"EuropaBoy, I so agree with you. I have made a claim with H and it looks like Ombudsman will settle it, so certainly a lot of hassle"
mdoerr, are you at liberty to elaborate?
I have been away most of today so may have missed some posts, but let me say that if posting about an insurer who refused to pay out, it is vital to state ALL relevant facts, otherwise the insurer, upon reading it, will have obvious grounds to have something to say (or worse!).
One-liners suggesting "problems" are not worth writing, not least because anybody reading them isn't going to learn anything from it (true for most one-liners on anything than trivial matters). There will always be a reason for not paying out.
I'm sorry, but the whole thing is not finished yet. I will tell more once everything is settled. Peter, the reason is the wording of the policy and changes to it. Quite complex and not easy to explain here. The only think I can say it is a lot of hassle. I would pay more attention to changes and not renew over the phone anymore. " It is basically the same, but some minor changes.." can mean a big difference.
OK; if one day you are able to formulate an explanation, perhaps in general terms, I am sure many would find the posting helpful because they can watch out for it.
My own info, gathered over a decade of ownership, is that while there are some disreputable practices they are rare and on the whole aviation insurers pay out on stuff which is sometimes eye-watering as regards the degree of pilot negligence.
An example of a questionable practice might be where one is insured for a high "agreed value" which, if substantially higher than the market value, is going to encourage the insurer to repair a pranged plane (which would otherwise be an unquestionable writeoff) no matter how long it takes and no matter how much inconvenience/downtime is caused to the owner.
I insure for 195k versus an MV of about 140k so could get caught by this, but then my view is that a ditching or a ground fire are the only scenarios where I will live afterwards but won't be able to pay for the repair myself 
One old boy in the insurance business once explained another scam to me, operated by a particular insurer, but I have forgotten what it was and have never heard of it elsewhere.
My own info, gathered over a decade of ownership, is that while there are some disreputable practices they are rare and on the whole aviation insurers pay out on stuff which is sometimes eye-watering as regards the degree of pilot negligence.
I agree, based on almost 23 years of group ownership, with 2 complete write-offs and 2 repairs to our aircraft in that time, as well as what I've heard. The latest write-off claim I heard about this autumn was settled very quickly.
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Any recommendation on insurance companies in particular with a good record if you need to claim. Any thoughts on Haywards.
And a more general question: if I am in European country A, can I get the minimum insurance (3rd party liability) from an insurance company or broker in country B?
Rob, I've never heard of particular problems with Hayward's. I've used Trafford's extensively and been quite happy price and performance wise. All the UK offerings seem to use the same groups of underwriters and the same loss adjusters in the event of a claim.
Jan, I believe you can obtain the insurance anywhere if they will cover to EC785/2004 minima. In practice it's difficult to get EU insurance from outside the EU, but there's plenty of competition within.
From my personal experience, the "country A / country B" problem is not about where you physically are, but rather where the aircraft is registered. My G-reg is based in Czech Republic, and only British companies agreed to insure it. Traffords gave me the lowest quote by a significant margin.
My personal experience is different in that brokers or insurers from country A can insure planes registered or located in country B without a problem. My Dutch-reg plane is located in Spain, insured through a Dutch broker in Germany (Allianz, good experience with them). Brokers in the UK or Spain also would be interested to insure my plane.
An interesting factor to take into consideration is insurance tax. Apparently, the broker/insurer needs to levy the tax rate of the country of registration of the aircraft. This can make a significant difference. Like between 6 and 21%, the latter being the new rate in Holland... You could only benefit from lower taxes by re-registering your aircaft.
