Renter's insurance before your PPL?

Trogdor

Trogdor

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Trogdor
Do folks opt to get renter's insurance before your PPL? I would think not (I've never seen it as a checklist item in the many PPL courses I have taken).

NOTE: I did try searching the forums to see if this question has been answered before and had no luck.
 
It's partially up to the operator you're renting from. Some require it. Some "recommend" it. Some don't care.

It comes down to your personal risk tolerance. If you go to AOPA it's quite cheap, so why not?
 
I think it's a good idea, as soon as you start flying solo.
 
I believe it was on this forum wherre a student pilot detailed his struggles after he taxied over a runway light. In the end, he had to settle with the flight school and the owner of the plane. The biggest chunk of the settlement was an absurdly inflated 'loss of use' claim that was not covered by insurance. With a basic renters policy, all of that would have been between his insurance attorney and the claimants. Renters insurance is cheap for what it offers.
 
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Yes, you should before you solo. When your instructor is on board, they are the PIC and they are responsible for damage. But when you solo, you become PIC and are responsible for everything that happens with that airplane.

Timing wise, you can get insurance pretty quickly, so you don't need to rush out and get it before the first flight. Once you've achieved stabilized approaches, you can give your selected agent a call and have it in place because you'll probably be soloing pretty soon.
 
My flight school told me they carried coverage, but they could not guarantee that their insurance company might not try to recover damages from me directly. I decided it would be wise to have my own coverage.

Renter’s insurance is a good idea and cheap.
 
Yeah, I'm really close (I believe to solo). I will look into it. Thanks!
 
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Trogdor said:
Yeah, I'm really close (I believe to solo). I will look into it. Thanks!
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There are two ways to buy it. Through your friendly aviation insurance broker or through Avemco via a direct sale. The broker may have two or three companies, Avenco only sells their own product.

I have had USAIG, Starr and Avemco. Some will offer niche products like higher limits that 'stack' with primary coverage, others will insure things like twins.
This is a low revenue product for the broker, they offer it to get you in the door of their business. The aim is to make you a customer so when you insure that new SR22T you buy a year from now, they can capture that 20k premium bill ;-)
 
Ask the flight school owner on what they will cover and what the deductible is. That will tell you how much coverage for hull and liability you need.
 
BTW. Got mine from the AOPA (or rather the company they are linked to ).
 
Renter's insurance is pretty cost effective. Brought me great peace of mind while flight training. Stuff happens, and the downside costs are awful to contemplate.
 
WDD said:
BTW. Got mine from the AOPA (or rather the company they are linked to ).
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AOPA spun off the insurance agency last year, one of the bigger brokers bought those accounts. There is now no difference between them and any other aviation insurance broker (except for a link from the AOPA site).
 
If you look at how much money you are going to be spending now and after you get your private, renters insurance doesn't even move the needle. Another proponent for calling up AOPA now-ish or before solo time. Gave me a little piece of mind when I was up there circling the field for the first time. Of course all landings were greasers dead on centerline right off the bat, so it was a complete waste of money :rolleyes::D:cool::rolleyes:
 
NordicDave said:
Renter's insurance is pretty cost effective. Brought me great peace of mind while flight training. Stuff happens, and the downside costs are awful to contemplate.
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Depends on the hull value... if you’re renting a new SR22... could be almost cost prohibitive (based on my experience years back).
 
dans2992 said:
Depends on the hull value... if you’re renting a new SR22... could be almost cost prohibitive (based on my experience years back).
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If you wanted to insure the entire hull value, sure, that's expensive. If you want to insure the risk of having to cover a $10,000 deductible or defend against an inflated 'loss of use' claim, the cost is quite reasonable.
 
weilke said:
If you wanted to insure the entire hull value, sure, that's expensive. If you want to insure the risk of having to cover a $10,000 deductible or defend against an inflated 'loss of use' claim, the cost is quite reasonable.
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The owner’s deductible doesn’t matter if the insurance company decides to subrogate against you. One pull of the chute on that Cirrus, and you’ll be in deep trouble (financially).
 
As an aviation insurance agent I can say that if the owner's policy subrogates a claim to you then they will go for the full meal deal as they want to recover their losses they sustained in order to indemnify the owner. Non-owned policies are a great idea and typically pretty cost effective. At minimum, I would carry liability as a renter. You can opt for additional coverage for an unowned aircraft just like if it was yours. The other option would be if you were using a local flight instructor and his aircraft, if he doesn't instruct very many students (3-4 per year) he can possibly add them to his policy as a named insured. If you go that route, make sure there is a waiver of subrogation.
 
Signed up for a renter’s policy, since buying an aircraft is out of the question for the near future: $447 for a year, $1 million liability, but only provides $20k hull coverage. (Would like the latter to be $30k, to be closer to the price of a typical training / tired/ rental 172.) The flight school I’m at has no insurance on their airplanes, I’ve been told
 
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