Do you need airplane renter's insurance?

Renter's insurance has two components. The first, Liability Coverage, would deal with damage caused to passengers or other parties due to an accident. The second, Hull Coverage, would deal with payment for damage done to the airplane you rent.

At many companies that rent airplanes, your exposure to a hull loss is as high as the value of the aircraft you rent, which for a late model C172 can be well over $200,000 or for a Cirrus can be over $400,000. In addition, at many rental outlets you have no coverage to deal with your liability to passengers or third parties.

If you chose to rent from such companies, renter's insurance would be very important for you if you have an accident. Ideally, the hull coverage would be enough to cover the most expensive airplane you rent and the liability coverage as much as you can afford. The last time I looked, a renter's policy that provided $250,000 of hull coverage and a modest level of liability coverage could cost about $2,000 per year. If you fly about 100 hours per year, this would add about $20 per flight hour to the cost of renting planes for the year.

If you rent from Air Orlando, our fleet insurance policy includes significant features that reduce your exposure and that can reduce your cost of renter's insurance dramatically. First, our insurer provides you with $500,000 of liability coverage. Second, our insurer has agreed not to sue you to recover their hull losses (waived their right to subrogate) under most circumstances, which limits your hull exposure to our deductibles. Third, we have relatively low deductibles ($1,000 for a fixed gear single up to $2,500 for a retractable twin). Finally, our insurer covers the fixed costs incurred by our aircraft owners while a plane is being repaired, which reduces your exposure to loss of use claims.

If you rent from Air Orlando only, you still may decide to purchase a renter's policy. If you do, you would add to the liability coverage already provided to you under our policy and you could elect the lowest level of hull coverage offered. Doing so, will reduce the annual cost of your renter's insurance policy down to the $250 per year range or less. So, in this case your renter's insurance policy would cost $2.50 per hour if you fly 100 hours per year.

We think this is one more advantage to you of chosing to fly at Air Orlando.