How much are you paying for insurance on your TD?

I'm thinking of switching to the 7 or 8 and just wondering what the average is.

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When I started building my A model, taildraggers required: More training and more insurance money. = more risk or more potential for accidents, mainly while landing or on the ground. I don't mean to start anything, but I'll bet I get flamed.

Maybe one of our insurance guys could chime in here. I would be interested in their perspective as well.

I was told that the cost for a TD would be about $200 more per year. Given that I would need 25 hours of TD time to get insured, and I would still have to pay more per year after that, the decision to go with the A was easy.

RV-8

Hiya!
I have a RV-8 and around 400hrs TT and 311hrs Tailwheel, I have all the typical insurance jazz and a hull value of 80,000 and I pay 1975$ a year.
Do yourself a favor just build what you want, DO NOT let other people try to scare you off of the talidraggers by their tales of cheaper insurance....less likely to bend metal blah blah blah.. Just get good training and you will be a better pilot for it. Either way TD or trike RVs are great and you won't regret it one bit!

My history

Here's how my RV insurance coverage has changed with time and my experience. I had 2 tailwheel hours and no make/model time when obtained the insurance for my RV-6 for the first year. (Total time as PIC was about 400hours with no bad history.) I had over 350 hours in make and model when the application was filled out this year. Obviously, some experience quickly helps drop the rate. In addition, I had a prudent requirement for 10 hours of transition training with an approved CFI and 10 hours of solo after that.


2007-2008 (quote) - $60k - $1411 ($55k-$1375)

2006-2007 $60k ? $1894

2005-2006 $65k - $2175

First things first

Build the plane you want and not the plane others want you to build!

That said...

I had about 350 hrs TT, 100+ TW. My -9 is insured for $75K and my insurance company only wanted me to have 3 hours in any SbS RV prior to the first flight. My premium for this first year is $1850 and will go down next year as I will have over 100 hours in type by then.

A friend who built at -7A valued his at $85K and he has about the same TT as I do. Get this, his insurance was higher. As near as we could figure it was because of the higher hull value. Either that or it was because the A's are now in a higher risk category than the TW RV's. If that is the case, and the new SB works, it will take some time for that to work through the insurance companies.

As for TW time, you will need about 10 hours to get the endorsement and another 20 to feel real comfortable. After that, you won't ever look back.

Don't tell any A drivers but learning to fly conventional geared airplane is really easy and a lot of fun.

PS. Do a search on this topic, it seems to come up about once a month.

RV-8 at $75K hull value (I know it's too low)

Thru EAA Insurance Plan (Falcon brokerage thru Global Underwriters as the carrier)

2006: $1,850
2007: $1,780

rates are approx, but pretty close from what I can remember.

At the time of my original quote I had "O" time in an RV-8, 12 hours in an RV-6, 250 hours in a Skybolt, 50 hours in an Acrosport 1 and the rest of my 450 TW time in Super D's, Citabrias, Cubs, Stinsons and the like. At that time, I had 600 total time.

This last year, I had something like 650 tail and 800 total and 250 time in make/model, so I got a small reduction for the significant recent time.

TD insurance

All,

The $ is a function of how much time and ratings we each have but the basic benchmark difference for tailwheels, if you have the correct tail ratings etc can be assumed to be around 25% higher than the same nosewheel.

So, if you have 300hrs in tails and are building/flying a 7A and you switch to a 7 tail add about 25% to what you currently pay and that should be fairly close but only a real quote for you specifically will get the exact number in each persons case.

Wish I could be more accurate but that's what I've been taught.

Blue skies and Happy Turkey day everybody.

I agree; build what you want not what others want you to build

If you really like the A model and the SB is causing you to second guess, the insurance folks haven't yet reached the same conclusion. If they charge a 25% premium for TDs, then they must have more overall risk. It doesn't mean that they can't be handled, that they are not fun, or that you can't learn to fly one with ease and proficiency, but apparently more TDs get bent. I agree, build what you want.

I don't have an IFR rating, but I am pretty sure that will bring the insurance rate down some also regardless of where the small wheel is located.

$1 Million tailwheel insurance @ $350 per year

RV-6 (Tailwheel)
$1,000,000 / $100K per person @ $350 / year ($35 per year of this is for coverage flying formation in airshows)
NationAir (AIG)

Ratings: SEL VFR Private Pilot (2,000+ hours make and tailwheel)

I think last year we paid ~$1,200 dollars with a $65K hull value..

I am the low time guy on our plane hold a CFI, CFII, MEI with around 2,200 hours..
Pops is an ATP with 20K+ hours..

Just got mine for my RV7 and it is $386 for liability and $2080 for $100,000 hull. This covers the first flight and test period also. 3 named pilots I am the low timer with 2500hrs 1600TW and around 100hrs in various RVs. Should go down to around $1800 next year. Don

This is my first year with an RV-8. 900 TT 200+ tailwheel, $1975 on $85,000 hull value. I think I'll collect the numbers mentioned in the posts (without naming names) and call my agent again! I may be paying a little more than I should.

The only ins requirement is tailwheel endorsement and a checkout by a CFI. That took about 3 hours. (Thanks, DW!)

My neighbor (RV6A) and myself (RV6) with both at 65k hull has always been within $20 prem per year. Renewals were about 4 months apart. This last year $1400. Requirement for tailwheel was 10hrs duel and 30 take-off & landing solo before passengers. That requirement was 8 yrs ago.

My costs have also been steadily decreasing. I am SEL with instrument. I have about 950 total time of which nearly 800 are in RVs (500 RV-6 & 300 RV-8). In May 06 my premium for $100k hull was $2100. My -8 had about 100 hours at the time. In May 07 my premium dropped to $1800. The -8 had probably about 180 hours (I know, I don't fly enough). My policy is with AIG through Nationair. I usually try to get a second quote but it always ends up that AIG underwrites the lowest and all the quotes are identical.

insurance on taildragger

With about 3200 hours tailwheel time and 600 hours in type, full coverage on my RV-7 with 70K hull runs about 1500. (Have never had an incident or claim)

Maybe Cam will speak up.

He would be a good one to answer this question since he changed his -9A to a -9. Same plane, same pilot, same insurance(?), should be a good number to see.

lcnmrv8r said:

Liability is liability say $300-400/year.

Hull. Do you have to insure the total value?

Here's what I mean. If you have a minor incident how much will it take to repair. Avionics should all still be ok,interior ok, engine accessories still good. Engine? So if you have to rebuild, what's the cost to rebuild? I know it doesn't include your time but if it's just about how much per year you'd be saving, could we be insuring our hulls at a lower rate?
for example. Your plane value is 75k. Insure the hull at 45k.

Just my thoughts. No flaming please.

Click to expand...

I believe the problem with that is if the insurance company feels that it is a total loss (i.e. $45K in damage to repair) they will total the aircraft and keep it and sell all your goodies. You can get it back from them, but at that point you are one of the bidders to the airframe (anyone correct me if my assumption is incorrect here), so by devaluing it that much you might get the 45K check, but have to buy back your salvage rights to all the goodies - engine, prop, avionics, instruments, etc.

Also, lets say worse case scenario, you don't live through the accident and so whomever gets your estate now gets reimbursed only partially for the aircraft. For me that's a small bit if additional "life insurance" for my wife so that she gets the full value. I valued mine about 15 to 20K lower than it is probably worth in today's market, but I did value it enough so that I could get nearly all money back out of it in a total loss.