Insurance During Building?

Hi All!

Soon I will add some expensive parts to continue building my RV10. What is the best type of insurance to get to cover the cost of parts in case of fire, theft, or damage?

Van's website says homeowners insurance will not cover the parts. I still need to check on my personal policy.

What are others doing to protect their investment?

I did a builders risk policy through USAA who I believe uses Starr Insurance. Do a search for builders risk, lots of info out here on VAF.

Ground not in motion

I suggest you look into a policy called Ground Not In Motion. So, if it is in a hangar and the hangar blows over, you are covered. If your hangar catches on fire and as a result all the hangars catch on fire, your stuff is covered. Your hangar neighbors might be covered if you have liability insurance on top of that.

I could not get just ground in motion, my policy had to have the liability insurance as well, due to the example stated above, and similar scenarios.

Ground not in motion

I suggest you look into a policy called Ground Not In Motion. So, if it is in a hangar and the hangar blows over, you are covered. If your hangar catches on fire and as a result all the hangars catch on fire, your stuff is covered. Your hangar neighbors might be covered if you have liability insurance on top of that.

I could not get just ground in motion, my policy had to have the liability insurance as well, due to the example stated above, and similar scenarios.

I called our friendly Arthur Gallagher people and got a builders insurance policy. Cost me about 250 bucks for a year. It covered all of my parts whether they were at my house, at a hangar, in a storage unit, or in transit.

I have USAA on everything, when I spoke with them, they were very certain that any type of airplane parts or even tools, were NOT covered, and suggested I contact aircraft insurance companies for the "builders insurance" I was seeking.

Gallagher Ins

Ditto on Gallagher for me

Yeah, call Shanna Linton at Gallagher - advertiser here on VAF. She/they are great!

Thanks!! I will check that out...I am building at home. I will also try the other search options.

Thanks!

Mine is actually insured by Global Aerospace. I still got it through USAA, just call them up. It shows up online under My USAA, so makes it pretty easy. You just name the value you want covered, pretty quick and simple. Very comprehensive.

I purchased builders insurance since I now am located at Livermore but that is neither here nor there in your case. I think you could just have an addition to your homeowners policy to cover your kit parts and tools. I previously had additions for some special expensive equipment that I had. Talk to your agent. They will probably just want specifics of the expensive items.

Close call...

We are building our airplanes in the work hangar, which is a large metal insulated building big enough for about half a dozen assembled airplanes. It's a dream workshop, really. Well anyway, yesterday we had a big downpour thunderstorm, and all of a sudden we hear this PLOP PLOP CRUNCH... as a 2 x 4 foot section of insulation gave out right above my work station and several pounds of waterlogged fiberglass insulation slammed onto my finished canopy, which was sitting on top of my 6 foot tall wire rack parts shelf! It didn't fall off the shelf, but it was knocked crooked. Ben (the hero) raced over there to take the canopy down off the shelf before it fell off. There was wet insulation and water everywhere and I had a lot of cleanup to do, but no damage that I can see. And the canopy protected all my engine parts on the lower shelves of the rack. Apparently the gutters were clogged on the building and water seeped up under the roofing into the insulation during the downpour.

The moral of the story, besides the fact that my little plane is a severe weather magnet, is that even if your workshop is sturdy and insulated and seemingly "bulletproof," project insurance is a good idea. I have mine through Falcon Insurance and Bob Mackey and he's been great to work with. Insurance just takes the edge off of the stress factor in times like this and all the times the plane has traveled cross-country in a trailer for job changes. (Your mileage should vary. )