PPower05

Hey guys,
Just had a quick question regarding the insurance portion of AMA... I will start by saying that Iam no longer a member of the AMA, simply because I no longer belong to a club (just got back into the hobby, and am only flying parkflyers as of now)... Has anyone actually had to use the insurance that AMA provides?? Ihave never heard of anyone doing this.... If so, do they back up what they insure, or are they just like every other insurance company ("we cover this, but not that?").... Well??

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

I know of several instances over the past few years that AMA insurance has covered incidents at our club. One personal injury and the other a crash into a members windshield.

mongo

My Feedback: (15)

no personal experience with claims, but, most of the anecdotal information i have is that the ins is good.

Rafael23cc

My Feedback: (6)

My father is an Insurance Adjuster. He is the person that comes out to see the damages to the property. He is also the one that authorizes the payment. No insurance company is out there to loose money. But they are also there to provide a good service or they loose customers.

Having said that, we have the best guidance possible when compared to other insurance services. The Safety Code. If you follow that document to the letter, NOBODY will deny your claim. If anybody can prove that you slipped anywhere in the Safety Code guidelines, you are SOL.

Now, you do know that the AMA insurance is secondary to any insurance that you might have right?

Rafael

crash99

My Feedback: (3)

Red,

I know this is off topic, what type of aircraft was it?

Crash99

iflyj3

My Feedback: (7)

I belonged to the AMA before they offered insurance. There are several reasons that you should belong in addition to the insurance. For example, the AMA has been active in frequency allocations. The agent between you and the ever controlling government, etc, etc. They are active every day to protect our right to fly model airplanes.

I would still belong even without the insurance.

I have belonged to the EAA since 1975 and I get no insurance from them. However, they support private aviation for me like the AMA does for models.

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

A glider being launched from a winch. Winch was being powered from the battery of the car it hit. Winch operator (car owner) thought he would give the newbie a thrill and floored the winch.

bcovish

My Feedback: (8)

One thing should be pointed out here. AMA insurance is secondary with your homeowners insurance being primary.

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

An old freind filed a claim back in the late 80's or early 90's. He did receive a payment. He was not flying at an AMA club. He was an AMA member. He did have homeowners insurance. I can't remember what the claim was about. (It might have been related to a hand injury.)

Tarasdad

AMA insurance is secondary, true - unless you don't have homeowner's (or other insurance with similar coverage) at which time it becomes primary.

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

Still no one with first hand experience?

Kurt

mongo

My Feedback: (15)

well boz. that could be considered a good thing. that our hobby is over a safe one and doesn't generate a lot of claims. if none of the 50 or so folks that regularly use this forum do not have any first hand experience to relate. some of us have over 40 years in.

ira d

I agree

Hossfly

Now Mr. Kurt, for a measly $58.00 Yankee Green, per year, you get an additional 2.5 million dollar Liability Policy over other personal Liability you may have. If you want proof, simply go out and run your airplane into someone's private property or person. Then YOU will soon have proof and "....first hand experience." [8D]

Do you have to stand in front of a .44 Magnum to satisfy your need of proof that it can do damage to mess up your day? I will be satisfied without that kind of experience or "proof". I take AMA's word on this one.

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

Whoa Hossfly,

Relax...I just asked a question. I joined in 1979 and even wrote a column for Model Aviation for over three years so I'm ok without the AMA sales pitch. I think the point of the original post was to hear from those who have actually seen the insurance in action. I have only seen it used once in 1991. None of the responses seemed to be from anyone with first hand experience. Mine isn't either. My friend's suburban wheel and tire were damaged by a crash while parked at a flying field in Lubbock. He was quite happy with the process/outcome but still wanted out of Lubbock. I do not know of any other experiences.

Regarding firearms, my family is quite active in sporting clays but we don't need to buy additional insurance to shoot at the clubs.

Kurt

Almost forgot: Merry Christmas!

s3nfo

My Feedback: (14)

OK, first hand experience. In the late 80's I was at a meeting on the North Island Naval Air Station and had planned on going flying afterward. While at the meeting someone broke into the back of my truck by breaking the latches off the shell door and stole an Aurora pattern plane and Airtronics Vision radio. With a copy of the police report, AMA insurance covered the loss of the airplane and the damage to my truck minus my auto coverage deductable.

