Hangar Insurance

[JohnAJohnson]

I'm thinking about building a hangar in a fly in community. The lot will be big enough to where the hangar will be at least 100 yards from the next hangar or house. With the airplane insured and with a steel hangar capable of withstanding just about anything short of a serious tornado, is there really any need for insurance? The only thing I can think of is a kid getting hurt on the property. Am I missing something?

 

[JOhnH]

I'm thinking about building a hangar in a fly in community. The lot will be big enough to where the hangar will be at least 100 yards from the next hangar or house. With the airplane insured and with a steel hangar capable of withstanding just about anything short of a serious tornado, is there really any need for insurance? The only thing I can think of is a kid getting hurt on the property. Am I missing something?

Are you building the hangar using personal funds, or is there a mortgage or bank loan involved? If you are paying cash, I would buy only liability insurance. If a bank is involved, they may have their own requirements.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Don't get liability if you have no assets to protect!

 

[JOhnH]

Don't get liability if you have no assets to protect!

I'm guessing that someone building a hangar at a fly-in community probably has some other assets to protect. And liability is usually pretty cheap protection against possibly having to file bankruptcy and ruining a credit rating for years.

 

[weilke]

Your airplane insurance may include premises liability for the hangar.

Insurance on a hangar alone is pricey. When I needed it, I would have been better off buying a plane just for the cheaper insurance.

If you also build a residence, you may be able to get the 'outbuilding' covered under the home policy. It's a ''machine shed' if anyone asks.

 

[flyingron]

If it's on your residential property, you probably can get coverage on the homeowner's policy.
Mine's attached to the house.

 

[Clip4]

I'm guessing that someone building a hangar at a fly-in community probably has some other assets to protect. And liability is usually pretty cheap protection against possibly having to file bankruptcy and ruining a credit rating for years.

If the assets are a house in Florida, qualified pension and retirement savings, and annuities, you do not need much liability insurance.

 

[James331]

I'm thinking about building a hangar in a fly in community. The lot will be big enough to where the hangar will be at least 100 yards from the next hangar or house. With the airplane insured and with a steel hangar capable of withstanding just about anything short of a serious tornado, is there really any need for insurance? The only thing I can think of is a kid getting hurt on the property. Am I missing something?

The modern north American answer is "insure all the things"

Common sense, I'd save your money, buying insurance on a steel box seems silly, even if a tree fell on it and dented some steel sheeting, probably be cheaper to just fix it yourself cs years worth of premiums, I mean it is a heavy duty metal box.

Heck, with our winters up here I lapse the insurance on my sports cars, bike, plane, etc, could a metier impact my hangar and destroy everything, yeah, but just as the Fuds always say "what if something happens" I also say "what if NOTHING happens" and weigh the cost vs the risk and go from there.

Unless the insurance is like $10 month, or you have good reason to believe something major is going to happen to or, it seems like a rip off

 

[JohnAJohnson]

It'll be built out of pocket, so no bank requirements. The hangar will be in Alabama and won't be a residence.

Your airplane insurance may include premises liability for the hangar

The airplane insurance will cover damage to the hangar if the problem originated with the plane. And really, other than a tornado, it's the only way I can see it getting damaged.

...And liability is usually pretty cheap protection against possibly having to file bankruptcy and ruining a credit rating for years.

Want to hear something ridiculous? I got automobile and homeowners insurance a couple of months ago after moving to a new state, and my rates are higher because my credit rating is low. Reason is, we haven't financed anything for 20 years except monthly purchases on credit cards, and they ding me even for that because we've always paid credit cards off monthly. No long term credit "track record" they say. So not worried about a bad credit rating other than the idiotic insurance rules.

Lawsuits do scare me however. I think the only risk is someone getting hurt on the lot or in the hangar. I just don't understand the level of exposure. Like most flyin communities, there are no kids, just a bunch of old folks who are all plane smart. If a thief breaks into the hangar and starts the plane, gets out to pull chocks and looses an arm to the prop, what's the possibility of said thief successfully suing?

 

[catmandu]

If a thief breaks into the hangar and starts the plane, gets out to pull chocks and looses an arm to the prop, what's the possibility of said thief successfully suing?

