cardinal285
Member
Flying an E-LSA RV-12 and looking for some input on insurance companies. Any thoughts pro or con on different companies? Any companies writing a "Smooth" policy ? What seems to be available policy limits ?
Flying an E-LSA RV-12 and looking for some input on insurance companies. Any thoughts pro or con on different companies? Any companies writing a "Smooth" policy ? What seems to be available policy limits ?
"smooth" or CSL (combined single limit) means a liability policy with one overall limit (e.g., $1,000,00) and no sublimits (very common sublimit is no more than $100,000 per passenger). This is a huge increase in coverage, as statistically most of your risk is due to passengers.
You know, it costs nO thing to call one of the insurance brokers that regularly participate here and ask questions from someone who actually knows the answer and doesn't have just one policy/company to sell. That's the best thing about brokers - they shop the entire market - and boy, having seen the wide range of quotes that come back from various insurance underwriters who look at the same application, I'd never go to directly to only one underwriter!
You know, it costs nO thing to call one of the insurance brokers that regularly participate here and ask questions from someone who actually knows the answer and doesn't have just one policy/company to sell. That's the best thing about brokers - they shop the entire market - and boy, having seen the wide range of quotes that come back from various insurance underwriters who look at the same application, I'd never go to directly to only one underwriter!
I totally agree.
I recently worked with Shanna at Gallagher Aviation on a policy for my personal RV-6A.
She supplied quotes from seven different underwriters with the highest being $250 more than the lowest (all had pretty much the same coverage and pilot experience requirements).
I ended up going with Old Republic (which was one of her recommendations).
BTW, You can't go wrong with Jenny, Shanna, and the rest of the gang at Gallagher Aviation (formally NationAir)
This is interesting - I just got my renewal quote from Gallagher, they said AIG was the best deal at $1383. I also contacted EAA and they found me Old Republic for $928 for the same coverage. Does Gallagher no longer deal with Old Republic I wonder?
This is interesting - I just got my renewal quote from Gallagher, they said AIG was the best deal at $1383. I also contacted EAA and they found me Old Republic for $928 for the same coverage. Does Gallagher no longer deal with Old Republic I wonder?
This is interesting - I just got my renewal quote from Gallagher, they said AIG was the best deal at $1383. I also contacted EAA and they found me Old Republic for $928 for the same coverage. Does Gallagher no longer deal with Old Republic I wonder?
This shows what I was trying to say. It sure appears you must get quotes from many companies to be sure you get the best deal. I would bet that the commission for the $1383 policy was nicer for them than the commission on the $928 policy, so they trashed it. It appears that most pilots get one quote and feel they are special and have the best insurance. It does not appear to be a totally honest profession.
This shows what I was trying to say. It sure appears you must get quotes from many companies to be sure you get the best deal. I would bet that the commission for the $1383 policy was nicer for them than the commission on the $928 policy, so they trashed it. It appears that most pilots get one quote and feel they are special and have the best insurance. It does not appear to be a totally honest profession.
So..... Apparently this Gallagher person or company is definitely not one of th reputable ones then?
So..... Apparently this Gallagher person or company is definitely not one of th reputable ones then?
Actually two Scott, there was this one as well: " I just got my renewal quote from Gallagher, they said AIG was the best deal at $1383. I also contacted EAA and they found me Old Republic for $928 for the same coverage. Does Gallagher no longer deal with Old Republic I wonder?"
I agree, we should not condemn a company based on heresay. The Gallagher website shows whom they deal with, and Old Republic is not among them.
I am just trying to sort it out. There are those here that emphasize DO NOT go to multiple brokers, yet apparently if you don't, then you only get partial quotes only from the companies that your broker deals with. How do we win?
Actually two Scott, there was this one as well: " I just got my renewal quote from Gallagher, they said AIG was the best deal at $1383. I also contacted EAA and they found me Old Republic for $928 for the same coverage. Does Gallagher no longer deal with Old Republic I wonder?"
I agree, we should not condemn a company based on heresay. The Gallagher website shows whom they deal with, and Old Republic is not among them.
I am just trying to sort it out. There are those here that emphasize DO NOT go to multiple brokers, yet apparently if you don't, then you only get partial quotes only from the companies that your broker deals with. How do we win?
Is the Old Republic bit a recent change?
That is my understanding of the way this works except that after a certain period of time you can get new quotes.Please read my "edit #2", above. It appears to me that this individual approached two brokers, Gallagher and EAA. If EAA asked Old Republic for a quote before Gallagher did, then Old Republic most likely would have declined to quote to any other brokers, including Gallagher.
