TopThumbs

I have been a AMA member off and on for the last 19+ years. at the moment i'm off but me and the oldest boy (12) will be back on in short order - he is FULL ON HOOKED!!!
I was also a LHS owner through the 80's and 90's who was responsible for hundreds of new members during my tenure and I have never, never heard of a claim for fire, vandalism or theft much less a liability claim.

I am very curious to hear your story of your claim, successfull or not.
I want to hear about the process you had to go through
was it a painless experience?
Did you have to jump through hoops?
how much did you / did you NOT recover if your loss was fire / vandalism / or theft.
how long did it take? and was it worth it?
etc etc.

I'd also like to ask if your homeowners covered your loss and the process you had to go through with that. please include your underwriters name.

I dont want to hear your opinions, rants, or ravings.
I dont want to hear gripes unless it was specific to your experience of the claim process.
I dont want to hear your friend had a claim... Your story MUST be from your actual first hand experiences.
I dont want to hear arguments or "AMA is great/awefull" opinions

Please just factual stories of YOUR experience with your AMA claim.
let's see if you kiddies can follow simple directions and hold your opinionated tongues. If you can't, let your true colors fly

Please dont let this thread turn into another gripe session with useless bantering.

I am seriously interested here and I think others will be also.

What I will learn from the thread is two fold.
homeowners insurance companies that are RC friendly
and what to expect if/when I ever have an AMA claim.
I'd also like to think that the AMA powers that be read these threads and might learn something.

Bill

STLPilot

My Feedback: (21)

Simple directions?

TopThumbs

and so it begins [:@]

STLPilot

My Feedback: (21)

Sorry, difficult directions. Can you provide us with some kind of form?

All in good fun. Good luck with you mission!

TopThumbs

nope but this forum is in fact labeled AMA discussions which implies discussions pertaining to AMA, hence my question.

I am a bit more serious in this thread than most as this is a bonified question. if my experience in this forum had not been tainted by the flatualnces of previous threads I might not have been so specific in my directions for participating in this thread.

I do not wish this thread to spin of into discorse as other threads about the AMA.
I'll quote you in another thread.

"funny but he didn't exactly post a question or concern, his original post was nothing more then a direct and sarcastic flame. had it been a question or concern, then perhaps we could have had a discussion regarding it. maybe next time. "

The topic of this thread has a spicific "question or concern" so I hope it meets the the respect it deserves and continues with the "discussions regarding it"

now, can we please get on topic here and quit wasting bandwidth.

Bill

ps. I enjoy having fun more then the next guy but knowing when and where appropriate is of great inspiration to most.

STLPilot

My Feedback: (21)

How how does quoting me from another thread in line with this discussion?

ravill

My Feedback: (11)

I'v heard of the only claims to the AMA was for prop plane related problems. I know its only hearsay, but we'll see what it produces.

Raf

model.flyer

That is absolutely false. The AMA just paid off a claim on the kid that got killed on his motorcycle in NM. It may have been the largest settlement ever paid by the AMA. Over 50% of the dollar amounts of all AMA claims involve non flying accidents, that is, trip and fall accidents, Almost all of those are generated by clubs.

Details on all the claims, whether paid by homeowners or AMA, are going to be extremely difficult to come by. Part of the settlements in most of those cases involve nondisclosure agreements. Don’t expect too many people to step up and give details in violation of that type of agreement.

LANNYBOB

a friend of mine had a claim back in 2001 his name was john, his electric gws went haywire (because its an electric) and slammed into a vehicle parked at the field. he called ama and they told him to have that person call their insurance co. to handle the damage to his vehicle. and as for any future crashes and damage, that your home owners insurance is primary coverage and if any medical assistance is required because you got hurt, you had better have medical insurance through your current employer. good-bye

Silent-AV8R

I urge everyone to download these documants and immerse themselves in facts, rather than the baseless "stories" told by others. The original post asked for first hand experiences, not "I heard about a buddy of a friend of mine who..".


http://www.modelaircraft.org/PDF-files/500-D.pdf

http://www.modelaircraft.org/PDF-files/500-N.pdf

http://www.modelaircraft.org/PDF-files/500-A.pdf

carwood444

Does the Casey Rowe incident ring any bells from 2 1/2 years ago. AMA has been fighting that claim tooth and nail. It still is not settled. I have never hear of anyone that had a claim settled with AMA. Let me clairify. I have never heard of AMA ever paying any money out to anyone. I am grouping AMA with thier insurance carrier all as one group.

Personally I would like to hear of a few people that have really collected anything from AMA. One last thought hear this is not an AMA bashing. I really would like to know if anything more than just a few dollars has been paid.

STLPilot

My Feedback: (21)

Model.flyer made the most obvious point about a non-disclosure and he's 100% right about it. The original poster will never get the answer he's looking for. He should have just asked if anyone has had problems acquiring money from the AMA for a claim, which I do not recall ever seeing in this forum other then "someone's friend". Seems like those documents spell out all the information he needs to see. As long as you are within the limits of the AMA's codes and limits, then you will be fine, afterall it's a contract we sign with the AMA when we you get your card. I'm sure this forum would be the first place someone would come to rant and rave if he/she was having problems with a claim. Is it worth $58 to find out if it's not worth it? Plus you get a great magazine!

