The writer may be a broker, sure, but I think it's a really valid point and it opened my eyes to a possibly long running scam.
We hear of virtually no 3rd party damage caused by GA (ground "bumps" aside) but loads of passengers do get crippled or killed. There are several pilots not far from where I am based who are known to have been in accidents where a passenger lost legs, etc. I am sure we can all think of well publicised GA crashes where a passenger, or a student, got badly injured.
In the car business this is nowadays taken care of by the law requiring unlimited liability (in the UK, anyway) but in planes not so, and the pilot held responsible could get cleaned out personally post-accident. 100k covers more or less nothing...
However, according to my broker, the CSL could be used for pax.
Not what the policy said, however...
Isn't CSL by definition (Combined Single Limit) meant to cover both TPL and Passenger Liability?? The policy I am putting in place includes €5m CSL cover
I agree. The way I read it, the very low limits per passenger seem to have their roots in the ludicriously low limits of liability per passenger that airlines were historically allowed to get away with.
What this tells us is check the fine print, which applies to any insurance policy. Insurers are quite good at structuring policies such as to minimise their exposure to the most common sorts of claims, and doing it in such a way that said limitations are not immediately obvious to the insured.
I still consider it an advertorial though.
Also I notice that the UK CAA require 3m SDR coverage for War and Terrorism whereas this does not appear to be a separate requirement of EC 785/2004....do people generally have this listed as a seperate line item on their policies? (Other than the EC requirement that TPL covers war, terrorism, hijacking, acts of sabotage, etc...)
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread but I am trying to do some research on the subject of buying aircraft insurance across borders.
In answer to the query in post 2, so long as the broker has the required regulatory authorisation, there is nothing to stop them from selling a policy to a person who is resident in a different EU state. Indeed there is now a procedure called ‘passporting’ which makes it easier for a broker who has met the regulatory requirements of their home country to achieve the necessary authorisation to act in any other EEA country.
However, there are still some practical issues to overcome such as language and how to promote the service if they do not have a local presence. The internet has too a large extent overcome the latter challenge.
Given the above I would love to know:
a) Who would be prepared to buy aircraft insurance online from a broker or insurer based in another country, assuming prices were competitive enough.
b) Would you be prepared to buy such insurance if the site / documents were only available in English?
c) What would stop you being prepared to buy aircraft insurance from a foreign provider and how, if at all, could your concerns be resolved?
For the sake of transparency I would declare that I run a UK based online insurance service called Visicover and I am undertaking this research as we are considering rolling out abroad.
Any views gratefully received as posts or feel free to email me direct.
Cheers
Bob
Bob, I'll answer affirmatively to (a) and (b), and I have no concerns per (c) that I can think of, but I only buy liability insurance.
Plenty of N-reg are covered outside of the UK. I am covered by a Danish insurer and the Germans do lots.
Can you post any details of the aircraft types and the insurer(s), Jason?
It is easily established by making enquiries at e.g. the multiple insurance outfits with stands at Friedrichshafen that most light GA can't get cover directly from insurers outside the UK.
It used to be common on turboprops and jets and could well still be.
Finserve in Antwerp cover my Dutch registered flying machine. When I was offered better rates from a German broker they matched the offer.
I've never understood why this is such a hassle. All the airlines, all the busines jets in the world today obviously have some insurance that covers them wherever they are in the world, no matter what the registration is. Why can't we get that insurance?