I will post a couple of specifics about Gallagher: I
The final straw was second year flight coverage. Five days after the policy went into effect the airplane was grounded for a broken exhaust that I knew was going to take several months to get sorted out. I requested change to ground coverage only and this took FIVE WEEKS to get a response.
e.
Please read my "edit #2", above. It appears to me that this individual approached two brokers, Gallagher and EAA. If EAA asked Old Republic for a quote before Gallagher did, then Old Republic most likely would have declined to quote to any other brokers, including Gallagher.
The brokers job is to take your information and submit it to all of the different insurance companies, collect the quotes, and recommend the best option for your needs. If there are several companies with similar rates we will put them on a side by side comparison sheet with their policy coverage's. We also provide AM Best ratings for those companies so you can make an informed decision about your purchase.
At Gallagher we have three girls here that specialize in Vans Aircraft Insurance. That's all we do. We have about 2000 Vans insured in this office. We attended Oshkosh and the Vans Homecoming every year.
Greg,Actually, no. I contacted Gallagher first, gave her time to work, and got the quote response back that indicated AIG was the best fit. Only then, after seeing a significant INCREASE in my premium despite logging more than 100 hours in the last 12 months my aircraft with no problems, did I start to look elsewhere. I went to EAA and they immediately responded with Old Republic. My Gallagher rep told me that Old Republic "requested additional information about the airport you are flying from", though I certainly wasn't asked to give any further information, nor did I get the request for additional information from Old Republic through EAA. Now with the information that Old Republic is not represented on their website as one of the underwriters they work with, I have to wonder a bit.
At this point I do not feel that I am being told the truth, or at least the complete truth, by Gallagher and it is certainly obvious that it is in my best interest to shop with another broker.
Shanna - as you mentioned, you were not the individual I was dealing with, I wanted that to be clear. I also did NOT receive any type of comparison sheets or other options to choose from - I got a single companies name, a single price, and no choices. "Just trust me." Apparently the way YOU handle insurance requests is not the way all your agents handle them.
As for the three girls you say you have on staff that specialize in Vans Aircraft - I find that very curious, because the agent I used specifically told me that she does not have much experience with experimentals, in response to my question about why my premium went up substantially from last year. It appears that your in-house communications need some work, as well as your external ones.
Greg,
I feel like I need to chime in on this thread. The reason Old Republic was not quoted in the first place is they were asking for more information. Once they received it we had the quote and it was given to you. The other quote is lower then the one we got from Old Republic because the information that the other broker entered is missing some major key risk factors so the information given to the carrier isn't correct. We have always worked with Old republic (formerly Phoenix Aviation). Old Republic just got back into quoting Vans aircraft last year, so there rates are low now but we cant guarantee they will stay that way. The agent you are dealing with is one of our Vans specialists that is all she does. What was being referred to as not having much experience with experimental aircraft was Old Republic since they are newly writing them. Please call me if you have any other issues or questions.
Jenny Brower (Estes)
Light Aircraft Manager
Gallagher Aviation
[email protected]
877-648-8267 - Direct
I probably screwed my request up based on this thread. I applied to Gallagher and after a few days I had not heard anything and assumed they were not interested or my request did not go thru. I remembered my past experience with Falcon so sent them a request for quote, and have not heard from them yet either! After reading all the fine print, it says it could take a couple of weeks for them to respond!
I still cannot fathom why it takes a couple of weeks to give a quote, when it should be a matter of minutes in my estimation. I am not ready to fly just yet anyway, so the time is far from critical.
You should get any underwriters willing to write the policy from either Gallagher or Falcon - but you won't get the same underwriter from both of them, according to what Gallagher says.
Interestingly, I have direct experience that says otherwise. After my issues with the increasing premium at AIG came to light, I went to the EAA website and they gave me a quote from Old Republic. Then after this mess went public here, Gallagher ALSO gave me a quote from Old Republic (yes, they are the same price for the same coverage). So while Gallagher openly stated that normally an underwriter will not quote to two different brokers for the same policy, it's obvious in this case that they did exactly that.
Hi Don!
I just looked up your name in our system and could not find you in our database. I would be more than happy to get quotes for you. It generally only takes 24 hours to get responses from all of the underwriters. Do you mind if I contact you via email for more information?
Hello Shanna:
I was recently told by my aviation insurance agent that "smooth" policies were not written for experimental aircraft. Can you confirm ?.
Thank you