$1000 deductible (renters insurance)

MarcoDA40

MarcoDA40

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The FBO I rent from recently made it so that if you are not flying with one of their CFI's you need renters insurance. After researching these last few days, I'm a little disturbed with myself for not having it from the beggining. I thought that it was a "its nice to have" thing but now I realize that its more of a "you really need this chit".

I was told I only needed a $1000 deductible and i'd be good to go. Would that be their bare minimum requirement or would that mean thats all they need and anything higher is just "wasting money"? I know I should call and ask them but I have to wait until tomorrow and just want to hear some opinions..

Also, I got a quick quote from Avemco with the bare minimum of everything but it doest show a deductible anywhere in the quote page.. It gives me these numbers:

Bodily Injury (Each Person): $25,000
Property Damage: $250,000
Each Accident: $250,000
Aircraft Damage Liability: $1,000
Total Quotation: $155.00

Would the Aircarft damage liability be my deductible?
I'm still researching as well...
 
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So let's say you wack your C172 wing into a Citation Jet. Will that be enough insurance?
 
No the Avemco policy does not have any deductable. It is more of a liability policy. Be warned though, after having Avemco for about 60 years I had a ground incident that totaled an older Bonanza. They have been picking thru my records for over 6 months trying to find some reason to not pay. Altho the incident had nothing to do with capability, they are still picking thru records. AOPA is helping me with an attorney, and we suspect that we will have to sue. They simply are avoiding paying out. Meanwhile I still want to fly, so I am also looking for an insurance company that will really cover me. Meanwhile I recommend the AOPA personal protection which helps with FAA or other problems
 
Dean Furrh said:
No the Avemco policy does not have any deductable. It is more of a liability policy. Be warned though, after having Avemco for about 60 years I had a ground incident that totaled an older Bonanza. They have been picking thru my records for over 6 months trying to find some reason to not pay. Altho the incident had nothing to do with capability, they are still picking thru records. AOPA is helping me with an attorney, and we suspect that we will have to sue. They simply are avoiding paying out. Meanwhile I still want to fly, so I am also looking for an insurance company that will really cover me. Meanwhile I recommend the AOPA personal protection which helps with FAA or other problems
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Wow.. that scares me a little o_O

As far as the $1000 deductible, here is what it says directly from them:

"However, regardless of your legal liability, we will pay up to the first $1,000 for aircraft damage to reimburse the owner of a non-owned aircraft for their insurance deductible which is caused by an accident resulting from your use of a non-owned aircraft."
 
Ok, time for a short lesson in insurance. When you're flying a rental airplane, you're (usually) nothing more than an "approved pilot." That means that the owner's insurance will pay the owner for any damage you cause to the plane, and will defend the owner from any claims from 3rd parties for injuries or property damages. It does NOT mean that that owner's insurance will defend YOU from any claims from 3rd parties for property damage or personal injury. In other words, if you run a rental 172 into a Citation and cause $100k in damage, the owner of the Citation can sue you personally and the 172 owner's insurance will NOT help you. Same if you crash into a house and injury a family. Those people can sue you personally, and the airplane owner's insurance will not help you. Finally, if you cause an accident and the rental owner's insurance has to pay out, it can (though might not) sue you to recover what it paid out. This concept is called "subrogation." It's not particularly common in GA, but the legal right exists. Basically, if you don't have your own insurance, you're (probably) naked. If you're judgment-proof, maybe you don't care, but if you have any assets you'd like to protect, a good renter's policy, with reasonably limits, is a must.
 
I am a "named pilot" on a friends aircraft policy and when I asked about subrogation, I was told that being named on the policy meant they would treat me as the same as the owner. But for $25/year, I receive a separate document entitled "Waiver of Subrogation". Just a little added"insurance".
Now this does NOT cover me from third party liability over the limits of the policy. And my umbrella liability specifically excludes aviation. My underwriter said he knows of no policy that does. If anyone can point to one please forward to here.
 
I suspect that the $1,000 deductible the FBO is referring to is their own deductible. That is what their insurance requires then to pay if you have an accident. They want you to have insurance that will reimburse them for that.
 
MD11Pilot said:
I am a "named pilot" on a friends aircraft policy and when I asked about subrogation, I was told that being named on the policy meant they would treat me as the same as the owner. But for $25/year, I receive a separate document entitled "Waiver of Subrogation". Just a little added"insurance".
Now this does NOT cover me from third party liability over the limits of the policy. And my umbrella liability specifically excludes aviation. My underwriter said he knows of no policy that does. If anyone can point to one please forward to here.
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There's a big difference between being a "named pilot" and a "named insured." The former only means the owner is covered by the insurance, the latter means you are entitled to all benefits of the policy. If you're only a "named pilot," but not a "named insured," the insurance company will not defend you or cover property/personal injury claims for which you are liable. The subrogation waiver is good to have to protect you from the insurance company itself, but it won't help if you get sued by a person you injure or someone whose property you damage.
 
Dean Furrh said:
No the Avemco policy does not have any deductable. It is more of a liability policy. Be warned though, after having Avemco for about 60 years I had a ground incident that totaled an older Bonanza. They have been picking thru my records for over 6 months trying to find some reason to not pay. Altho the incident had nothing to do with capability, they are still picking thru records. AOPA is helping me with an attorney, and we suspect that we will have to sue. They simply are avoiding paying out. Meanwhile I still want to fly, so I am also looking for an insurance company that will really cover me. Meanwhile I recommend the AOPA personal protection which helps with FAA or other problems
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Well that's disturbing. I've paid the higher Avemco premiums for the last 15 years based on their reputation for not being dicks should an incident occur. Need to rethink that.
 
Lindberg said:
I suspect that the $1,000 deductible the FBO is referring to is their own deductible. That is what their insurance requires then to pay if you have an accident. They want you to have insurance that will reimburse them for that.
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This is true but it may not stop there.

Let's say you inflict $10,000 worth of damage to the rental aircraft. The FBO's insurance pays the FBO $9k and your $1k of coverage reimburses the FBO for the deductible.

This doesn't prevent the FBO's insurance company from coming after you for the $9k they just paid out. If you only have $1k of coverage to meet the deductible, you could be paying $9k out of your pocket if this happens.

It's my understanding that it would be unusual for the FBO's insurer to go after an FBO customer (if it were common it would damage the FBO's business), but it's certainly not impossible.
 
I always struggled with how much insurance to buy for as little as I actually fly - and I always like the "best" coverage options. Most rental outfits/flight schools here require $50,000 aircraft damage coverage. But, in terms of the basic Bodily/Property, I keep thinking that it would be really tough to cause $1MM in property damage. Even though it's only $35 more per year over $500K property damage coverage, it still irks me to pay it. I keep wondering if I should settle for less Bodily Injury/Property Damage coverage every time renewal time swings around.
 
DrewG said:
I always struggled with how much insurance to buy for as little as I actually fly - and I always like the "best" coverage options. Most rental outfits/flight schools here require $50,000 aircraft damage coverage. But, in terms of the basic Bodily/Property, I keep thinking that it would be really tough to cause $1MM in property damage. Even though it's only $35 more per year over $500K property damage coverage, it still irks me to pay it. I keep wondering if I should settle for less Bodily Injury/Property Damage coverage every time renewal time swings around.
Click to expand...

think that through again, taxi into a G650 and see how fast it tops 1M.

bob
 
Lindberg said:
I suspect that the $1,000 deductible the FBO is referring to is their own deductible. That is what their insurance requires then to pay if you have an accident. They want you to have insurance that will reimburse them for that.
Click to expand...

That would make sense.
 
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