Insurance

brien23

brien23

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Brien
What percent of people with older aircraft or homebuilt/experimental or of value less than $25K have no liability insurance, hull insurance is another issue. Some airports require insurance for all those who keep their plane their and have no idea of others that fly in to get gas or other reasons if they have insurance or not. As far as I can tell their is no federal requirement for insurance not sure if any States have some requirement for aviation insurance.
 
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I went without hull on three sub $10K airplanes (and regretted it once). $25K I can't afford to lose, so I carry hull. Liability absolutely, if a gust of wind catches me and I clip the wing of somebody's expensive airplane I don't want to be on the hook for their repairs. The feds and most states have no requirement, many airports do for aircraft based there but only one in my experience ever checked.
 
My home field wants a copy of my insurance and a new copy each year when I renew.
 
Years ago I tried to get hull insurance on a seaplane Avemco at that time said they buy 1 in 5 seaplanes they insure, not sure their loss rate is any better now. Anybody try to get hull insurance on a Lake LA4-200 or a Cessna 185 on amphib floats.
 
Looks like the insurance companies are getting hesitant about issuing liability policies only,to older pilots.
 
brien23 said:
Years ago I tried to get hull insurance on a seaplane Avemco at that time said they buy 1 in 5 seaplanes they insure, not sure their loss rate is any better now. Anybody try to get hull insurance on a Lake LA4-200 or a Cessna 185 on amphib floats.
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Apparently the loss rate is higher with amphibians, and my underwriter said to figure on 20% of the hull value per year. We fully insured our PA12 on straight floats and it was very reasonable.
 
dbahn said:
Apparently the loss rate is higher with amphibians, and my underwriter said to figure on 20% of the hull value per year. We fully insured our PA12 on straight floats and it was very reasonable.
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At least with straight floats you can't forget to retract the wheels for a water landing.

I knew a guy who made that mistake not once but twice. :eek:
 
Dana said:
At least with straight floats you can't forget to retract the wheels for a water landing.I knew a guy who made that mistake not once but twice. :eek:
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Or the other mistake - landing on asphalt with the wheels retracted, although that's a much less costly mistake both in terms of damage and injury/death.
 
If you pay for monthly tie down, or hangar rent, the airport wants to be a named insured, or something like that to cover them for liability if you run into something.
 
Don't be in your 70's.
At age 74, after 25 years with the company, I tried to upgrade to a better plane and Avemco cancelled my policy.
Now, no one will insure me.
I've been checking around and so far I've found 43 other guys my age in the same situation.

I talked to Assured Partners and they didn't even deny it. The guy told me straight out, when you reach a certain age and you are upgrading to more airplane you will get dropped.
Without insurance I had to give up my hanger.

In one respect I'm lucky. I have friends who don't care about the insurance and I can borrow a plane when I want to fly.
 
Shepherd said:
Don't be in your 70's.
At age 74, after 25 years with the company, I tried to upgrade to a better plane and Avemco cancelled my policy.
Now, no one will insure me.
I've been checking around and so far I've found 43 other guys my age in the same situation.

I talked to Assured Partners and they didn't even deny it. The guy told me straight out, when you reach a certain age and you are upgrading to more airplane you will get dropped.
Without insurance I had to give up my hanger.

In one respect I'm lucky. I have friends who don't care about the insurance and I can borrow a plane when I want to fly.
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Befriend a younger guy, buy the plane, have him insure it. Let him fly it as payment.
 
StraightnLevel said:
What I just heard is:

Make sure that you have the plane(s) that you want before you turn 70.
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I've heard that to from a broker a couple of years ago. However, I've more recently heard that, as more players have been entering the field, hard 70 age limit is getting pushed out a bit later.

edit- I should clarify that the first statement still stands....upgrading to a higher performance a/c after 70 years of age is still a very difficult challenge.
 
brien23 said:
What percent of people with older aircraft or homebuilt/experimental or of value less than $25K have no liability insurance, hull insurance is another issue. Some airports require insurance for all those who keep their plane their and have no idea of others that fly in to get gas or other reasons if they have insurance or not. As far as I can tell their is no federal requirement for insurance not sure if any States have some requirement for aviation insurance.
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Minnesota (I believe) requires any aircraft registered in the state to carry a minimum of $1,000,000 in 3rd party liability. Utah requires aircraft owners to carry liability if basing their aircraft at a public airport. California requires all commercial aircraft operators to carry insurance. I believe South Carolina requires flight schools to carry liability insurance.
 
frfly172 said:
Looks like the insurance companies are getting hesitant about issuing liability policies only,to older pilots.
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I’ve gotten liability only on one of my planes for a few years no with no pushback from the insurance company. I will be 75 next month and this is on the retract. The premium quote increased 400% a few years ago so I asked how much for liability. It cost about 12% of the full coverage price.
 
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