Renter's Insurance

[Rob Schaffer]

I'm about to start looking around for Renter's Insurance. My flight school requires that I have this prior to letting me solo, and they are requiring a minimum of 35,000 Hull Coverage, plus Liability for a Cessna C152. For the C172, which I would like to get checked out in later after my training, they require 50,000 Hull.

Anyone care to provide insight into the liability limits and coverage that I should consider. I've recieved a brochure from AOPA about their available renter's insurance, but didn't know if there are other companies that would be recommended as well.

Rob

 

[Danos]

Avemco

 

[TMetzinger]

Sounds like your flight school has no coverage of their own - you should confirm or deny this, and ask what their coverage is and deductible.

Renters insurance is to cover YOU in the event of an accident caused by your negligence. It's definitely a good thing to have, and you get two coverages:

Hull: Covers damage to the rental airplane. This is the expensive part of the coverage, and you've seen their minimums. It looks to me like they want coverage for the entire value of the airplane.

Liability: Covers damage to other airplanes, people, and property... You want enough here to cover your assets, so that if you get sued after crashing into somebody's house you don't end up having to sell your house/quit school/ etc. This is relatively inexpensive, and I think the max value is 1 million. Decide what sort of protection you need, keeping in mind that if you injure someone the medical costs can quickly be horrendous.

Your insurance company will pay out to the limits of your policy if you are negligent and cause the accident. They will defend you in court if you are not negligent, and they technically have a duty to do so even if the amount of the suit is minimal - they are not allowed to settle without at least attempting to obtain your consent.

What I worry about in this case is what happens if the school doesn't have insurance, and you go rent an airplane, and you crash due to THEIR negligence... who makes YOU whole?

 

[HPNPilot1200]

Sounds like your flight school has no coverage of their own - you should confirm or deny this, and ask what their coverage is and deductible.

I agree with Tim, this is very important. The flight school I rent from has a non-moving-accident deductible of $100.00 and moving-accident deductible of $500.00 since they're fully insured.

Since my school is well covered for the hull, I just picked up a non-owner/renter liability policy for $1,000,00.

 

[Ken Ibold]

Sounds like your flight school has no coverage of their own - you should confirm or deny this, and ask what their coverage is and deductible.

I agree with Tim, this is very important. The flight school I rent from has a non-moving-accident deductible of $100.00 and moving-accident deductible of $500.00 since they're fully insured.

Since my school is well covered for the hull, I just picked up a non-owner/renter liability policy for $1,000,00.

By requiring YOU to have insurance, the school is making sure they do not have to claim a loss caused by YOU on THEIR insurance, thereby keeping their rates lower because THEIR insurance company knows a primary source of claims has been eliminated.

If you have only enough insurance coverage to cover the deductible on THEIR insurance, THEIR insurance company MIGHT come after YOU to make good on the loss you caused. This is called subrogation. Some flight schools say they will not subrogate, but it is up to THEIR insurance company to decide; it's not something the flight school CAN promise.

 

[TMetzinger]

Ken's right, assuming they do have insurance. They just shifted all the management of your negligence to you. Not an unreasonable thing, but make sure they have insurance to cover their negligence.

 

[Rob Schaffer]

Thanks for the information guys. I do believe they have some insurance, but they require all students and renters to have this coverage (it is actually listed on the renter agreement) when flying solo or as PIC. I clarified with them that when flying dual with one of the CFI's, that I am not the PIC and not responsible to have my own insurance. They stated that was true, that their insurance covered any incidents when I was flying under instruction of the CFI. If there is a loss caused by me when flying solo or later as a PIC renter, I am responsible for the downtime cost associated.

The Hull coverage really allows them to replace the plane it seems. I'm flying a 1978 C152 right now,... and the C172 looks to be from the 80's as well.

Wings field (LOM) was where I first started training, and they didn't require HULL renter's insurance, but highly recommended having it when going to begin solo flying. They had a $5000 deductible you were responsible for. Liability was another issue, but I didn't get into that much with them since I ended up switching over to Perkiomen (N10) for my training in the C152's.

at AOPA, their online quote gave me a liability of 250,000 / 25000 and a hull coverage of 40,000 for about $510/year. Of course, it increased from there depending on the Liability, but that was the minimum policy and coverage that would satisfy the renter's agreement. I'm going to check around, and see what other values are recommended so that way when I get my PP-ASEL later this year, I can rent from N10 or LOM.

The current AOPA renter's insurance schedule:

Bodily injury and property damage:
$250,000/25,000 $81
500,000/50,000 $109
500,000/100,000 $172
1mil/100,000 $209

Optional coverage for damage to non-owned aircraft:

$5,000 $94
10,000 $166
20,000 $238
30,000 $333
40,000 $428
60,000 $570
80,000 $736
100K $926
150K $1,354

Oh,.. and get this. AOPA's help guy said that the liability and coverage applies to my passengers' but NOT to me. If there is an incident where I have a off landing and hit a runway light, the liability will cover that property damage and the hull coverage will cover anything on the plane. If during that event, my passenger would bump their head on the glare-sheild, their medical liabilty would be covered,.. if I had anything happen to me, being the PIC, I am not covered by anything under this renter's policy. So,... it falls to my medical and own out of pocket expenses for any injuries to me.

Not that I would ever expect anything to happen, but just seems off, since I am paying for the insurance but it wouldn't cover me, only passengers and the plane.

 

[HPNPilot1200]

If you have only enough insurance coverage to cover the deductible on THEIR insurance, THEIR insurance company MIGHT come after YOU to make good on the loss you caused. This is called subrogation. Some flight schools say they will not subrogate, but it is up to THEIR insurance company to decide; it's not something the flight school CAN promise.

Yes, that's a good point too. I looked into this possibility early on when searching for the right insurance policy and discussed it with my parents (who would be legally responsible) prior to picking up the policy.