This is happening quite a lot here in the UK right now.
What is not known, and probably won’t appear on forums because people don’t post when they had an incident and the insurance paid out and they don’t post when they had an incident and the insurance didn’t pay out, is whether these cheaper firms pay out as readily as say Haywards 
Anecdotally, yes, I have heard that Visicover and Haywards both handle hull damage claims in an exemplary fashion, not least when the insured’s aeronautical decision-making might, with hindsight, have been better.
Brokers are salesmen, just the same as any salesmen. They want to make as much as possible at every opportunity.
A clever broker would say, “get me two written quotes and I will endeavour to beat them” or a clever buyer would not trust any of them and seek out the best possible deal, effectively doing the broker’s “job” for them.
Peter wrote:
What is not known, and probably won’t appear on forums because people don’t post when they had an incident and the insurance paid out and they don’t post when they had an incident and the insurance didn’t pay out
I had an incident and Traffords paid out in an exemplary fashion. The hull was insured for £60k. We negotiated that they would pay £55k and I would keep all the avionics (worth at least £30k at 2nd hand value) and the entire hull and engine cores. Both sides were very happy. I couldn’t fault them at all. That is why we wanted to stay with them although they were marginally dearer than Visicover, who are unknown as far as we are concerned. But we weren’t going to pay more than double the premium for the privilege.
So, I would recommend everyone who isn’t with Visicover to get a Visicover quote and go back to their broker. The worst that can happen is that you end up with Visicover.
I had a prop strike, resulting in my insurer (Visicover) paying for a new prop as well as the engine shock load inspection. I put in the extra to have it zero timed. This was all done efficiently and in a friendly and very helpful way, through loss adjusters Charles Taylor Aviation. I suspect the major insurers all use a small number of loss adjusters, resulting in a uniform response in the event of a claim.
Timothy wrote:
So, I would recommend everyone who isn’t with Visicover to get a Visicover quote and go back to their broker. The worst that can happen is that you end up with Visicover.
Bit unfair considering Visicover saved you £2200. Timothy, how would you feel if your company was being used to drive prices down and similar comments made online?
It’s one thing Traffords having to match prices due to the new kid on the block, it’s another thing entirely when they intentionally try to charge you double the actual premium, but hey, it’s your option to stick with a company that tried it on to that extent, however, IMO, the above was a little unnecessary.
Everything I head about Visicover has been positive I must say. Both in pricing and customer service including claims they have a good name. On a piston aircraft I would have no reluctance in using them.
Misc. wrote:
Bit unfair
Sorry, it was a turn of phrase…“what’s the worst that can happen?” usually means that all outcomes are good.
We do have a loyalty to Traffords following their excellent handling of our claim.
Timothy wrote:
We do have a loyalty to Traffords following their excellent handling of our claim.
A broker who needs an external quote to take 50% (half !) off his quote could not have possibly managed a previous incident well enough to keep me there.
I would go to the quoting company unless something kept me explicitly from doing so (bad rep with other pilots or similar…)
(And there is still another GBP100 difference ;-) )
I agree that it’s a close run thing.
