Sooty25 wrote:Jodelman wrote:gyrotyro wrote:Traffords.
Make sure you get a proper level of passenger liability cover.
Define proper, how on earth as a lowly numpty are we supposed to predict the level required?
Hi Sooty,
The fact Jodelman referred specifically to 'passenger liability' might relate to an issue around how the regulatory insurance minimums work.
As background, for most GA owners the key insurance requirements specified in the regs relate to their potential liabilities to 'Third Parties' (essentially people outside the aircraft) and Passengers, arising from the operation of the aircraft. There are different minimum requirements for these two types of risk, so for example, a 2 seater aircraft with an MTOW of 600KG which is not used for commercial purposes, might have a minimum requirement for Third Party Liability cover of approx £1.6 million but only require £110,000 cover per Passenger. This differential is perhaps a little perverse given that if an aircraft comes down, the risk of seriously injuring a passenger is somewhat greater than the risk of injuring a third party!
Some aircraft policies work on the basis of just meeting these 'split' minimums. The issue with these is that they provide a relatively low level of protection for the passenger, given the potential settlements that may arise from an injury or fatality. This not only increases the risk of the passenger not being compensated in the event that an award exceeds the cover limit, it also means the owner's assets are exposed as the owner would be expected to make good the difference.
One way to mitigate this is to ensure you your liability cover is on a 'Combined Single Limit' basis. In the above scenario you would simply arrange liability cover of approx £1.71 million, with this then being the maximum amount that the policy would pay out in total for a third party or passenger liability claim or a combination of the two. As you can see, it provides a far higher level of protection for the passenger, and hence also the wealth of owner. Indeed, because of this, we will only arrange cover on a Combined Single Limit basis and would suggest owners are aware what is the basis of cover under their policies.
Of course there is also the question of whether simply meeting the minimum requirement is enough. I have posted on this a few times before so will not bore you anymore on this subject.
I hope the above is of help but happy to deal with any queries either via the thread or PM / email.
Cheers
Bob
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