Highly likely he will lose his dominant hand, based on what I have seen on COPS (especially the Jacksonville, FL episodes).

So he will bleed out prior to being able to using his non-dominant hand on his not-so-smart phone to dial 1-800-LAW-DUDE, if he even rembers that number from the billboard.

I say go bareback.

 

[X3 Skier]

I went out to my hangar at I19 today. No clue what happened since I last was there before I went to Steamboat last January, but my refrigerator either blew up or the pop inside blew up. The fridge door was open and most of cans had exploded. I'll worry about it later. Wonder what kind of insurance would cover exploding pop cans or a refrigerator.

I added an umbrella liability rider to my homeowners policy covering the house and grounds. Really cheap and worth it to me. If the hangar was on my property, I would see if I could get it covered.

Cheers

 

[hotprops]

Premises liability on a hangar for bodily injury and property damage {non aircraft related} will be a add on by endorsement to a homeowners policy for almost no cost even if your home is miles away , HOWEVER if you rent any of the space you will need " hangar keepers legal LIABILITY " coverage that has minimum premium that will be huge. and the renter does not have to be aviation related. as far as the building coverage buy it .it is a good investment hangars in there totality have a somewhat high loss ratio for a reason .they have many "soft" spots and routinely blow down or have fires due to items stored other than aircraft themselves . not very expensive coverage as it is sold by the $ amount of replacement cost that does not need to include land, cement slab .well ,septic, fill ,site work etc. so 40 k on a steel building would be inexpensive .eta you will be tempted to rent space to a aircraft owner DONT. Insurance agency owner 30 yrs .CIC,CPCU ARM,LCA , MBA/INS

 

[Badger]

perhaps titling the property in a (new) LLC will limit liability to the assets of the LLC? Just an idea to consider.

 

[flyingron]

perhaps titling the property in a (new) LLC will limit liability to the assets of the LLC? Just an idea to consider.

You are always responsible for your personal behavior, and if the LLC exists for no other reason than to hide from legal liability, you'll find that the courts will strip that protection away.

I agree with hotprops's assessment and will add in that most umbrella policies won't cover aviation related stuff either. USAA pretty much made that clear when I got mine.

 

[ejensen]

I could not find liability for my condo T-Hangar. Association pays for the structure insurance and I wanted liability for the possible injury not related to the plane. Our independent agent tried to add it and once the would aircraft is mention, they all run away. I heard of a agent in Arizona but haven't followed up yet.

 

[hotprops]

Eric the company covering the fire theft and vandal coverage on the building should cover premises liability in" package form" for bi and pd liability and fire for your condo for next to nothing for a 6 unit 10,000 sq ft building I would guess $500 max addnl . btw add liquor liability coverage as well as directors and officers ,,and hired car coverage . It will cost nothing if added to the fire coverage if brokered properly. also every owner /stockholder should be added as a NAMED insured not a additional insured .get a good broker ,insurance sucks and as in most business no one knows whtf they are doing ,it being a epidemic in our great country . the" peter principle" at work .

 

[ejensen]

Eric the company covering the fire theft and vandal coverage on the building should cover premises liability in" package form" for bi and pd liability and fire for your condo for next to nothing for a 6 unit 10,000 sq ft building I would guess $500 max addnl . btw add liquor liability coverage as well as directors and officers ,,and hired car coverage . It will cost nothing if added to the fire coverage if brokered properly. also every owner /stockholder should be added as a NAMED insured not a additional insured .get a good broker ,insurance sucks and as in most business no one knows whtf they are doing ,it being a epidemic in our great country . the" peter principle" at work .

Thanks, already tried that route. We have coverage for the association officers. But my liability for the stuff and people inside is not. I will ask again but not much hope. Like trying to get insurance on a LS airplane. One broker in Nevada had decent coverage. AOPA wanted nothing to do with it.

 

[hotprops]

ejenson try falcon insurance ask for Conrad if you get the wrong office first try ask for his tel #. been working with him for 30 years as a end user and a broker I directly refered my clients to him.retired now.