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How to reduce your insurance.

flybye

Well Known Member
I'm wondering if there are any cost effective tips to reducing my insurance. Having seen a small increase in my renewal, I'd like to know whether additional training would result in lower premiums. I am instrument rated and fly a tricycle gear plane but do tailwheel or commercial endorsements count as credit towards lower premiums? It would be satisfying to get additional instruction if there was an annual dividend in my insurance premiums.
 
Talk to your insurance agent or company to know for sure. When I inquired, other than hours and IFR, nothing else mattered. Insurers didn?t care if I completed commercial rating or anything else. So it wasn?t worth continuing for a pure insurance basis.
 
When I got my commercial I was dismayed to find it had no effect on my insurance. In fact I didn't see much from my instrument either. Besides more hours, about the only thing that has successfully had an impact on my rates was incessant complaining and threats to cancel the policy. I can't imagine it's any more fun for them than it is for me.


It would be satisfying to get additional instruction if there was an annual dividend in my insurance premiums.

The dividend from additional instruction is the increased safety of you and your passengers! While it would be nice for the insurance to recognize and reward that, you should do it for yourself regardless. I flew for years on my own, crawling out from under a rock every 2 years for a BFR and then zooming back into oblivion. I flew fine, but I wasn't getting any better. Then I got married non-aviation lady and had kids. Not knowing any better, they would tell me "You're such a good pilot." I decided I wanted to be as good a pilot as they thought I was. I started training, adding ratings, etc... and quickly found out how much I didn't know.

Get the commercial. It will make you a better pilot. And if they insurance company blesses you with a lower rate, well that's a bonus.

DEM
 
"The dividend from additional instruction is the increased safety of you and your passengers!"

Very true! I did see a reduction in my premiums for IFR but the main benefit was in the improvement in my competency and knowledge. I'd advise anyone to take that step.




When I got my commercial I was dismayed to find it had no effect on my insurance. In fact I didn't see much from my instrument either. Besides more hours, about the only thing that has successfully had an impact on my rates was incessant complaining and threats to cancel the policy. I can't imagine it's any more fun for them than it is for me.




The dividend from additional instruction is the increased safety of you and your passengers! While it would be nice for the insurance to recognize and reward that, you should do it for yourself regardless. I flew for years on my own, crawling out from under a rock every 2 years for a BFR and then zooming back into oblivion. I flew fine, but I wasn't getting any better. Then I got married non-aviation lady and had kids. Not knowing any better, they would tell me "You're such a good pilot." I decided I wanted to be as good a pilot as they thought I was. I started training, adding ratings, etc... and quickly found out how much I didn't know.

Get the commercial. It will make you a better pilot. And if they insurance company blesses you with a lower rate, well that's a bonus.

DEM
 
If you haven't already, check with Gallagher (VAF advertiser). My premium dropped nearly $300 after my first year. I am a low time (250ish hrs) but flew close to 150 in the past year on just my PPL; no IFR or other ratings.
 
Liability only

Drop the hull coverage and get Liability only. Another option would be hull coverage "not in motion" in case you get damage on the ground tied down over night away from home.

IF there was a change in my premium when I got my Instrument one year and Commercial the following year, it was less than 1% and when you have over 1,000 hours in make / model / tailwheel with no claims, I am not sure the insurance company has a lower rate.
 
How much are you paying?

I've got full replacement coverage valued @$80K for under $900 per year - doesn't seem like there's a lot of room for reduction realistically - heck I pay more than that for my auto insurance (about $15k value, smallish SUV)

PP-ASEL only with about 500 total hours, 200 of that in the RV
 
Just renewed my Insurance

I just renewed my insurance for my -10 and it went down $38 to $1719 with AIG.

On the Insurance Quote they show 5% off for belonging to AOPA, 25% off hull for being hangared, and if I had an IFR rating, 5% off. I have 422 hours in the RV-10 and insured it for $150K hull value. The premium would be about $716 if I went without Hull insurance looking at how the quote was calculated.

I went thru USAA (Falcon Insurance is the Broker).

TJ
 
I asked my agent what I could do to reduce my premium and she said nothing. When I asked about getting my instrument rating, she said that with over 1,000 hours of tailwheel time, and 800 in my RV, I was as low as it was ever going to go.
 
How much are you paying?

I've got full replacement coverage valued @$80K for under $900 per year - doesn't seem like there's a lot of room for reduction realistically - heck I pay more than that for my auto insurance (about $15k value, smallish SUV)

PP-ASEL only with about 500 total hours, 200 of that in the RV

?. Can you tell us what insurance company you use? Thanks, Allan..:D
 
Rate quotes are almost meaningless without the full details. e.g., is that $1 million liability coverage restricted to $100K per passenger, or $100K per person, or are there no restrictions (commonly called CSL, combined single limit, or sometimes ?smooth?). How many (if more than one) named insureds are there, and what are their ratings and experience? Does the policy cover anything unusual, such as giving instruction for hire to others? Do you routinely operate off unimproved strips? etc. These are just some of the questions I?m asked at every renewal.
 
shop around at least every couple years.

That should not be necessary if you have a good agent. That?s their job.
Except: AVEMCO sells direct, contact them directly for a quote. I have found them expensive, but they might send you a nice cap!
 
it's your job to check on your agent. in the past several years i have had 2 very reputable agents according to comments from this site but rates have varied by over $200 from one to the other from year to year. i have no claim history.
 
funny you should say that. the carrier i have for my build in progress quoted a cheaper rate than the carrier who was already insuring the plane i was flying.
like i said you gotta check.
 
Just be careful about dropping coverage and stuff. It's illogical to me to go through all the hoops some builders go through -- hello, primer! -- to guard against things that aren't likely to happen and then try to save money on things that are more likely to.

Avemco, by the way, may be an advertiser so I won't bother commenting on them. But if you're not insuring through Gallagher, there's a fair chance you're doing it wrong.
 
In addition to my RV-9A I have an experimental licensed (long story) 1946 J-3 cub.

Last year, when I went to insure it the premium was almost $1500 for the year (insured at $45,000 lowest they would write).

This year the premium actually went up a few dollars even with me having about 65 tail wheel hours now.

I talked to a couple neighbhors, and found a different company that wrote a policy with the same limits (except a more realistic $30,000 hull value) for $760.

Even with a broker it pays to shop around sometimes.

-Dan
 
I just got insurance for my yet to fly 14A and the value is set at the highest they would insure which is $175K and my zero deductible was as $1075, just about the same amount I paid for my 7A. The insurance company is Global Aero which is A+ rated. This was $600 a year cheaper than some other companies (without mentioning names here)I had got quotes for.

So shopping around is definitely worth the time
 
No mater what you do - don't get old!
I turn 81 next month and insurance companies all decided to hate me for it. I never had a claim in over 50 years of flying.
 
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