
- Uninsured aftermarket ship components.
- Trade cargo.
- Refined ore or raw mining materials.
- Loose weapons, armor or personal equipment.
- Storage containers and their contents.
- Items placed manually inside the cabin.
- Ground vehicles or snub craft not covered through their own claim state.
- Uninsured equipment changes made after the last insured loadout was registered.
Get any Star Citizen service from ExpCarry: raids, dungeons, PvP, leveling, gold, farming, coaching, and custom orders.
How to File a Ship Claim
A claim is required when a ship or vehicle is destroyed, stolen, stranded, unavailable at the current location, or unusable because of a technical problem.
Star Citizen claim process
- Visit an ASOP terminal at a station, landing zone or personal hangar.
- Find the unavailable ship or vehicle in the list.
- Select Claim.
- Review its status and replacement location.
- Select File a Claim.
- Pay the required claim fee when displayed.
- Wait for the replacement timer or pay to expedite it.
- Return to the ASOP terminal and retrieve the replacement when ready.
Larger, rarer and more valuable ships can have longer timers and higher associated costs than small starter ships. Exact values can change with patch balancing.
Claim included vehicles before the parent ship
If a ship includes a dependent snub craft or ground vehicle, claim the smaller included craft first and the parent ship second. Claiming the parent ship first can interfere with the status of the included vessel.
Claims as a technical workaround
A claim can sometimes reset a ship affected by broken doors, missing equipment, unusable seats, incorrect component states, or other vehicle problems. However, claiming a ship should not be the first solution when it can be stored and restored normally.
Before claiming a valuable custom ship, verify that its current aftermarket loadout is insured.
Star Citizen Loadout Insurance
Loadout insurance is the most important change for players who modify their ships. Basic ship insurance only guarantees the standard equipment configuration. Loadout insurance records and protects a selected custom configuration on an individual ship.
This means purchasing a component and installing it is not sufficient. After the installation, the new configuration must be insured through an ASOP terminal.
Equipment covered by loadout insurance
The insured configuration can include supported equipment currently installed on the selected ship, such as:
- Ship weapons and turrets.
- Shield generators.
- Power plants.
- Coolers.
- Quantum drives.
- Mining heads and mining modules.
- Missile racks and supported ordnance equipment.
- Other recognized ship components displayed in the insurance review.
The final review screen is the authority. Check that every expensive component you expect to recover appears in the insured equipment list.
How to insure a custom ship loadout
- Install the desired components on the ship.
- Visit an ASOP terminal.
- Locate the modified ship.
- Select Insure Loadout.
- Review the displayed component list.
- Confirm that the configuration is correct.
- Select Insure.
- Pay the displayed aUEC cost.
- Verify the insured-loadout indicator where available.
The interface may display a green check mark for an insured loadout. The indicator can occasionally fail to display correctly, so the configuration review is more important than relying only on the icon.
Insuring a new loadout overrides the previous one
A ship can have one registered insured configuration at a time. Purchasing loadout insurance again replaces the previous insured setup with the newly confirmed configuration.
Do not repeatedly buy loadout insurance when nothing has changed. The terminal can allow another purchase even when the same configuration is already insured, which wastes aUEC.
What happens after changing one component?
After changing an insured configuration, register the new loadout again. The previous insurance record does not automatically expand to cover newly installed components.
A practical workflow is:
- Finish all planned component changes.
- Save and verify the ship configuration.
- Spawn the ship if necessary to confirm that it works.
- Store the ship normally.
- Purchase loadout insurance once for the completed setup.
What Happens to an Uninsured Custom Loadout?
If the ship is lost without valid loadout insurance, the replacement should return with its standard factory configuration. Non-standard equipment that was not covered by the registered loadout can be lost.
| Ship state before loss | Expected claim result |
|---|---|
| Stock ship with no modifications | Ship returns with standard loadout |
| Modified ship with current insured loadout | Ship should return with the last insured equipment configuration |
| Modified ship without loadout insurance | Ship returns with standard equipment; custom components may be lost |
| Insured ship modified again without updating insurance | The last registered insured configuration is protected, not necessarily the newest changes |
| Ship carrying cargo or loose equipment | Ship may return, but cargo and loose contents should be considered lost |
Alpha bugs can still cause incorrect equipment states, missing components or default replacements. Insurance reduces intended economic loss; it does not guarantee freedom from technical issues.
Are Ship Paints and Customizations Covered?
Official ship customizations are generally intended to return after a claim. This can include supported pledge customizer options and ship-specific personal touches.
However, known issues can cause a customized ship to spawn as its default version. This has previously affected ships such as the Origin 300 series. RSI Support may not be able to restore the customization manually when the loss results from a live-game bug.
