Hull insurance

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superdad

Pre-takeoff checklist
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superdad
Do you need hull insurance if you own the plane out right? A guy I met over the weekend has a 150 he paid cash for and says he doesn't have hull insurance. I was curious and called a company and asked what insurance would be on a 150. Cheap I tell you. lol
 
There is no FAA requirement for hull insurance, and other than when the bank is involved (i.e., when you do not own it outright), I've never heard of anyone else requiring it, either. Liability insurance, yes, I've heard that as a state/local/airport requirement to base your plane there, but not hull. After all, it's only your money at risk with regard to a wholly personally owned airplane's hull.
 
No *need*, but I'd feel pretty bad if weather destroyed my airplane and I had nothing to show for it except a bill to the salvage company.
 
Have never had hull myself. Makes the insurance a lot cheaper. I own outright. If I prang it, I pay for it. Only bummer would be some natural disaster, but in California there are not so many natural dangers as say in Florida.
 
I tried to get liability only when I bought my 421B, it was available, but the cost difference wasn't all that great. I bit the bullet and went with "full coverage", glad I did, it paid for my bird strike with $0 deductible. :D
 
superdad said:
Do you need hull insurance if you own the plane out right? A guy I met over the weekend has a 150 he paid cash for and says he doesn't have hull insurance. I was curious and called a company and asked what insurance would be on a 150. Cheap I tell you. lol
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Nope, no requirements for hull insurance.
 
Wouldn't take the chance of not having hull insurance,to easy to lose your investment,from Mother Nature. Hail,hurricane ,tornado,just to name a few.
 
I suppose you could get "hull - not in motion"
 
dans2992 said:
I suppose you could get "hull - not in motion"
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That is an option, and it's what I had on my then-Cheetah's fuselage from when I bought it until the Tigerization was completed about three months later. There is also a "not in flight" option with some companies covering the plane when taxied as well as at rest but not if flown.
 
To answer your actual question: Do *I* need hull insurance on my plane that I own? No, I don't think so.
Does my airport require a multi-bajillion dollar liability insurance for when my airplane is parked on their property? You bet. Full hull in motion was just a few dollars extra so I pay that bet against myself every year for a peace of mind. :)
 
NO


Just a matter of figuring what, if any, insurance product is worth for you.

Depending on my risk, I'll range from not carrying insurance to full coverage.
 
I figure liability insurance protects me from my mistakes. Hull insurance protects me from other people's mistakes.
 
It usually does not snow a lot in eastern maryland. It did however about four years ago and collapsed an old hangar where I had a trophy Taylorcraft hangared. All those years of paying Avemco paid off handsomely. They came, took a look, took several pictures and I received a check for the full amount ten days later. 28 grand. For me hull insurance is a must, always. I've seen several people have complete losses over the years who said thing like. "hull insurance is a waste of money." Unquote.
 
I am a bare minimum type of guy. I own a Cub, 172 and Pitts Model 12. None of my planes are insured. If I had to pay $4,000 a year for full coverage insurance (that was the quote for all 3) I wouldn't have money for gas. I just take my chances. I figure if I tear one up I will part it out and still have two more :)
My vehicles and motorcycle are paid for and I only carry liability. If I had to insure everything my whole paycheck would go for insurance...
 
James331 said:
NO


Just a matter of figuring what, if any, insurance product is worth for you.

Depending on my risk, I'll range from not carrying insurance to full coverage.
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Please, remove the term "full coverage" from your vocabulary. The definition of full coverage is what the insured wants AFTER a loss has occurred.

For some people it means liability and physical damage (hull coverage if you're talking about aircraft). For some people it means every coverage available. For others it means the maximum coverage limit possible for every coverage available. Any agent or broker who uses the term, or lets his customer use the term, is setting himself up for a catastrophe when that customer has a loss and needs coverage of some sort that just isn't in the policy he bought.
 
stratobee said:
Have never had hull myself. Makes the insurance a lot cheaper. I own outright. If I prang it, I pay for it. Only bummer would be some natural disaster, but in California there are not so many natural dangers as say in Florida.
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Nah, just earthquakes, massive forest fires, floods, and mudslides.:hairraise:
 
Stewartb said:
I figure liability insurance protects me from my mistakes. Hull insurance protects me from other people's mistakes.
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No, hull protects from you own mistakes as well. Like Lou, If I'm getting liability anyway, hull doesn't add that much.
 
Stewartb said:
I figure liability insurance protects me from my mistakes.
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I think it's more accurate to say that liability insurance protects others from your mistakes. It sure won't pay anything to you, but it makes sure anyone harmed by your mistake can collect from your insurer regardless of your ability to pay out.

