Insurance

Need a builder's insurance policy? Most homeowner's or renter's insurance policies definitely don't cover those large chunks of aluminum in your garage (at least not to the best of my knowledge). I had heard about builder's risk policies that will cover the aircraft under construction and even reimburse you for time you spend building it. I didn't have any builder's insurance until I started on the wings, but had I known the deal earlier I would have gotten it right at square one.

There's really only one insurance guy out there that I trust completely. Send email to JT Helms at NationAir. JT is the most helpful insurance guy I've ever dealt with. I do all of my business with him by email (believe it or not), and he usually responds within minutes. Very helpful, knowledgeable guy. JT even monitors the rv-list@matronics.com, so you can post public insurance questions, and you can search the archives for his many helpful responses.

For what it's worth, I pay about $400/year for my builder's risk policy. It's a "not in motion" policy that has a sliding premium that is based on value at any given moment in time...since the plane is evolving. Based on receipts, invoices, and your builder's log the value goes up as you proceed. It covers damage, theft, fire, etc. and reimburses me $15 for every hour I log building the plane. Don't hold me, JT, or anybody else to these numbers, but I figured I'd provide a ballpark for reference. A builder's risk insurance policy is relatively inexpensive for what you get...if somebody broke into your garage and trashed your plane, would you be able to justify having spent $33/mo? I think so!

UPDATE: March 19, 2004
I'm converting my builder's risk policy to a full-boat in-motion policy as of March 27, 2004. All it took was a phone call to NationAir to pull the trigger -- I got my quotes and played number games in email with JT Helms. Gotta love being able to do your insurance crap via email! Anyway, after playing around with the numbers, the ideal setup for me is:

Since I financed a large portion of the plane, I am required by the bank to carry full coverage. I could have gone with a much lower hull value to cover only the balance on the loan, but because of the games you play with the rate brackets, $75k seems like a good middle-ground figure. The plane is worth more than that, but I don't live with the assumption that the plane will be totalled. I may lower the hull value over time (as I continue to play around with paying off the plane with home equity...go real estate in CA!), but this is the way it'll be for a while, at least.

Once I have more tailwheel time (150 or 200, I forget the exact milestone), the premium will drop some more.

UPDATE: May 10, 2005
Policy renewal time. Phoenix ducked out of the RV insurance business, and we're left with the choice of AIG or EAA. Pretty much everybody I know had their premium go up this year as a result of losing Phoenix. I worked with Aaron Wedge from NationAir on the renewal, and he gave me some quotes. I bumped my hull value up, since I added and upgraded my autopilot, etc. I have accrued a buttload of "time in type" and thus tailwheel time, which in light of all of the premium increases has given me a measurable decrease. It's actually cheaper this year for me, despite a cheaper deductible, higher hull value, and more expensive coverage. Pilot experience has surely seemed to help, although the economics of spending thousands on flight time to save a few bucks on insurance makes no sense...I did enjoy the flying, though! Anyway, here's the skinny on the new policy:

UPDATE: May, 2006
Renewed with AIG through NationAir. Same price as last year. Actually, it went up one dollar to $1578.

UPDATE: May, 2007
Renewed with AIG through NationAir. $1579.

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Dan Checkoway ()