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Insurance for the RV

Steve Lutte

Steve Lutte

Member
Has anyone gotten an insurance quote lately for an RV 10 and an RV 7?
I’m looking at approximately 3300 per year for a 300,000 hull value on the 10 and approximately 1500 a year for a $100,000 hull value on the 7.
I have no idea if this is good or bad. I have nothing to compare.
 
Not exactly a -7 but the last renewal for my RV6 at $120,000 hull was $1348 through Gallagher.

That's with more than 10,000 hrs total time, around 350 RV hours and 1300 hrs of tailwheel with an annual flight time accrual of maybe 400 hrs.

I suppose there might be some variance for locality and whatnot, but your RV7 quote doesn't seem wildly out of par. Insurance has been trending tighter and more expensive lately.

--Ron
 
On my 10 for $ 325,000 hull no deductible it’s $ 3,329.96. The 14A was $ 2,175 for $ 250,000. I think because the 10 holds up to 3 passengers it’s more pee 1,000 hull coverage but that’s a guess.

~ 2,100 hrs no prior issues.
 
On my 9A, $150K hull and 1M liability for $1600, Old Republic via Gallagher.
 
RV6, $100K hull, $1231 per year. D.R. Cox insurance from Knoxville. 600+ RV6 time, 1500+ RV tailwheel all types.
 
RV8A, $125k hull, $1,275. That was with 0 make and model, but reasonable overall time and experience, and just a seller checkout as transition training.
 
I am sure I will get flamed for this but, one way to reduce your insurance premium is to under insure on hull coverage. You could insure for what you have in it not the current cost to replace. This maybe option for those of us that built before the prices skyrocketed
 
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It isn’t that much more to insure for replacement value. I just increased my hull value from $85k to $125k. The premium increased from $1,052 to $1,275. That’s a 47% increase in hull value for a 21% increase in premium. Why underinsure for a couple of hundred dollars per year?
 
From memory, 300k hull on the RV-10 is ~3500/yr for me through Old Republic, 1500 hour late-60's pilot with no claims. I need to up that a bit, the 10 will probably go on the market in the mid 400's when it's time, if nothing changes. As Ken said, underinsuring an asset of this magnitude is a false economy.
 
KLRDMD said:
It isn’t that much more to insure for replacement value. I just increased my hull value from $85k to $125k. The premium increased from $1,052 to $1,275. That’s a 47% increase in hull value for a 21% increase in premium. Why underinsure for a couple of hundred dollars per year?
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By far, not an expert, but at higher values you risk the insurance company insisting on a repair, if possible. At a lower value the odds go up that they will just total the airplane. I would rather have them total it and give me the monies towards a replacement than repair a damaged aircraft. Those repairs will follow the aircraft for life and it may never be the same.
Good question for our insurance folks that lurk here. In the auto world they will not insure a vehicle beyond’s its used value. They won’t buy you a new car if you wreck yours.
My 6 is mid time, legacy panel. I keep $80k on it. Insurance is about $1050.
1000’ish hours RV, 1800’ish tailwheel.
 
JonJay said:
Good question for our insurance folks that lurk here. In the auto world they will not insure a vehicle beyond’s its used value. They won’t buy you a new car if you wreck yours.
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Not an insurance person, but I did recently sleep at a Holiday Inn Express. I think the auto world has excellent info on used auto value, so they can efficiently insure an auto “hull” at a “fair market value” that (most) will ultimately agree upon. With no good way to determine used aircraft value (Vref is no Kelly Blue Book), aircraft insurers let the insured declare a hull value, within reason, but this does place on the insured exactly the risk you identify. It therefore makes good sense to declare your hull value realistically.

Btw ForeFlight has a tool that gives you an idea of how competitive your policy is. Pretty interesting effort.
 
RV-12, 360-hour sport pilot (with most of those hours in same make and model), $100k hull: $1045/year. I'm not complaining at all.
 
71 years old flying a 40 year old RV-4, (hull value $75K) roughly 850 hours total/350 hours TW, split between RV-4 & Super Decathlon. My policy runs $1,400 with Gallagher.

As a data point I put down a deposit on a Kitfox kit last year and was stunned by an estimate of $7.5K first year premium which would be reduced to around $4k after accumulating 55hrs make & model.

Walked on the Kitfox project and never looked back.
 
