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Builder Insurance (Cost and Underwriter)

PhatRV

Well Known Member
Hello all ,

I have purchased all of the expensive equipment needed to complete my RV8 project. All of them sit inside my garage waiting to be installed in the airplane. My house is insured through AAA but a quick call confirms that AAA home insurance will not cover the airplane while it is being constructed inside by house. If anything happens to the house, the +$90K airplane, engine, and avionics are not covered.

I am looking to get a builder's insurance for the duration of about 12 months until the plane is moved to the airport for final assembly. There are a couple of questions I would like to ask:

1. What is the premium/year I expect to pay for the builder's insurance?
2. What underwriter or insurance company you do recommend?

Thanks,
Phat
 
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I have a 100K builders policy set up through Leah at Gallagher. They post on here all the time. It was a bit higher this year at $673. It also covers the plane when you are moving it say from the house to the hanger, or even towing the plane from the hanger to the gas pumps. I had just quized them on that one, whether or not that would count as in motion and she said it doesn't fall under in motion until the plane is moving under it's own power.

Lynn
 
Definitely contact Leah at Gallagher.

My builders risk coverage was $604/yr for $75K for complete RV7 project (w/ engine and avionics) at final assembly stage just before moving to the airport in April.
 
I have a 100K builders policy set up through Leah at Gallagher. They post on here all the time. It was a bit higher this year at $673. It also covers the plane when you are moving it say from the house to the hanger, or even towing the plane from the hanger to the gas pumps. I had just quized them on that one, whether or not that would count as in motion and she said it doesn't fall under in motion until the plane is moving under it's own power.

Lynn

FYI when I was building, if my memory serves me correctly, Ground in motion coverage was only like $50 more than the builders risk policy.

Once the engine is ready to start and thus able to move on it's own power it's not a bad idea to just move up to Ground in motion coverage; especially if the price delta is still minuscule.
 
Phat -

I too purchased a builders insurance policy when the move was made to a hangar at the airport. I wanted my RV-12 parts & tools covered along with coverage should a fire, etc. starting in my hangar cause damage to another hangar. The cost of my builders insurance was in line with what others have reported.

One caution: I incorrectly assumed my builders insurance policy would stay in effect until the aircraft had its airworthiness certificate and was ready to fly. NOT SO!! I discovered when shopping for insurance for my completed RV-12 that my builder policy was null and void the moment the airplane was capable of moving under its own power. This came as quite a shock to me and negated doing any ground runs, trips to the compass rose, taxi testing or brake conditioning.

The standard aircraft insurance policy I purchased required 5 hours of instruction in a RV-12 before I would be covered in my RV-12 ... so I needed to immediately fly out of town for a few days to get some dual instruction time in another RV-12 before I was covered.

So check your builder policy closely and also find out what the requirements will be for the insurer you will likely go with for your standard insurance policy ... and meet those requirements in advance. Don't find yourself getting caught in a no insurance doughnut hole as I did ... having a completed aircraft with two paid in full insurance policies and still being uninsured.

Happy building,
 
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The prices indicated above seem about right to me, as they run about 0.725% of value. My $200,000 builders all risk policy for my RV-10 was $1450 in Aug. 2019 and included $1 million liability and physical damage all risks not in motion. I got my policy through the EAA's insurance agency Falcon Insurance.

I had Falcon insurance switch me to a standard flying policy early this year, just before I did my first engine start. I had already completed my transition training by that time.
 
Thanks to everyone for the replies. I have a ball park cost number of the premium. Gallagher and Falcon Insurance are the two companies I should ask for quotes. I should also ask the broker about coverage for first engine start before it gets the airworthiness certificate.

Phat
 
Thanks to everyone for the replies. I have a ball park cost number of the premium. Gallagher and Falcon Insurance are the two companies I should ask for quotes.

Phat

Please don’t do that.
Gallagher and Falcon are not insurance companies. They are brokers, the middle men. Some actual insurance companies have a policy of only issuing one quote, to the first broker that asks. So when you read, ‘Agency X got me a quote that was $500 less than agency B’, it’s often because the cheapest actual insurance company gave a quote to X, and then refused to do twice the work to give the same quote to B, so B’s best price was from a more expensive company. You wasted B’s time, they’ll be unhappy and not really want to deal with you again.
Choose one agency or broker based on their service, including their reputation for giving good advice. Then ask them if there is any reason not to go with the cheapest quote (sometimes there is). I use Gallagher and am happy (in the past they have given me some good advice to not go with the cheapest company), but I have heard only positive things about Falcon, too.
If you want a second quote call/email Avemco. They are the only aviation insurance company that is a direct writer, e.g., they do not use brokers. In the past I have found them absurdly over-priced, but maybe they’ve changed.
 
I agree with Bob - Just pick either Gallagher or Falcon and ask only one of them for a quote. I went with Falcon since they are EAA's sponsored agency, and I have been very happy with them. I went with them first for insurance on my Grumman Traveler, as the policy they found be was about 40% of the price that Avemco was charging me!

Cheers,
Dave M
 
I called falcon in March when my kit was delivered to ask about a quote. Still waiting to hear back from them....
 
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