Separate the following categories:
- Installed functional components: Protect through loadout insurance.
- Official ship customizer options: Intended to remain, subject to known issues.
- Paints stored as inventory items: Not the same as installed loadout coverage.
- Loose decorative objects: Should not be treated as claim-protected contents.
Cargo, Vehicles and Personal Items
Normal ship insurance is not cargo insurance. Losing a cargo ship can also mean losing the commodities inside it, even when the ship itself can be claimed immediately.
Cargo is separate economic risk
Assume the following are not covered by a standard ship claim:
- Purchased trade commodities.
- Refined mining cargo.
- Raw ore stored as physical cargo.
- Salvaged materials.
- Mission cargo.
- Storage crates.
- Items stored inside those crates.
A future cargo-insurance system has been discussed, but it should not be applied retroactively to current Alpha gameplay.
Vehicles carried inside another ship
A ground vehicle, snub craft or small ship placed inside a carrier is a separate vehicle. The carrier's insurance should not be treated as automatic coverage for everything transported inside it.
If both vehicles are lost, their claim states may need to be handled separately. For included craft, claim the smaller craft before claiming the parent ship.
Personal equipment is not ship loadout
Armor, FPS weapons, backpacks, medical equipment and personal inventory are not ship components. Ship loadout insurance does not protect equipment carried by the player or left loose inside a cabin.
Pledge Insurance Explained
Ships purchased through the RSI Pledge Store can include a stated insurance duration such as:
- Three-month insurance.
- Six-month insurance.
- Twelve-month insurance.
- Twenty-four-month insurance.
- 120-month insurance.
- Lifetime Insurance.
The listed period does not begin during Alpha or PTU testing. It begins when Star Citizen is live and no longer in testing.
What finite pledge insurance means
A pledge with six months of insurance is expected to provide the included base coverage for six months after the live-game insurance period starts. After expiration, the player is expected to maintain or purchase a policy with in-game UEC.
The exact future prices, renewal process, penalties and release implementation remain subject to development.
Pledge insurance is not account-wide
The policy belongs to the relevant pledge or ship. It does not automatically cover:
- Other ships purchased in-game.
- Other standalone pledges.
- Every ship inside a multi-ship fleet.
- Cargo carried by the insured ship.
- Custom components without the required loadout coverage.
After release, in-game ships are planned to require their own individual policies.
Lifetime Insurance Explained
Lifetime Insurance, commonly abbreviated as LTI, is a pledge benefit that keeps the included base insurance policy active without requiring periodic UEC renewal payments.
LTI is useful, but it is frequently overvalued.
What LTI provides
- No expiration of the included base ship insurance policy.
- No need to purchase periodic base-policy renewals for the relevant pledge ship.
- Long-term convenience for collectors and frequently used pledge ships.
What LTI does not guarantee
- Free claims.
- Instant replacements.
- Free expedite service.
- Free repairs or refueling.
- Automatic replacement of cargo.
- Automatic protection of custom equipment.
- Protection against every form of fraud, negligence or policy restriction.
- Coverage for every other ship on the account.
LTI should be treated as a convenience benefit, not as a requirement for playing Star Citizen successfully. Standard insurance is planned to be available through normal in-game currency.
Should you buy a ship only for LTI?
No. Ship role, operating cost, crew requirements, cargo capacity and actual use are more important than the insurance label.
LTI becomes valuable when it is included naturally with a ship you already intend to keep. Paying substantially more or purchasing an unsuitable ship only to obtain LTI is generally a weak value decision.
Star Citizen Warranties Explained
Warranty is part of the planned long-term ownership and recovery model presented for Star Citizen 1.0. It should be kept separate from the basic insurance system currently used through Alpha 4.8 ASOP terminals.
Insurance and warranty are not the same
The intended distinction can be summarized as follows:
- Insurance: Financial coverage that determines reimbursement or replacement value after a loss.
- Warranty: Planned entitlement connected to receiving a replacement of the insured item rather than only its financial value.
However, the final interaction between warranties, insurance tiers, crafted ships, pledge ships, stolen ships, unique items and permanent ownership is still subject to implementation and balancing.
Is warranty active in Alpha 4.8?
Not as a complete independent player-managed system. The current practical workflow remains:
- Maintain basic ship coverage automatically during Alpha.
- Purchase loadout insurance after modifying equipment.
- File claims through ASOP terminals.
- Wait or pay to expedite replacement.
Do not make expensive pledge decisions based on unofficial assumptions about the final warranty system.
CCU and Insurance Rules
A Ship Upgrade, traditionally called a Cross Chassis Upgrade or CCU, changes the ship inside an existing pledge to an eligible higher-value ship.
