Bad news for our flying club

Paul Tomblin wrote:
The other flying club on our field has just been told by Avemco that they
won't insure Piper Lances and other large complex planes for flying clubs
any more. Since we've got a Lance as well, we're trying to get a
confirmation from Avemco. If true, this is a big blow.

I wonder if they'd insure a Cherokee 6?

A true shame.

Avemco was once the most respected name in aviation insurance. I heard
wonderful stories about how claims were processed practically before
they were filed, and in "borderline" scenarios, they still took care of
their customers. They also insured higher risks at what I'll call a
"reasonable" rate. That kind of service was once worth the premimum
they charged.

However, I lost faith in Avemco when they dropped out of the
experimental market several years ago (and yes, this was WELL before
9/11 so don't believe the hype). Then I heard they started dropping
lots of safely operated light twins. And then most tailwheels. Now
it's Lance's or whatever else their actuaries feel will cost them a few
pennies more to insure. If this keeps up, they'll only be insuring
Cessna 150's with 5000 hour ATP-rated pilots.

While insurance companies make a business out of covering acceptable
risk, and spreading out the costs such that slightly higher risks get
affordable coverage, Avemco seems to be in the business of covering only
extremely low risk parties and charging double the market rate for that
coverage. That's opposed to the way I was told it's supposed to work
from an underwriting perspective. Lowest risk should (more or less)
equal lowest cost.

Do yourself and the industry a favor and tell Avemco to screw the pooch.
There are plenty of good insurance brokers and underwriters to deal
with. Our local broker just renewed us at about 7% lower than last year
with the same underwriter. We now pay $950 / yr for the 172 insured to
$60K hull (slightly below market value -- our choice, not theirs) and
$1M smooth. Of course, we SHOULD pay less, what with two 1000 hr+
commercial pilots and a CFI on the policy. When we left Avemco many
years ago, they were charging $1200/yr - same pilots, far less coverage.

I hope market forces teach Avemco a lesson and force them out of
business - assuming they don't decline to renew coverage on their
remaining customers and do it themselves.

-Doug

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Doug Vetter, CFIMEIA

http://www.dvcfi.com
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