Avemco sharing information with outside entities?

Fearless Tower

Fearless Tower

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Fearless Tower
Anyone know if Avemco or other insurance agencies shares customer data with government entities?

I received a strange bill from the city of Chesapeake, VA today. It was a personal property tax bill on my Cessna 170.

Only problem is.....I do not live in Chesapeake (I'm a Norfolk resident) and the airplane in question is not kept in Chesapeake. In fact, it has never entered the state of Virginia since I have owned it.

Only thing I can think of is that I believe I listed the home airport as Hampton Rds Exec (PVG) on my Avemco insurance policy when I first moved here and was considering keeping the airplane there.

If Avemco didn't share the info, I can't imagine how Chesapeake thinks I owe them anything.

Anyone else have experience with this?
 
What address was listed on the aircraft registration/bill of sale when you bought it?

Local governments are known to get data dumps from FAA based on zip codes and then send out billings trolling for missing taxes.

We got some such letters at the club years ago, one included an aircraft that had been destroyed years ago and registered to an address that no longer existed.

Send a registered letter stating that the aircraft under your ownership has never been based or registered in their tax district.

There is at least one California county that if you fly in for a lengthy vacation you can expect to be billed for property tax for basing the aircraft in the county. It's up to the owner to prove otherwise.
 
It isn't the FAA. I bought the airplane 5 years ago in California when I lived there. When I moved, I changed the registration address to my home in Norfolk.

Avemco is the only place where I put anything about the airplane being based in Chesapeake.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if Virginia requires them to divulge this information to write policies here. The state has mandatory aviation insurance. It's not clear why you are committing insurance fraud by lying to the carrier about where the plane is based.
 
flyingron said:
It wouldn't surprise me if Virginia requires them to divulge this information to write policies here. The state has mandatory aviation insurance. It's not clear why you are committing insurance fraud by lying to the carrier about where the plane is based.
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Seems like you're jumping to conclusions. Is it not possible that he was just getting a quote?

Before I knew which airport I was going to base my airplane at, I was just getting quotes with an application that had an arbitrary airport nearby. The insurance brokers said that was alright... but my final application also has its home listed.
 
That is insurance fraud?

I thought insurance fraud was insuring a plane and landing it gear up after trying to sell if for several years.
 
flyingron said:
It's not clear why you are committing insurance fraud by lying to the carrier about where the plane is based.
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Insurance fraud? Get real.

The airplane is technically not based anywhere at the moment. I updated my info with Avemco when I moved from its previous home field in San Diego, since it is obviously not based there anywhere.....but without rehashing a previous thread here, I experienced a problem that required an engine teardown mid-way. After that, some warranty related rework was required. Airplane is at the engine shop in Arkansas. Avemco should know where the airplane is since they paid the claim. Bottom line is I needed to put a home field on the insurance form, but the airplane hasn't arrived yet.
 
bnt83 said:
That is insurance fraud?

I thought insurance fraud was insuring a plane and landing it gear up after trying to sell if for several years.
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If you buy a car and tell Geico it's parked in a garage but you don't have a garage, that's fraud, too. Perhaps not as malicious as setting your car on fire and reporting it stolen, but it's still misrepresenting the facts to get a better deal.

Now, I wouldn't suggest that's at all what happened here, nor that the airport location had anything to do with the rate anyway, but it's something the OP ought to get fixed when he renews his policy. No sense taking the risk that a storm hits his real home airport and the carrier refuses to cover it since it wasn't stored in the agreed-upon location.

edit -- and seeing the explanation just posted, it makes perfect sense.
 
The question was,is Avemco sharing your info with the tax people wouldn't surprise me
 
dukeblue219 said:
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Now, I wouldn't suggest that's at all what happened here, nor that the airport location had anything to do with the rate anyway, but it's something the OP ought to get fixed when he renews his policy.
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Calling it fraud was a bit harsh, but let me tell you the LOCATION the aircraft is based at DOES make a difference in the rates at time (primarily if it is a grass strip, etc...). He should tell his insurer where is plane is NOW not wait until it is renewal time.

I'm surprised that the county relies on that information (must be lazy down there). Up here in the more northern Virginia counties they skulk around the airports looking in hangars and the ramps and taking down N numbers.

I got a bill from Frederick County, VA when my plane sat engineless after my engine failure at the shop at OKV waiting for it to be trucked out to Nebraska to be restored. I couldn't ever convince them that an engine-less 50 year old airplane was not worth the book value they were quoting me.
 
flyingron said:
but let me tell you the LOCATION the aircraft is based at DOES make a difference in the rates at time (primarily if it is a grass strip, etc...). He should tell his insurer where is plane is NOW not wait until it is renewal time.
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Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I have had this conversation with insurance agents.

As far as letting the insurance company know where the airplane is, if you fly your airplane to another field for an annual, engine overhaul or avionics work are you supposed to update your policy?
 
It's no different than your car. Rates are based on where it lives, not where it may go. You should update your insurance company with it's true home base. I find it quite likely that your insurance company requires this. They may not harp on it. But I bet they require it. And I bet they'll hold it against you the moment you need it.

As for sharing the information, I bet they do. VA probably asked (demanded) and was promptly given the information. In New York, they have been known to sift through FBO paper visitor logs looking for someone who is based there and not paying use tax.
 
I changed my 182's home base from FTY to AHN, called my insurance guy, he just asked if it was still going to be hangared and said it was no big deal. :dunno:
The tax man is always looking for new sources of revenue, and if they get a hit on 10% of the letters they send out, it's pretty profitable. :D
 
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