GA Renter's Insurance in Australia

[alex79]

Hi

I was going through some rental documents the other day and I noticed that the insurance excess that I would have to pay is 'not negligible' ;) So I searched for renter's insurance in Australia, but all i can find is for the US o A. The only Australian product was loss of licence, but that not what I want.

Any thoughts ? Experiences ?


Thanks!

[Ilikeflying]

It's funny, if you are privately hiring, there is an excess, yet if you are hiring from your flying school, or flying commercially, there isn't.

If I was an owner I would just build into my rate extra to pay for the lower excess and take the risk on board myself.

[Squawk7700]

Slightly off-topic, however I used to rent from a place that didn't have their aircraft insured at all. They made you sign up on your first flight (pretty much the TIF) that you'd be up for about $3,500 if you damaged the aircraft. It was thier own pseudo-insurance policy really. Perhaps your mob is doing something similar. They said insurance was simply too expensive and most of their incidents were of a low dollar value. The aircraft were around $50k-$60k in value.

[gerry111]

Whilst learning to fly Piper Warriors around Western Sydney (in 1983) I don't remember anyone talking about insurance...

[no_one]

Search "non owned aircraft insurance Australia" in Google and a few links will come up with what you are looking for.

[Clare Prop]

I've never seen the term "not negligible" but perhaps the small print is so small that I can't read it.

A standard policy for simple four seaters would have all pilots as approved by the insured (hence check rides) with an excess of 1% of insured hull value with hirers liable for the excess. Adding individuals or other companies for cross hire as "insured" is no extra cost, just letting your broker know.

No need to take out your own insurance if this sort of cover is provided, you can only claim on one policy anyway.

[andrewr]

My understanding is that renters insurance in the USA covers the renter for damage to the aircraft, if the insurance company tries to recover the cost from them. The aircraft insurance is for the benefit of the owner. The insurance company will pay the owner, but retain the right to try to recover the cost from other parties at fault i.e. the pilot.

I haven't heard of a similar thing in Australia, but have always wondered whether I was being naive or whether insurance companies are nicer in Australia and don't chase the renter.

[IFEZ]

Depends whether any 'blame' can be attributed to the pilot. I was told very early on in my training that the minute the aircraft suffers an engine failure, it belongs to the insurance company. Any mid-air collision or other serious non-survivable event (whether proven to be your fault or not) renders excess payments superfluous! Other events like putting it through a fence because you stuffed up your P chart calculations, or ran off the runway trying to land your C172 in 25kts X-wind I'm sure would attract the attention of everyone, including the insurance company.

[IFEZ]

Footnote :- Obviously if the engine failure was caused by running yourself out of fuel, then that's a different story..!