Standard CCU insurance rule
A standard upgrade changes the ship but normally preserves the original pledge contents, including its existing insurance.
Upgrading a six-month-insurance ship to a model that normally includes 120-month insurance as a standalone purchase does not automatically grant 120 months. The upgrade must explicitly state that additional insurance is included.
Warbond CCU insurance
Some limited Warbond upgrades explicitly include extended insurance. When the upgrade lists a longer insurance policy, the resulting pledge can display both policies, but the highest duration applies.
Always inspect the exact upgrade contents before purchase. The target ship's normal standalone package contents are not automatically copied into a CCU.
Insurance inside multi-ship packages
An insurance-bearing upgrade applied to one ship in a package can update the insurance of the package when the upgrade explicitly contains a higher-duration policy. Check the resulting pledge details after application and report incorrect results through the Issue Council.
Warbond, Melting and Buy Back Risks
Warbond pledges require new money rather than store credit. They can include discounts, longer insurance, paints or other promotional benefits, but only the items listed on the pledge are guaranteed.
Reclaiming or melting an upgraded pledge removes the applied upgrades and returns store credit according to the current reclaim rules. The base pledge may become available through Buy Back, but used CCUs do not return as applied upgrades.
Before melting a pledge, check:
- Its insurance duration.
- Whether it contains LTI.
- Applied Warbond upgrades.
- Game-package access.
- Rare paints or promotional items.
- Physical items.
- Whether the pledge is eligible for Buy Back.
Do not melt a rare or valuable pledge as an experiment. RSI Support does not guarantee that the original configuration can be restored.
Common Insurance Mistakes
Installing expensive components without insuring the loadout
Aftermarket equipment is not protected merely because it is installed. Register the completed configuration through the ASOP loadout-insurance option.
Assuming cargo is included
A successful ship claim does not imply that cargo or loose inventory will return.
Buying loadout insurance repeatedly
The terminal can accept another payment even when the configuration has not changed. Reinsure only after meaningful equipment changes.
Changing components after insuring the ship
The protected setup is the last configuration registered through loadout insurance. Reinsure after further upgrades.
Buying an unsuitable ship only for LTI
Standard insurance will be obtainable in-game. LTI does not fix high crew requirements, fuel costs or an unsuitable gameplay role.
Assuming every Warbond CCU improves insurance
Only upgrades that explicitly list additional insurance provide that benefit.
Treating warranty concepts as finalized gameplay
The future 1.0 system remains in development. Use current Alpha mechanics for operational decisions.
Star Citizen Insurance FAQ
Does ship insurance expire during Alpha?
No. Ships and vehicles currently receive non-expiring basic insurance during Alpha and PTU testing.
Does filing a claim cost aUEC?
Claims can carry an aUEC cost. Expedite service can require an additional payment.
Will my upgraded ship components return after a claim?
Only when the custom configuration was registered through loadout insurance and the system works correctly. Without loadout insurance, expect the standard equipment configuration.
Does insurance replace lost cargo?
Normal Alpha ship insurance does not replace cargo. Treat commodities and physical contents as separate risk.
When does pledge insurance begin?
The stated pledge-insurance period begins when Star Citizen is live and fully out of testing.
Is LTI necessary?
No. It removes future base-policy renewal requirements for the relevant pledge ship, but ordinary insurance is planned to be available in-game.
Does a normal CCU improve insurance?
No. A standard upgrade retains the original pledge insurance. Additional insurance applies only when it is explicitly included with the upgrade.
Is the warranty system already active?
Not as the complete future 1.0 system. Alpha 4.8 currently uses basic insurance, loadout insurance and ASOP claims.
Final Insurance Checklist
- Use basic insurance to recover the ship and its standard configuration.
- Insure the loadout after installing custom components.
- Verify the component list before confirming loadout insurance.
- Do not pay again when the insured configuration has not changed.
- Assume cargo and loose inventory will be lost with the ship.
- Claim included craft before claiming the parent ship.
- Check claim cost and timer before using Claim as a bug workaround.
- Remember that pledge-insurance duration has not started during Alpha.
- Treat LTI as convenience rather than essential protection.
- Read the exact insurance contents of every CCU or Warbond purchase.
- Do not rely on unfinished warranty concepts for current gameplay decisions.
The practical Alpha 4.8 rule is straightforward: basic insurance protects the ship and its stock configuration, while loadout insurance protects the last registered custom component setup. Everything else—cargo, loose items, personal equipment and unregistered changes—should be treated as exposed to loss. Understand that separation before modifying or operating an expensive ship.
