best aviation insurance company?

blakeyoung

blakeyoung

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Jun 22, 2015
Messages
18
Location
Texas
Display Name
Display name:
Blake
As of 10/27/15 I am a private pilot! Which means that I am now entering into the realm of aviation insurance. Renters insurance at first and hopefully owners insurance at some point in the future. The big insurance companies I have seen so far are AOPA, USAIG, and Avemco. I'm sure there are many others. I am leaning towards AOPA simply because I am a member there already. Overall are there any major differences or pros and cons with any of them? My guess is that any of the major companies will all be pretty evenly matched in terms of coverage, cost, and quality, but I want to make sure before I dive in.
 
Most are just brokers. Avemco is a direct insurer and all my quotes were much higher. If you get quoted by one broker, if you call another you won't get much help. The reason is that when the first broker quoted you, you went on record with the insurer as say, AOPA brokering you. They won't return a quote with the other broker.

I am with Tom Hauge at WINGS insurance. He made it stupid easy to get my insurance. He's also an active member on Beechtalk and answers questions over there.
 
Bill White Insurance was recommended for our 180. He specializes in skywagons and the type of flying they do.
 
blakeyoung said:
As of 10/27/15 I am a private pilot! Which means that I am now entering into the realm of aviation insurance. Renters insurance at first and hopefully owners insurance at some point in the future. The big insurance companies I have seen so far are AOPA, USAIG, and Avemco. I'm sure there are many others. I am leaning towards AOPA simply because I am a member there already. Overall are there any major differences or pros and cons with any of them? My guess is that any of the major companies will all be pretty evenly matched in terms of coverage, cost, and quality, but I want to make sure before I dive in.
Click to expand...

Congratulations!, but why didn't you have renter's insurance while training?
 
Thanks for the information so far!

And... That's a good question. The flight school and my instructor actually never asked me about it and honestly I never thought about it. I guess in my mind I figured I was covered by some sort of insurance that the school had, but I probably wasn't. :/
 
blakeyoung said:
Thanks for the information so far!

And... That's a good question. The flight school and my instructor actually never asked me about it and honestly I never thought about it. I guess in my mind I figured I was covered by some sort of insurance that the school had, but I probably wasn't. :/
Click to expand...

You probably were covered under what is know as a "no subro clause" in the FBO's policy that does not allow the insurance to subrogate against students and/or renters. This was the common situation until the 90s when they developed the non owner products. The "no subro clause" buy down isn't all that expensive, and it can save a lot of hassle and business relationships. Normally if a school doesn't have a "no subro clause" the will require you to buy a renters policy, some will also provide an option to cover you for an extra, typically, $5-$7 hr.
 
Last edited:
I recommend Tom Hauge at Wings. Big brokerage firm. Will shop your policy around and go through the differences with you.

Wings Insurance
14871 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie, MN 55347
tel: 952.942.8800 fax: 952.942.8700 web: www.wingsinsurance.aero
 
Received good service from Falcon insurance.
Received ok service from AOPAIA.

While the 'broker of record' thing still exists, broker has told me that it doesnt apply to run of the mill quotes he can get out of the aitomated systems with the different insurers. The reality is for the standard AC types, same experienve, same plane, same value is going to spit out the same premium regardless of broker. If you have a oddball plane, warbird, backcountry taildragger, floatplane there are a couple of specialty agencies that have more experience with those risks.
 
Last edited:
As good as USAA is for other insurance matters, their general agency for aircraft insurance has become completely useless. It's about the only service I abandoned USAA for.
 
Thanks all for the suggestions!

Last dumb question. When looking at different insurance coverage, the "Aircraft Physical Damage or Hull Damage" covers the potential damage TO THE AIRPLANE AND AIRPLANE ONLY, correct? The other coverage such as Bodily Injury, Property Damage, and Medical are for damages to things OTHER THAN the aircraft? So if my flight school offers rentals in C-172s and C-182s and I predict that I will rent both at some point, I really need to figure out the cost of the most expensive aircraft I'd potentially rent, and request that level of coverage. For example, if that turns out to be a $90,000 C-182, I'll need to make sure I have at least $90,000 physical damage coverage. Is it as simple as that?

