hammer “Out of interests sake I got an online quote from Flycovered – 1.5K! (this is the unlimited days flying one – and it was only 1K for a policy with 7 flying days, plus 25/day for any additional days added)”
Assuming you’re in the UK, and taking into account our current flying restrictions – isn’t that a no-brainer? Flycovered are flexible when (if) we get back to normal ops.
An insurance that rewards you for flying less. That’s a neat idea.
It is likely than one doesn’t get the same. The challenge is that (if you do not operate a major fleet) claims in aviation insurance are infrequent, highly individual and in transparent. Therefore it is quite difficult to learn from other peoples experience – and “expensive” is not always best…
The difference in premiums must be based on something, and that must be a different risk profile, possibly coupled with a different payout policy.
For example I changed from Haywards to Visicover, after about 20 years with Haywards. The Visicover application form is very detailed and they clearly are reducing their exposure profile. One pilot reported a 65 year age limit; not sure if that is current and more importantly whether they check this on each renewal!
Ultimately the big problem is that almost nobody goes public with a non-payout, or heavy haggling. This was one exception, showing a situation in Germany where under German insurance law the insurer can walk away from IMHO the majority of fatal aircraft crashes, and only “public relations” prevent them doing so.
I have claimed only once and that was a £20k prop strike in 2002. The insurer paid up instantly. The plane had just 1hr TT on it! That wasn’t Haywards but I don’t remember who it was. The loss adjuster told me they pay out every claim 100% unless there are licensing/medical irregularities.
boscomantico wrote:
An insurance that rewards you for flying less. That’s a neat idea
Not sure if it’s a good or bad thing but I am sure the concept comes from private car insurance and it does not make much sense for flying…
I wonder what is the shape of marginal risk per extra flying hour (or 100NM) for a typical private PPL pilot mission? maybe it goes steeply up then slowly down then slowly up but I guess there is a theoritical limit for SEP flying, unlike cars looking at historical weather one can’t drive 365day/year, maybe the few exceptions for cars are 3m floodings or earthquakes once in 5 years 
Is Flycovered UK only or they also insure other planes?
-edit – looks like UK only.
Most UK piston insurers do UK only.
I think this is true for most European ones too, in the piston marketplace.
Whether this correlates with pricing may be a good question.
I still think there must be good reasons for the differences in premiums, but collecting evidence to support it will be very difficult. I wonder if there is any feedback from German pilots about the insurance company mentioned here?
My N-reg Mooney based in Poland is insured through a broker in Germany.
The Q is whether you are paying more premium for this.
I pay more than I expected based on the previous owner’s rates and an EMPOA “group deal” document (which since disappeared), but I am low time and not IR rated, so I can see why.
I pay less than I was quoted by an agent in Poland.
Last I checked, the UK places didn’t insure planes based in Poland.
