What to expect buying insurance?

[Histolytica]

Hi everybody. I'm trying to make sure my expectations are realistic for insurance. This is my first plane.

I'm looking to buy insurance for a single ferry flight. It is for a certified aircraft with valid C of A etc. The flight is ~1.5 hours and would be flown by a very qualified pilot.

I requested a quote through COPA (Magnus) over a week ago. Last week the agent said it was at the underwriter. A week later, I've heard nothing. I've emailed and phoned but they won't reply. The insurance is the last hurdle for receiving my new plane so this delay and customer service is annoying. Are my expectations of results or communication within a week unrealistic?

FYI, I asked for public liability and 100k hull insurance for the ferry flight. I plan on purchasing other insurance at a later time for when I'm flying it; this is just to get it here. It does have storage insurance through Magnus already.

Also, what kind of $$$ should I be expecting for a single flight?

Thanks
H

[digits_]

No idea how much it would cost for a single flight, but getting insurance nowadays is getting really hard. Took me 3 weeks to get me a quote for renewal of my airplane insurance, the advertised timeframe was 3 business days. No accidents or claims. I thought I'd shop around, and nobody else even wanted to quote. Also took over 2 weeks just to get that reply.

It's a really bad time to get insurance. Not that this helps you very much. But waiting for a week to get a quote is not that excessive at the moment.

[Histolytica]

No idea how much it would cost for a single flight, but getting insurance nowadays is getting really hard. Took me 3 weeks to get me a quote for renewal of my airplane insurance, the advertised timeframe was 3 business days. No accidents or claims. I thought I'd shop around, and nobody else even wanted to quote. Also took over 2 weeks just to get that reply.

It's a really bad time to get insurance. Not that this helps you very much. But waiting for a week to get a quote is not that excessive at the moment.

Ok, I guess I need to adjust my expectations. Geez, is any part of aircraft ownership easy? Maybe don't answer that one.

Thanks
H

[photofly]

You might be thinking a single flight should be like $10. But no underwriter is going to lift a pen or telephone for that. Anticipate you will have to buy a year long policy, which you can cancel after the flight and get (some) of the premium back, but probably only 75%. In other words one day’s coverage is 25% of a year long policy.

Alternatively, find someone who owns their own plane to fly it: take the hull risk on yourself, and use the fact that most policies permit the policy holder to fly any other aircraft (with the same or fewer seats) with the owner’s permission, providing the required liability insurance.

[ahramin]

You can do it quick and expensive or slow and maybe cheap.

The last time I needed insurance for one trip it ended up costing the buyer two weeks and more $ than insurance for the entire year. If you are in a hurry to get your plane home, go to the Marsh Canada website, insure it for a year, pay the bill and get your plane home.

Or you can go through every broker in Canada in the hopes of finding one who can find you what you are looking for at a price you are happy with.

Another option is to hire a professional ferry pilot who has his own insurance. My last client went this way and we had his aircraft across the country two days after the aircraft passed its prepurchase inspection. But it wasn't cheap.

[digits_]

You can do it quick and expensive or slow and maybe cheap.

The last time I needed insurance for one trip it ended up costing the buyer two weeks and more $ than insurance for the entire year. If you are in a hurry to get your plane home, go to the Marsh Canada website, insure it for a year, pay the bill and get your plane home.

Marsh Canada is the one where it took me 3 weeks for a renewal. Not sure if there is a quick way at the moment. If there are any brokers that are working quickly nowadays, I'd sure like to know about it!

[ahramin]

Suzan Wakeman retired so yeah, Marsh's response time went from hours to days. A VP promised me today that things would improve as new people get training and practice. We will see.

In any case, Magnes and Nacora are even slower. Air 1 is a lot faster until you read the paperwork and realize that they've insured your dog by mistake.

[ahramin]

But realistically even a good broker would have their hands tied. The big delays are the underwriters and they just don't care about our business anymore. Not enough money.

[Histolytica]

Thanks for the replies. I had no expectations that it would be cheap. I am disappointed that this time delay seems common but I guess it is what it is. On a philosophical level, all these barriers are concerning for the long-term feasibility of those of us doing this for fun.

[CpnCrunch]

Thanks for the replies. I had no expectations that it would be cheap. I am disappointed that this time delay seems common but I guess it is what it is. On a philosophical level, all these barriers are concerning for the long-term feasibility of those of us doing this for fun.

No, delays like this are not generally common. It sounds like it might just be a temporary issue with the underwriters. Usually it takes less than a week.

You may want to consider just purchasing the year's insurance right now rather than waiting. Depending on which plane you're insuring, the Magnes policy may include an open pilot policy that covers any pilot (for a 172 it definitely does).

[Histolytica]

Thanks for the replies. I had no expectations that it would be cheap. I am disappointed that this time delay seems common but I guess it is what it is. On a philosophical level, all these barriers are concerning for the long-term feasibility of those of us doing this for fun.

No, delays like this are not generally common. It sounds like it might just be a temporary issue with the underwriters. Usually it takes less than a week.

You may want to consider just purchasing the year's insurance right now rather than waiting. Depending on which plane you're insuring, the Magnes policy may include an open pilot policy that covers any pilot (for a 172 it definitely does).

Ok, that's good to know. I'm certainly not opposed to purchasing the year's insurance now, as long as it can be applied to different pilots later. Hopefully the agent will return my call soon because these are things I'd happily discuss.