Hull insurance protects me from other people's mistakes.
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Hull insurance protects you from your own mistakes, too -- if you damage your plane, it fixes your plane. OTOH, what protects you personally from other peoples' mistakes is their liability insurance.
 
Ron Levy said:
OTOH, what protects you personally from other peoples' mistakes is their liability insurance.
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Assuming they have it, and if they don't, your hull covers you and suing the guy who was responsible is the insurance company's problem.

Lots of folks around here have no hull or liability on their airplane.

I have hull and liability on my Flybaby mostly because I'm worried about the damn thing blowing away at Airventure. I think I paid about a thousand dollars for $15,000 in hull coverage. Many of the underwriters won't touch it. Liability only knocks only a few hundred off.
 
You guys can take the value you choose from insuring or not. I'll do the same. My statement is correct for me.
 
$1300 annual for hull, liability, and off field work seems fair for what I put the wagon through ... :redface:

But no, you are not required to have hull insurance if you own outright.
 
pigpenracing said:
I own a Cub, 172 and Pitts Model 12. None of my planes are insured. If I had to pay $4,000 a year for full coverage insurance (that was the quote for all 3) I wouldn't have money for gas.
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:confused: Were the planes a gift or an inheritance? I'm trying to figure out how you could find the money to buy three airplanes but not enough for gas and insurance.
 
No... I work my ass off and bought my own airplanes. I just don't see giving the insurance company $325 plus a month. I can afford gas :)
If I paid that high dollar insurance on everything I own I probably wouldn't have 3 airplanes because all my money would go for insurance payments.
 
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Try 20% on a Seaplane for Hull Insurance. The five years I had my 185 on floats without the Hull Insurance would have paid for another one.
 
Ouch. My planes on floats ran about $8K annually but they'd only stay on floats for 1/3 of the year. Cessna and Cub were about the same. My wheels premium is about half that. Expensive airplane insurance is one of the realities of living in Alaska. Along with that, one of the primary benefits of hull insurance is aircraft recovery. That can be a very expensive problem up here.
 
Stewartb said:
I figure liability insurance protects me from my mistakes. Hull insurance protects me from other people's mistakes.
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Hull insurance also protects you from your mistakes. It's the most expensive part of your insurance because you are far more likely (actuarially speaking) to bend something in the airplane than you are to injure someone else. And you are more likely to do it all by yourself than someone else running in to you.

Like collision coverage for your car, it's optional unless you have a secured loan on the airplane, in which case your lender is likely to insist on it.
 
jesse said:
Assuming they have it, and if they don't, your hull covers you and suing the guy who was responsible is the insurance company's problem.
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Your hull insurance covers only your airplane, not you. Injuries to you or your other uninsured losses are not covered by your hull insurance. If the other party lacks liability insurance, you'll have to drag them through the courts to get whatever assets they may have, and you'll be stuck for anything beyond what they have to attack ("blood from a turnip", and all that).
 
midlifeflyer said:
Hull insurance also protects you from your mistakes. It's the most expensive part of your insurance because you are far more likely (actuarially speaking) to bend something in the airplane than you are to injure someone else. And you are more likely to do it all by yourself than someone else running in to you.

Like collision coverage for your car, it's optional unless you have a secured loan on the airplane, in which case your lender is likely to insist on it.
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This is dependent on the hull value. The liability premium can easily exceed the hull premium with a $1MM liability and $35k hull value. Typically for GA after you have 100hrs in whatever, you are looking at approx 1.5% of insured value.
 
Ron Levy said:
Your hull insurance covers only your airplane, not you. Injuries to you or your other uninsured losses are not covered by your hull insurance. If the other party lacks liability insurance, you'll have to drag them through the courts to get whatever assets they may have, and you'll be stuck for anything beyond what they have to attack ("blood from a turnip", and all that).
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Fully understand that it covers the HULL. Pretty obvious since the title is HULL and the value is the value of your HULL. If you get injured in the airplane then your HULL is totaled and your HULL is maxed why would anyone think they could get HULL for their injuries? Injuries would by far exceed the HULL anyways if that were indeed a thing but it's not.

I don't plan on anyone ever paying for my medical injuries in any sort of accident other than myself. Sure it's possible but you're going to have to pry it out of their hands with lawyers if they even have it.
 
Don't you love it when guys reply only to correct what somebody else says? Like how three guys have picked on my statement about liability protects me from me and hull protects me from others? I wonder why guys think they know more about my insurance than I do? Like my use of a not-in-motion hull policy? Or how I'm required by corporate bylaws to carry liability? More guys should reply about topics as they apply to themselves, not try to correct the contributions of others.
 
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