Dugaru said:
Not an insurance person, but I did recently sleep at a Holiday Inn Express. I think the auto world has excellent info on used auto value, so they can efficiently insure an auto “hull” at a “fair market value” that (most) will ultimately agree upon. With no good way to determine used aircraft value (Vref is no Kelly Blue Book), aircraft insurers let the insured declare a hull value, within reason, but this does place on the insured exactly the risk you identify. It therefore makes good sense to declare your hull value realistically.

Btw ForeFlight has a tool that gives you an idea of how competitive your policy is. Pretty interesting effort.
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It would be interesting to hear from someone who had a significant loss and how it was handled by the insurer. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, we just don’t have many examples.
 
This seems to come up as a new string from time to time. That's probably fair, as the insurance market has hardened enough to make "old" data no longer relevant.

Pilot experience (total and M/M...and tailwheel if applicable, ratings, etc...) plays a significant, but difficult to mathematically model, role in setting premiums. Beyond experience however, to make apples-to-apples comparisons it seems important to break out the specific costs of liability and hull. For my most recent renewal (AIG, through Gallagher) it is $324 for liability ($1MM/event, $100K/seat, only one company would quote a new policy with $1MM smooth and NO ONE would quote a higher total liability limit that wasn't grandfathered). Hull is 0.9675% (in easy to think about terms, just under a 10 dollars/$1,000 declared hull value). Those values are clearly shown on my binder and makes it clear what role the impact of owner-declared hull value plays.
 
I pay $1090 for 125k coverage on my -7A

Just over 1000 hours total time and 500 in the RV. Extra certificates/ratings have helped over the years too
 
JonJay said:
It would be interesting to hear from someone who had a significant loss and how it was handled by the insurer. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, we just don’t have many examples.
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We had a "significant loss" on a C-172RG some years ago at our flight school. Catastrophic engine failure. Private pilot with 110 hours. He put it down in a clear cut area and he and his passenger walked away with bruises, aircraft totaled. Insurance company denied the claim due to one sentence in the policy language. They paid ZERO. Total loss.

Point of this is to KNOW every line in your policy; what is covered and what is not; do NOT assume anything. You can be ABSOLUTELY sure that your insurance carrier knows.
 
rocketman1988 said:
We had a "significant loss" on a C-172RG some years ago at our flight school. Catastrophic engine failure. Private pilot with 110 hours. He put it down in a clear cut area and he and his passenger walked away with bruises, aircraft totaled. Insurance company denied the claim due to one sentence in the policy language. They paid ZERO. Total loss.

Point of this is to KNOW every line in your policy; what is covered and what is not; do NOT assume anything. You can be ABSOLUTELY sure that your insurance carrier knows.
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Out of curiosity, what was the sentence?
 
JonJay said:
It would be interesting to hear from someone who had a significant loss and how it was handled by the insurer. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, we just don’t have many examples.
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I can't speak for my flight policy but I did have a large claim on my builders policy. Global was very easy to work with and they paid without any argument or questions. I still use Global for my flight coverage.
 
KLRDMD said:
RV8A, $125k hull, $1,275. That was with 0 make and model, but reasonable overall time and experience, and just a seller checkout as transition training.
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Hey Ken,
I'm in Marana and just got a quote on an RV8A for over $2200. Crazy. Broker said he searched all sources and that's what it is. I've got 0 in make/model/any RV, but 1300+ hours in high-performance, retractable turbo aircraft. Instrument rated with no adverse event history. Seems like my quote is quite a lot more that most on here, even with a high hull value, it seems disproportionate. Would really love to talk with you sometime. Never seen 57AZ though I've flown past it for years. Would love to be able to see it sometime.

Pete nine-seven-0 seven-08 forty-five twenty-five
Marana, AZ
 
Just a datapoint but with just under 2000 hours in my RV9A, and about 3400 total with half of that IFR, I have Global for $150k hull and $1M liability for just under $1200/yr. I fly about 300 hrs/yr and most of that IFR, I'm sure that helps. I've also been flying this airplane for 10 years now - and I KNOW that helps.
 
Hobbit44 said:
Hey Ken,
I'm in Marana and just got a quote on an RV8A for over $2200. Crazy. Broker said he searched all sources and that's what it is. I've got 0 in make/model/any RV, but 1300+ hours in high-performance, retractable turbo aircraft. Instrument rated with no adverse event history. Seems like my quote is quite a lot more that most on here, even with a high hull value, it seems disproportionate. Would really love to talk with you sometime. Never seen 57AZ though I've flown past it for years. Would love to be able to see it sometime.

