Paul – You said you got your insurance for the SR22, any details your willing to pass on – with who, coverage, cost, any special clauses (min requirements etc)–
Thanks,
Bernie
Yes, we just ran the binder today (thank god, finally…!)
I’ve been dealing with Skysmith Aviation (Scott Smith of Cessna Skymaster fame), with Jeanne and Susan there. The folks at Skysmith were really understanding and very cool (tried a bunch of underwriters). I think they are great, and you should definitely chat them up if you’re looking for insurance.
I tried AOPAIA and got no quote, then a horrible quote, so I switch to Skysmith.
Unfortunately, AIG wouldn’t write up a policy for me on the '22 because I had no time in make/model (well DUH!) and < 1000hrs TT, and have never owned a piston aircraft before. We tried AIG, AVEMCO, Phoenix, and a couple of others. Got a quote from one of them at $8000, and Phoenix said they’d write one if I homed the aircraft at an airport with >3000ft runway. I ended up chosing London.
London appears to be a good underwriter, but they’re obnoxious sticklers for their faxes and forms. I have never met such an anal underwriter in any industry I’ve ever worked in. The folks at Wings Aloft, Cirrus, and Skysmith all had to coordinate because London wanted instructors with 25 make/model for the Cirrus training (like there’s anyone except the test pilot with 25 m/m).
Finally we managed to negotiate them down so that Cirrus could give me the training they deserve, and Walt and I can fly the aircraft home after delivery & training (Walt’s my copilot for the trip from DLH->PAO).
My stats: 310hrs TT, Private IFR, ASEL only
Aircraft: PAO is home base, 2600ft runway, paved
I ended up with 1m/300k. They claim they’ll let me go 1m smooth after I get 50hrs in make/model. Contingent upon Cirrus factory training. The open pilot warranty for it is 1000hrs, IFR, 25 make/model, and I can’t take passengers until I have an additional 15hrs PIC time in it (I guess one way to do that would be to do: DLH->Maine->Key West->Seattle->San Diego->PAO… the plane is just too damned fast, and I need to keep it at 75% power during break-in. :-))
I paid over $5000. Ugh. 
Next year I’ll have time in make/model, probably somewhere between 400-500hrs, and there will be other '22s out there, hopefully not falling out of the sky, so I suspect that the price should drop to the high $2k’s.
Again, the folks at Skysmith were great, if you call 'em, tell 'em I plugged you here.
I paid over $5000. Ugh.
Next year I’ll have time in make/model, probably somewhere between 400-500hrs, and there will be other '22s out there, hopefully not falling out of the sky, so I suspect that the price should drop to the high $2k’s.
Yup, it’s a whole new insurance world out there, and it ain’t pretty. Even for my 260se, my insurance cost ($1M smooth, $3M excess liability, the latter thanks again to gracious help from some readers of this forum) increased 60% over last year. And that’s for 1000+ hours, IFR, several hundred hours complex and high performance, no accidents, incidents, or violations. Even flying 200+ hr/year, this amounts to an instantaneous increase of $10/hr in the cost to fly. Yikes!
Congratulations Paul on your new first-of-its-kind bird! We’re all anxious to hear early and often how you’re enjoying it.
I paid over $5000. Ugh.
That’s just the lawyer tax on airplanes.
Thanks for the info.
I had talked to USAIG at the AOPA expo – they thought the SR22 wouldn’t be out for 2 years of so. After informing them that they would be coming out within the next few months – they arranged a trip to Duluth (don’t know the outcome or even if they went through with it). They would not estimate a cost, but made the statement that they would probably treat it like a Cherokee Six (over 300 hp – their initial answer was that they did not insure planes with more than 300 hp – but then stated that they were insuring the Lancair and would insure the SR22) meaning that they would require a minimum of 500 hrs and an instrument rating. They understood that the Make and Model time was non-existent but would require a successfull completion of factory training.
Tell Walt to hang on tight – your new baby has a little extra horsepower!!!
I think a lot of us are jealous of you – not only for getting your airplane – but also for having Walt ride shotgun with you home.
Good People,
Bear with me while I vent for a moment. Every year, we read the summaries of why accidents take place, as prepared by NTSB, AOPA Air Safety Foundation and others. And every year the reasons are the same. Pilots continue to run out of gas (HOW can that BE?), fly into IMC for which they are not trained, get loaded up on ice in conditions that are (and usually WERE, by FSS) predictable, overload their aircraft on hot days, etc., etc. A relatively few problems occur for mechanical reasons or reasons beyond the direct control of the pilot. The ONLY way to reduce the high cost of insurance is via good and recurring training, education, and avoidance of the dumb. It is incumbent upon all of us to try to encourage others to stay sharp, and to say something when we see that someone is preparing to do a dumb. Even with such enhanced efforts, there will still be accidents, but we in the flying population surely can reduce the numbers by at laest 50% simply by acting each day as if we were, in fact, the insurers.
BTW, in 1999, AOPA-ASF published an excellent 15 page booklet for Volunteer Pilots which should be required reading and study for every pilot at least annually that sets forth enhanced personal minimum flight standards for each pilot with ideas for how to develop those standards. It’s available Online at the AOPA web site, FREE (at least to members). Highly recommended.
Cheers,
Pete
Yes, we just ran the binder today (thank god, finally…!)
I’ve been dealing with Skysmith Aviation (Scott Smith of Cessna Skymaster fame), with Jeanne and Susan there. The folks at Skysmith were really understanding and very cool (tried a bunch of underwriters). I think they are great, and you should definitely chat them up if you’re looking for insurance.
I tried AOPAIA and got no quote, then a horrible quote, so I switch to Skysmith.
Unfortunately, AIG wouldn’t write up a policy for me on the '22 because I had no time in make/model (well DUH!) and < 1000hrs TT, and have never owned a piston aircraft before. We tried AIG, AVEMCO, Phoenix, and a couple of others. Got a quote from one of them at $8000, and Phoenix said they’d write one if I homed the aircraft at an airport with >3000ft runway. I ended up chosing London.
London appears to be a good underwriter, but they’re obnoxious sticklers for their faxes and forms. I have never met such an anal underwriter in any industry I’ve ever worked in. The folks at Wings Aloft, Cirrus, and Skysmith all had to coordinate because London wanted instructors with 25 make/model for the Cirrus training (like there’s anyone except the test pilot with 25 m/m).
Finally we managed to negotiate them down so that Cirrus could give me the training they deserve, and Walt and I can fly the aircraft home after delivery & training (Walt’s my copilot for the trip from DLH->PAO).
My stats: 310hrs TT, Private IFR, ASEL only
Aircraft: PAO is home base, 2600ft runway, paved
I ended up with 1m/300k. They claim they’ll let me go 1m smooth after I get 50hrs in make/model. Contingent upon Cirrus factory training. The open pilot warranty for it is 1000hrs, IFR, 25 make/model, and I can’t take passengers until I have an additional 15hrs PIC time in it (I guess one way to do that would be to do: DLH->Maine->Key West->Seattle->San Diego->PAO… the plane is just too damned fast, and I need to keep it at 75% power during break-in. :-))
I paid over $5000. Ugh.
Next year I’ll have time in make/model, probably somewhere between 400-500hrs, and there will be other '22s out there, hopefully not falling out of the sky, so I suspect that the price should drop to the high $2k’s.
Again, the folks at Skysmith were great, if you call 'em, tell 'em I plugged you here.