KidEpoxy

Could you define your term "auto coverage deductable".
Is that what AMA has as the deductible for the ama theft insurance,
or is that something from your (Allstate/Geico/etc) automobile policy? And if it is from your car insurance, why are they applying their deductible to what AMA is paying for (ama theft coverage has its own deductible)... I would figure the car insurance dedctible is uded when the car insurance pays for somethig: Did the car insurance pay for something and apply their deductible to their paying?



hmm, doing just a quick grab of a somewhat dated document, newer info may differ:

acdii

I think what he is saying is that instead of having to file 2 claims, one for the plane and one for the truck, they took the deductible from the auto insurance for the truck repairs as a separate line item.  This way he would have had the same OOP expense had he had to file a second claim with his auto insurance for the truck damages.

KidEpoxy

the way you frame it, if I understand you correctly,
the AMA insurance (with its $100 deducible)
decided to DoubleDeduct him by choosing to apply a second deductible (the 'auto coverage deductible') to a singe events costs/coverage


Praytell, in the way you framed it,
if I have auto insurance with a $1000 deductible,
the AMA insurance would pay it all,
upto the $1000 AMA theft/vandal coverage limit,
minus the $1000 'auto coverage deductible',
AND less another $100 AMA theft/vandal deductible,
... meaning I would get $0 from AMA, $0 from my car insurance cause 'ama insurance paid it', and have to pay a $100 AMA deductible to get that zero?????

I have heard folks say they have used other insurances and then AMA paid that deductible left as a remaining unpaid loss.
What I am now hearing is AMA DoubleDeducts by not 'covering' some kind of virtual deductible that the other insurer didnt get to apply because the other insurer wasnt used?????

Thats why I was hoping to get HIM to explain just what he meant in his post,
cause the DoubleDeducting dont sound like something AMA would do, yet thats what it sounds like happened from what we read here... hence the request to clear up his choice of phrasing/terms

rolliedog12

My Feedback: (3)

PPower I like the question. I too have been asking members of clubs if they have any personal experience using the AMA insurance. I get the same reponse, "My sister cousins friend used the insurance back in the late 80's." I have never had anyone tell me of first hand knowledge of their experience using the insurance. I'm begining to think they should start their stories with "once upon a time".
Now I have witnessed several people being injured at the field, two come to mind, both got cut by propellers. One used his personal insurance, the other was going to use the AMA insurance but the deductable at that time was $750. I'm not here to bash the AMA, I have been a member since 2000. Our club requires it. But I question the insurance validity. I also understand that the AMA does other things to help this hobby. I'm just not for sure if the insurance they offer is worth anything.

Silent-AV8R

On average (according to documents available in the member's only area of the AMA web site) there are about 100 or so claims every year. 100 out of 140,000 or so members. 0.07% So it is no surprise that most of you have never come across someone who has filed a claim.

Hossfly

rolliedog12, when the AMA insurance comes up, I, and probably others with long-time AMA background , like at least 30 years or so, most likely have first thoughts of the LIABILITY INSURAANCE. All the other programs are really very trivial.

The personal liability is a great thing for both, (1.) those of us that carry our own commercial personal liability, and (2) those of you that don't do such, or at best, just a Home Owner's minimum policy. It means that when you are among fellow AMA members you know they can assist your loss should they injure YOU. They can feel more secure because they know you have the same ability to assist them. Mature individuals with basic economic understanding know this. Therefore only a small number of members debate the subject.

AMA's personal injury and theft items are simply just tidbits not really worth considering.

littlecrankshaf

My Feedback: (58)

Hoss is right. Mandatory AMA members liability portion is a great communal asset. Especially helpful when people in the AMA modeling community are less than responsible for themselve’s by refusing to buy insurance that they might need to cover themselves otherwise. Sorta like what Obama has implemented now...good for the community...err...country. Everyone pays...so everyone is covered...well something like that.

BTW I am looking for a buyer of the Brooklyn Bride...any takers?

KidEpoxy

is that what folks are saying about the incident discussed in [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10566505/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm]Lawsuit filed against AMA[/link].
Cause from what folks said there, it seems less of a ~Lets Pay the person we hit with a toy play~ and more of a ~Lets lynch the person we hit with a toy plane~.

So, I dont think we can just say outright that folks can 'know' ama insurance will be there if a member hurts them,
especially considering the way Ilona said flights allowed at AMA club fields by AMA members
that MIGHT BE considered commercial (by ??)
cannot rely on AMA insurance.

So again, it dont look like we can just flatly say folks can know the pilot next to them will have AMA insurance take care of them,
from both AMA(&members) not wanting to pay, and from not knowing if some other AMA member flying at an AMA club has AMA insurance for what he's doing

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

Well we know one thing, if you are flying with AMA #859881, his AMA membership expired on 12/31/2011 and we can flatly say you would NOT be covered.