Pete nine-seven-0 seven-08 forty-five twenty-five
Marana, AZ
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Happy to show you the airpark and my airplane. I increased my hull value to $150k and my passenger sublimit from $100k to $200k at the renewal. It is now $1,345.

Feel free to contact my broker for insurance:

Parker Woodruff – ATP, CFI
Airspeed Insurance Agency LLC
O: 214-295-5055 | D: 214-295-5037
[email protected]
 
Hobbit44 said:
Hey Ken,
I'm in Marana and just got a quote on an RV8A for over $2200. Crazy. Broker said he searched all sources and that's what it is. I've got 0 in make/model/any RV, but 1300+ hours in high-performance, retractable turbo aircraft. Instrument rated with no adverse event history. Seems like my quote is quite a lot more that most on here, even with a high hull value, it seems disproportionate. Would really love to talk with you sometime. Never seen 57AZ though I've flown past it for years. Would love to be able to see it sometime.

Pete nine-seven-0 seven-08 forty-five twenty-five
Marana, AZ
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0 hrs in type, 0 hrs in any RV, I’m surprised they didn’t mandate a certain number of hours transition training. But even with training, first year is always high with low time in type.
 
Just remember that it is not just based on your logbook but also highly dependent on your claimed hull value. You can just as easily over insure as you can under insure.
 
For your RV10 what company are you using. I’m currently with Gallagher but they have a hull limit of 225k. Do you insure with Old Republic direct. Other insurance recommendations. Anyone use AOPA insurance.
 
BobTurner said:
0 hrs in type, 0 hrs in any RV, I’m surprised they didn’t mandate a certain number of hours transition training. But even with training, first year is always high with low time in type.
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Based on my informal observations, required training hours and rates seem to be falling as of the last 6 months.
 
plehrke said:
Just remember that it is not just based on your logbook but also highly dependent on your claimed hull value. You can just as easily over insure as you can under insure.
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True. And to state the obvious (my favorite pastime), for a variety of reasons, it is in the insured’s best interest to insure for what the aircraft is actually worth. Insuring for too little presents obvious dangers, but insuring for too much isn’t a great idea either.
 
BobTurner said:
0 hrs in type, 0 hrs in any RV, I’m surprised they didn’t mandate a certain number of hours transition training. But even with training, first year is always high with low time in type.
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I have done that twice in my flying career. When I bought my first Bonanza with zero time make and model, the seller was allowed to provide a one hour transition training. The same when I bought my RV-8A. I felt comfortable in each airplane after an hour. The insurance premium was quite reasonable each time too. But you do have to ask. Both times the initial quote came back with a specific number of transition training hours by a CFI. I just asked my broker if the seller could give me an hour and was approved both times.
 
togaflyer said:
For your RV10 what company are you using. I’m currently with Gallagher but they have a hull limit of 225k. Do you insure with Old Republic direct. Other insurance recommendations. Anyone use AOPA insurance.
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Back when I was looking for insurance, I sought quotes through both BWI and Gallagher. They both returned the best premium quote from AIG. I opted to use Gallagher as my broker, kind of a coin toss, but absolutely no regrets...they are excellent. A couple of years later, Gallagher (Leah Ringheisen) contacted me to recommend that I switch to Global...better coverage, slightly lower price and I've been with Global for several years. The annual premium has been remarkably stable despite me crossing the 70 year-old mark, removing a friend/CFI as a named insured, and increasing the hull value to reflect the crazy COVID-driven airplane market.

Point being...I'm not insured by Gallagher. I enlisted Gallagher to help me find an insurance company for the best coverage at the best price. They did and I'm currently insured by Global. Gallagher is just my point of contact between me and Global's underwriter.
 
MacCool said:
Point being...I'm not insured by Gallagher. I enlisted Gallagher to help me find an insurance company for the best coverage at the best price. They did and I'm currently insured by Global. Gallagher is just my point of contact between me and Global's underwriter.
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+1. Gallagher is a broker, an independent agent who represents you. The individual insurance companies, not Gallagher, set the rates and any coverage limitations.
 
I have just renewed through the Gallagher broker and they've been as good as always. The preimum is in line with what others posted. We also use them for the "commercial" insurance for the flying club (3 hulls, 30-40 pilots) and they handle it great. They saved the club close to $30,000 per year compared to our previous broker.
 
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