****************************

Also on a bit of an aside...

The bottom of the renters agreement at my flight school is as follows:
"I understand an hourly rate of $3 will be charged to cover the insurance deductible or I may also elect to choose another insurance company of my choice. This rate will be charged only when not flying with one of our instructors. Without either of the above there is $ 2500.00 deductible on Single Engine, Fixed Gear Aircraft, and Retractable Gear Aircraft and a $ 5000.00 deductible on Multi-Engine Aircraft. Please initial below if you wish to pay the hourly fee."

If I'm reading that correctly, if I do not have my own insurance in place, I can elect to pay $3/hour extra and receive their insurance coverage, otherwise I will be stuck first paying a $2500 deductible before their insurance starts paying. If on the other hand I have my own renters insurance, I can waive the $3/hour and use my policy.

I guess the big question is how much their policy will actually cover me. I have heard that some of these FBO policies cover the FBO and their aircraft, but not YOU as the pilot. In which case the policy may be near worthless and you'd be better carrying your own as well.
 
Hull damage covers YOUR aircraft. Your public policy liability limits cover other, that's usually the big number on your policy.
 
blakeyoung said:
For example, if that turns out to be a $90,000 C-182, I'll need to make sure I have at least $90,000 physical damage coverage. Is it as simple as that?
.
Click to expand...

That is certainly the safest course of action.

The flight school would typically carry a policy that protects THEIR interest in the plane. You as an enrolled student would be an approved pilot under that policy meaning that the flight school gets paid if you bend the plane. That policy will often have a deductible of 5 or 10k. The flight schools insurance protects them, not you as the pilot. While it is uncommon, there have been some cases where an insurance company subrogated against the student for damage done to the aircraft or where the flight-school started billing students for lost rental income. Flight students bending planes is part of the deal and that is why flight school insurance costs what it does. They should not subrogate against students for doing the expected, but money is money and they sometimes this happens.

Some flight schools purchase a rider on their insurance that includes a 'no subrogation clause'. In that case, your exposure would be limited to the deductible only and you could buy a lower level of non-owned coverage for the deductible only. In that case, get a copy of the policy and make sure you understand what it says.

As for the $3 extra, it sounds like they have a no-subrogation policy and offer to waive the deductible if you pay the extra fee. Get a copy of the policy and riders and have an insurance person look it through to make sure that they can even do that.

The other aspect of the non-owned policy is that you would have your own representation against third party liability claims if you take the roof of a SUV on short final.
 
Last edited:
I use Tom Johnson @ Airpower Insurance. Takes good care of me, and is a sponsor over at a different forum that rhymes with the state fruit of Georgia. I shopped it out twice, and by far, his quotes were the lowest.

AOPA was by far the highest for me.
Avemco was also pretty high.
Airpower was about 1/4 of the other two through a popular insurer.
 
ahkahn said:
I use Tom Johnson @ Airpower Insurance. Takes good care of me, and is a sponsor over at a different forum that rhymes with the state fruit of Georgia. I shopped it out twice, and by far, his quotes were the lowest.



AOPA was by far the highest for me.

Avemco was also pretty high.

Airpower was about 1/4 of the other two through a popular insurer.
Click to expand...

I'm another fan of Tom Johnson. I started with Avemco, and they were fine for renters insurance and my little 170, but once you start getting into things bigger than little trainer types, Avemco starts getting ridiculous.
 
Fearless Tower said:
I'm another fan of Tom Johnson. I started with Avemco, and they were fine for renters insurance and my little 170, but once you start getting into things bigger than little trainer types, Avemco starts getting ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Thanks to this helpful thread - just knocked $130 off my renewal. Airpower was able to quote me $550 (all others, including Travers and AOPA, were all $680, and some had higher deductibles).

Thanks for the suggestions!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top