Over the last couple years I've had to do some minor upgrades to a couple engine instruments, JPI and EI, and right now the airplane is up at Willy's place for Wing X. I'm curious what people have been doing as far as adjusting their agreed amount in their insurance policies for expensive modifications.

I understand that usually you're not getting 100% of your cost back in the value of the airplane, but obviously something will have to be reflected in the hull value.

TIA

I added $12,500 to my coverage with no questions asked.

I did a bunch of upgrades in my 170 and had them increase the value by 15k. Just sent them a list of the new items and they said I was good to go.

Avemco doubled my hull on my 170B after I provided some basic documentation. Price wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it would be.

The yearly renewal form always includes a question about upgrades, but they adjusted mine in the middle of a policy term with no hassle.

I bumped the value of my 180 by $5K at the first renewal, to reflect some value-adding upgrades I'd done. No problem, they want to know/verify the insured value every year anyway. It might even be a good idea to bump the value up a bit every year or two anyway, due to inflation driving up the cost of a suitable replacement.

You don't want to be under-insured if you have a mishap-- I've known some people who were, and it was more cost-effective for the insurance company to total the airplane out, pay them off, then sell the salvage for a goodly amount of money to someone.

I've never heard of an insurance company balking at paying out the insured value, but I have heard of them refusing to insure an airplane for what they figured was too high a value. I never understood that-- if the customer is willing to pay the premium to insure the thing at whatever value, they should provide the coverage. Maybe they figure it's an "insurance job"waiting to happen?

I recently bumped the hull on my insurance from $70K to $120K by making a spreadsheet listing retail plus labor for the mods and engine, starting with the base for my make, model, TT, and SMOH. Vref lists what standard avionics is worth, and your equip can be used to adjust the base price for your A/C. My understanding is that mods can be adjusted to 40-60% of retail plus install labor. Fortunately, I have A&P so my labor cost was only sweat and I used my hours x $80/ hr for the labor cost and applied 50% devaluation. I sent the spreadsheet and a cover letter into the insurance company, and they bought off on it.

Insurance company had no problem with the cost of the mod's and labor. Just bumped it 30% with no questions asked.

You could also get a "certified" appraisal. I know of a few cases insurance wanted one. It has been super Cubs in all cases where there seems to be a pretty large price range.

Bumping this thread with a question or two for the group.

How do you all value things like STC approvals? Case in point: I am putting a low time IO520 into the airplane under P-Ponk STC. I don't consider the engine itself much of a value add since it's just a stock engine (low time 470 vs 520 are about the same), but the STC/DER approvals to install it cost a bit. Can I include the value of those "paper mods" in insurance value? My instinct says yes, since they are tied to the airframe and let me legally upgrade things even though they aren't a tangible part by themselves, but I don't really know how insurance looks at something like this.

I'm trying to place an appropriate insurance value on my airplane now that I'm nearing the finish line. Right now I'm at a bit over Vref (basically the limit of what they'll OK without additional documentation) and still a fair bit below what I'd want to get in a total loss scenario. It sounds like even justifiable labor costs could be factored in, leaving me to wonder -- what can't I reasonably include in the hull valuation?

At renewal, BWI asked no questions when I bumped my 180 from 75k to 95k. They don't give a shit, they just look for the best deals for that insured value on that airframe. Vref was $65k.

Interesting. AOPA sounded like they'd go along with it but would require some documentation to justify it. Vref for a stock 1957 182A is pretty far off of what my plane would actually be worth on the market due to the mods, so I think they get curious when those two numbers don't line up. I'm not sure the broker matters as much since the underwriter is insurer-specific, but I wonder if BWI or AOPA have the same results in this aspect.

I’ve been insuring with AVEMCO for years, and my planes are always insured for more than a stock model, because they are modified. I estimate the value of the plane with the mod (s), and run it by them. My numbers are reasonable, and they’ve never balked.

Remember, the purpose of insurance is to cover your loss. To me, that means the payout on a total plus deductible should permit me to get back into a “comparable” plane.

Don’t be shy on stated value. If the insurer doesn’t like your number, they’ll let you know. But an under insured plane is a bad idea.

MTV

Thanks for the insight, this is all great info.