"Kevin Chandler" wrote
My question is.... how many hours of multi-engine time are insurance
companies looking for before they would sell you a policy for your own twin?
If this is not to outragous, then I will probably get my ME rating and then
rent a twin to build hours before my purchase.

A guy on my home field just recently bought a Twin Comanche. He has
less than 300 TT, no instrument rating, and no multi time. He got
insurance.

1) He paid a lot to get it - I think about $7000 for the first year.
2) He will have to get his multi/instrument and 25 hours in make and
model to solo it.

When I bought my Twin Comanche, I had about 700 hours and an
instrument rating. No multi time, and less than 1 hour of retract
time. I paid almost $4000 for the first year of insurance. I also
had to get my multi/instrument and 20 hours in make and model to solo
it.

In my opinion, getting a multi rating in a rental twin and building
hours before you buy just so you can get cheaper insurance simply
doesn't make sense. The twin you want to buy probably won't be
available for rent. Owner flown twins are either going to be quick
and efficient (Twin Comanche, TravelAir), load haulers (Aztec), or big
and fast (C-310, Baron). There are only a handful for rent, and
they're expensive, and usually there is a total time requirement just
to take dual in them. Rental twins are mostly slow and docile -
Apache, Duchess, Seminole. Your insurance company is going to require
20+ hours in make and model even if you go in having 25 hours in
something else and a multi rating. You might save a little money, but
not enough to pay for rental and instructor getting those 25 hours and
a rating. Also, if you own your own twin, you can most likely get a
much better grade of instruction than the FBO will offer.

The hot tip, IMO, is buy your twin and train in it.

Michael