Hypothetically speaking, if a person put Bushwheels on his plane, and occasionally swapped back to his 8.0's, but then crashed the plane while the Bushwheels were installed, is there anything keeping him from doing a swap back to the 8.0's prior to the insurance co taking the plane away? I know that you could not do this with avionics, but in many flying operations wheels are not a permanent installation, they're swapped regularly. Thoughts?

I'm by no means an expert but that's insurance fraud, would you propose to do this from a hospital bed or the grave?

It should be pretty clearly spelled out in the policy, but you might ask the adjuster. If they are totaling the plane, I wouldn't think the tires are going to make a lot of difference when they go auction it off. They might let you swap them out, or sell them back to you for less than they are worth.

Hope everyone is hypothetically OK.

I agree with Scolopax, talk to the adjuster. In auto insurance some adjusters will let you swap aftermarket wheels for stock ones if you total you vehicle and some won't. Seems like it would be the same deal on a airplane.

Been there done that. Asked the adjuster if we could swap out. He said no way and didn't even stutter. In AK in 2001, might be different now or somewhere else.

Glidergeek wrote:I'm by no means an expert but that's insurance fraud, would you propose to do this from a hospital bed or the grave?

Nobody is in a hospital bed or grave, not that I'm totally sure where that comes in...

I whole heartedly disagree about the fraud, which is why I was willing to put this on a public forum. The plane had 8.00's on it when it was insured, and when the BW's were put on it the first time, the policy was not adjusted for value since the idea was ( and the reality has been) that the wheels were swapped back and forth. I was posting to see if anyone had first hand knowledge of the process, and thanks to those who have, and replied.

Pundy wrote:I whole heartedly disagree about the fraud, which is why I was willing to put this on a public forum. The plane had 8.00's on it when it was insured, and when the BW's were put on it the first time, the policy was not adjusted for value since the idea was ( and the reality has been) that the wheels were swapped back and forth. I was posting to see if anyone had first hand knowledge of the process, and thanks to those who have, and replied.

The only right answer is to call your insurer and ask the question. That said, I've just reviewed my policy and the equipment on the plane isn't in any way listed. The hull value is. So if I go out and put a 30K avionics upgrade into the plane and don't adjust the hull value, then that's on me. After the wreck I don't get to take the avionics out of the plane and put them in my new one unless I buy them from the insurance company (which I have done on a previous occasion). Otherwise the plane belongs to the insurance company as it sits. I don't see any reason why wheels would be any different.

Pundy wrote:

Glidergeek wrote:I'm by no means an expert but that's insurance fraud, would you propose to do this from a hospital bed or the grave?

Nobody is in a hospital bed or grave, not that I'm totally sure where that comes in...

I whole heartedly disagree about the fraud, which is why I was willing to put this on a public forum. The plane had 8.00's on it when it was insured, and when the BW's were put on it the first time, the policy was not adjusted for value since the idea was ( and the reality has been) that the wheels were swapped back and forth. I was posting to see if anyone had first hand knowledge of the process, and thanks to those who have, and replied.

That came from my cynical sarcastic side if you had crashed your plane and hurt or killed yourself you'd have a tough time changing tires. If you crashed with the tires on and changed them before you got a blessing from your adjuster that would be fraud. Myself I'm always honest with my insurance companies and I comulatively pay over a a quarter million on premiums.

The other way to ask this question is from the adjusters side...if you purchased the aircraft for an agreed price having Bushwheels on it and when you picked it up the wheels had been changed to 8.00, how would you react?

There is actually a deeper answer to this question. Insurance policies are written on a agreed value basis meaning that if the aircraft is totaled you will be given a check for the amount shown on the policy minus the applicable deductible. Having said that, insure it for a value that would represent it with the Bushwheels on it and that way, even if if it gets totaled with the 8.00's on it you will be compensated for the agreed amount with the Bushwheels and still have your spare set of Bushwheels instead of losing the tires and receiving a check for the lesser agreed value determined with the smaller tires. The difference in premium adjusted for the higher value of the tires will be negligible.

Here is another caveat...most policies allow for an automatic value increase up to X% of the agreed value for upgrades or improvements made to the aircraft since the effective date of the policy. It could be argued that the Bushwheels were an upgraded item from the agreed value stated on the policy...assuming the agreed value did not include the Bushwheels. If you listed them on the application as an upgrade or modification then it would be hard to argue that they were no included as part of the agreed value.

Unless you total your plane in your backyard, like I did, it would be a bit hard to swap anything on the plane. Everything on the plane is in the logbook. It would look funny to have a mechanic take all the cool stuff out of the plane and log it the day of the total. Any mechanics on this forum that would put their name in a logbook under those circumstances.

I had my backseat out of the plane and the insurance company wanted it. I didn't so I put up no argument.

Tim