The motor yacht market is the one part of this trade where published figures are genuinely rare, and where the ones that exist span two orders of magnitude. A twenty metre boat and an eighty metre boat are both described as a luxury motor yacht charter, and the weekly rates that go with them are not in the same conversation. The useful thing is to see both ends printed side by side.
The bottom of the market
YachtCharterFleet publishes weekly rates against named yachts on public pages, which almost nobody in this trade does. Its Miami listing starts at 12,000 USD a week for Gypsy, a twenty metre motor yacht, and that is about the floor of what anyone calls a luxury motor yacht charter. Below it the market stops being weekly at all and becomes the hourly day boat trade: a 75 foot Sunseeker at Marina del Rey is 10,500 USD for four hours.
The top of it
The same broker's French Riviera page, read on 11 September 2026, prices the real superyacht market weekly and in public: Northern Sun, a 51 metre Narasaki of 1976 refitted 2023, from 161,700 USD a week; Purpose, a 55 metre Trinity of 2005 refitted 2023, from 270,000; Galileo, a 56 metre Picchiotti, from 325,000; Aqua Lares, a 77 metre IHC Verschure carrying 30 guests, from 539,000; Lunasea, a 73 metre Feadship of 2017, from 800,000; and Romea, an 82 metre Abeking and Rasmussen, from 1,277,000.
What sits on top of the weekly rate
On a yacht of this size the charter fee is the beginning of the number rather than the end. An Advance Provisioning Allowance, conventionally between twenty five and thirty five percent of the fee, is paid up front and covers fuel, food, drink, berthing and port charges, with the unspent balance returned. Value added tax is charged on the fee in European waters at the rate of the country the charter starts in. The crew gratuity is a further five to fifteen percent by convention.
Why a motor yacht rather than a sailing one
Speed and volume. A motor yacht of a given length carries perhaps twice the interior space of a sailing yacht of the same length and moves at twenty knots rather than eight, which changes what a week can cover: Saint Tropez to Portofino before dinner rather than overnight. What it costs is fuel, which on a large motor yacht is measured in hundreds of litres an hour and is the main reason the provisioning allowance is set so high.
Questions people ask about luxury motor yacht charter
How much is a luxury motor yacht charter?
YachtCharterFleet lists a 20 metre motor yacht in Miami from 12,000 USD a week and, on its French Riviera page, an 82 metre Abeking and Rasmussen from 1,277,000 a week, read on 11 September 2026.
What is an Advance Provisioning Allowance?
A sum paid up front alongside the charter fee, conventionally twenty five to thirty five percent of it, covering fuel, food, drink, berthing and port charges. What is not spent is returned at the end of the charter.
Is tax on top?
In European waters, yes. Value added tax is charged on the charter fee at the rate of the country the charter begins in, and the crew gratuity is a further five to fifteen percent by convention.
Motor or sail?
A motor yacht of the same length carries roughly twice the interior volume and moves at twenty knots rather than eight, so a week covers far more coast. The cost of that is fuel, measured in hundreds of litres an hour at the large end.