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How do my hours effect my insurance rates?

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:43 pm
by acensor
I have about 500 hours in about 5 years (how long I've had my license), and my LSA coowner has about half that.
Last year I flew only 44 hours, he only about 20.

Since the number of hours we fly per year IS one thing we have some direct control of, I've always been interested in if and how number of hours per year, and total hours, effects our rates and if (as with auto insurance) there are some cut-off points).
For example, might my quoted rate go up if I exceeded 100 hours in the last 12 months when I get a re-quote in August?

I can see how low hours or high hours could by underwriting be considered increasing the risk.
For example if someone's only flying 4 hours a year they're getting rusty or maybe even getting too old to be flying safely.
And it's pretty obvious that if I fly 2000 hours a year the probability of getting into an incident that will cost the insurer money is greater than if I fly only 50.
And how about TOTAL hours? How does that effect my rates?

I've never been able to get a straight, or ANY answers really, to those questions from my agent or anywhere else.
This is practical info, not just curiosity, because, as I say, if I discovered that hitting a total of, say, 800 hours would reduce my rates that gives me some incentive to fly more.
On the other hand, if crossing the line to more than, say, 100 hours per year increases my rate, and it's near my policy renewal and I'm up to 95 hours I would make a point of not crossing the line before applying for renewal.

Re: How do my hours effect my insurance rates?

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 5:34 pm
by designrs
Insurance will be based on the lowest time pilot in the group. I don't think that there is a magic number of hours, as long as you have reasonable time and currency. The key to getting a good rate is to shop around. Some insurance companies (think pilot organizations that sell insurance) tend to quote high and will only come down if they know that you are shopping around.

Re: How do my hours effect my insurance rates?

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 12:16 am
by acensor
"Insurance will be based on the lowest time pilot in the group...."

So my co owner having only , say, 200 hours while I have 500 is actually costing us more for our policy than if he had 500 ?

Re: How do my hours effect my insurance rates?

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 6:19 am
by designrs
acensor wrote:So my co owner having only , say, 200 hours while I have 500 is actually costing us more for our policy than if he had 500 ?
Best guess from personal experience, I don't think 200 hours vs. 500 hours makes a huge difference. A competitive rate for a +/- 325 hour Sport Pilot with a $100k+ aircraft is about $1,300 a year for insurance. Ask your agent AFTER getting your best quote. Let's see if we get a few others commenting here.

Re: How do my hours effect my insurance rates?

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 11:41 am
by MrMorden
My rates have marched steadily downward as my hours increase, but not by much. I have probably 500hrs total time. My first year of ownership I had 50-60hrs total and my rates was $1450. My third year renewal was for $1285. So it's come down about 10% in three years and 450hours.

Re: How do my hours effect my insurance rates?

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:07 pm
by acensor
FWIW....We (me and my co-owner) pay about $500 per year for just liabilty.
(We used to carry hull coverage.. No longer).

BTW: My original squawk still stands....that I have never been able to get a straight answer...or any really...from an agent as to how our total or last 12 month's hours effect our rates. :roll:
These answers are easy to get from my auto insurers.
For example, they'll tell me that if I drive more than X miles per year or more than Y miles there are cost thresholds exactly at those points.

Re: How do my hours effect my insurance rates?

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 12:25 am
by drseti
Mine is closer to $5k/yr, for 105k hull and a megabuck liability. But, that's a commercial policy. Solo student pilots really run up the insurance bill!