Insured hull value
I am in the process of renewing the insurance for my 1968 Cessna 182. I previously had $95,000 hull insurance, since that was about what I thought I could sell it for. Early this year I put the plane on the market at $105,000, and then steadily dropped the price until I got offers.
I didn’t get anything firm until $80,000, and had settled on a price with a buyer pending his inspection at $77,500. At this point, my girlfriend intervened and bought into the plane 50 percent to keep it in the family (we use it a lot to avoid the ferry lines to Seattle), so I took it off the market.
But I told AssuredPartners Aerospace to insure it for $75,000 since that’s about what it will sell for. The insurer refuses to insure it for less than $95,000. If I’d gotten an offer that high, I would have sold it. What gives—why won’t they insure for a lesser amount?
I noticed the policy has an appreciation clause, where they’ll up the payout for a totaled aircraft if the market value increases. That may be what’s spooking them. However, their market value algorithm doesn’t seem to be very accurate. This is a 182 with 1800 hours on the engine, 7000 on the airframe, an interior you could charitably describe as “utilitarian,” original paint and dated avionics.
I could have gotten $105,000 during the hottest part of the market during the early pandemic, but now $80,000 seems top dollar.
As Aviation Consumer has explained in insurance market articles, insuring the hull for more than its $75,000 market value could result in $90,000 of repairs on a plane nobody wanted—undamaged—at $80,000. Then I would be lucky to get $50,000 when I sell it. Am I missing something here?
—David Chulijian, Port Townsend, Washington
This is an interesting and important discussion. We asked a couple of well-seasoned insurance pros who sort of reminded us of the hyperinflation that’s been going on in the used GA airplane market. One broker said that insurers see that values have gone up so much, they feel many aircraft models have a so-called minimum value. Another said most insurers use valuation guides for setting the hull value, and the numbers swing in either direction based on upgrades and engine and airframe times. We think valuation guides tend to lag what’s actually going on in the market, especially with major component prices increasing steadily still.
A quick scan of the market revealed a few mid-1960 Skylane models listed around Aircraft Bluebook’s suggested typical retail price of $123,000. Again, we’re cautious that this data is lagging. Plus, just because an airplane is listed for Bluebook doesn’t mean someone will pay it, as you learned trying to move your Skylane.
We’d like to hear from others with recent market experience, and we’ll put together a market report for an upcoming issue.
Lobbying for unleaded avgas
Thanks for your excellent reporting on G100UL unleaded avgas. Please keep it up. The aviation community needs to know what’s going on with this issue.
For a long time I have been trying to get AOPA to lobby for a legislative solution to this problem. In 10 years, the only real progress the FAA has made is to come up with a new acronym—EAGLE (Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions). EAGLE will make GA lead-free by 2030. That’s another eight years! PAFI has become EAGLE. Maybe we can bring back the acronym WIN (Whip Inflation Now) from 1974. Here’s a plan to succeed by 2025:
- Verify that George Braly’s G100UL works as well as he says it does.
- Pass legislation to mandate the replacement of 100LL with G100UL.
- Give the EAGLE funding to GAMI to pay for a universal license for all aircraft.
- Offer federal incentives to the gasoline companies to start production.
- Give George Braly the Presidential Medal of Freedom for freeing our children from the dangers of lead emissions in the air.
The legislative approach worked for BasicMed when the FAA dragged its feet for years. Congress wants to pass something to prove it’s not dysfunctional, and eliminating lead from avgas would certainly qualify.
—Brian Kemerer, via email