Silent-AV8R

This is from document 500-N above:

Since 1999, AMA and its insurance company have paid out over $4,000,000,
mostly to settle injury claims. In addition, recent serious injury cases that are in
litigation have "reserves" (estimates) for future payments in excess of
$2,000,000.


So somebody is getting paid.
It is unlikely that we will ever get precise details on a case by case basis. As previously noted, these are usually held confidential as a stipulation of the settlement.

I am not familiar with the "Casey Rowe" incident. Can you share some details??

TopThumbs

hmm, not so sure about non-disclosure clauses after the fact. I have been involved in a major lawsuit in which I won a settlement of 750,000. I sued medical malpractice against the airforce Acadamy / United States of America. never once was I asked to not disclose the information about such things AFTER all was said and done.

I have had many auto insurance claims and one homeowners claim, same story there.

I dont think someone has to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the AMA just to have a theft claim covered or a hospital bill paid.

I'm not assuming every claim goes through litigation. Are you? I am sure some are simple claims for fire, theft ect... these also interest me.

The PDF's are very enlightening, however I would like to hear form real people with real stories about real dollars.

Bill

STLPilot

My Feedback: (21)

Casey is one of the most respectful persons that I know on the face of this earth and a good friend. I can tell you right now Casey would not want to open another can of worms revolving his incident. He is doing what he needs to do to survive and if you respect Casey you'll just drop it. There are plenty of threads you can sift through instead of pulling this particular case back into the spotlight. Afterall this is what the original poster wanted isn't it? Casey is an active poster in this forum and if you want to get first hand knowledge, give him a pm or a phone call.

As far as what your looking for TopThumbs, you're not the first one to ask this question, it's been asked many times before and the same thing happens every single time ... a friend of a friend of a friend said. It will happen again no matter how much you try to control it. It's obvious people are getting paid, plain and simple. Nobody is ranting about not getting paid, or very rarely. Looks like, once again, the AMA is doing their job.

LANNYBOB

what if the ama insurance company's lost all their money on the stock market tomorrow?

STLPilot

My Feedback: (21)

The gubment write laws to make sure that insurance companies and banks keeps more in cash and equity reserves then in investments. Thanks to simple statistics insurance companies are well protected against going out of business. Plus insurnace companies are also protected by other insurance companies. Plus it's not like the AMA dumps millions into insurance, they could always switch providers easily and am sure they have those redundant channels in place. Insurance companies like to have more business.

LANNYBOB

i see its all about money and more money and no care for those who give you the money like us with our memberships since 1936.

abel_pranger

Hey Dion-

Why don't you call Carl Maroney and clue him in? I'm sure he will appreciate input like this from someone with your expertise.

Abel

Silent-AV8R

First, I did not bring it up. I only asked about the name. I did some research and now have the name associated with incident. The post before mine made reference to how AMA is fighting tooth and nail in the case. This is one example where until all the dust has settled it is silly to waste time talking about. Based on the statement I assume it is in litigation, and that is something we need let run its course without undue speculation.

model.flyer

Another of STL’s logical and reasonable sounding posts that flies in the face of fact.

What was it? Three years ago, when the AMA could not get a quote for insurance? Panic was on the horizon. The EC put in place a captive “just in case” (something Hossfly still whines about incessantly, even though it has since been disbanded.). The AMA was considering self insuring, not to save money, but because there appeared to be no other choice. The amount of the self insurance would likely have dropped to $1 mil from the established $2.5 mil. Efforts were made to secure insurance from anyone.

Two days before the existing policy was to terminate, Carl Maroney wrote an e-mail to all the EC members. It said simply: “We have a quote”.

Once again, STL has shown his absolute lack of knowledge of things AMA.

TopThumbs

I find it interesting I am told what I wont get before the thread gets a chance to get going.
I'm told this question has been asked over and over but the same thing always happens... yadda yadda yadda...
but following strl's threads and the forums he tends to post in in the AMA area he is right... the threat turns to bashing, AMA is great, mindless bantering etc etc. exactly what I asked to NOT happen in my thread. guess what... stl was the first to chime in with mindless banter... [:@]

WTH is wrong with asking simple questions around here. Seems I also asked about homeowners insurance.

Seems stl has nothing valuable to offer in this thread I wish he would simply read and learn instead of bruising the eye of AMA by constantly trolling the AMA threads with "AMA is great"
all this occomplishes, IMHO (in my humble opinion) is showing potential members what left wingers current AMA members CAN be - there are exceptions to every rule try and remember that when forming judgments based on what you read in these forums. AMA IS a decent organizations, I agree, and fly thier colors proudly. I never once said it wasnt - attempts to cloud valuable threads with bantering so real people are afraid to post for fear of bashing has a long history, it's called trolling.

please, if you insist on interjecting your uneducated slanted biased opinion go to another thread that is already destroyed.
sheesh so simple

in the meantime i'll, from this point on, refrain from responding to anything off topic.

I'm sorry I have fallen into the same trap as other threads. I won't get sucked in (again) - sorry.

I implore those that dont have experience in the original questions to refrain from posting.

can we please get back onto topic?

back to topic=true

Bill


ps.
Phaedrus-MMVI

[off topic]

I love your Signature (I think)...

LANNYBOB

Funny, seems I heard that one before... oh yeah - it's what my wife says to me all the time LMAO (It's not the end of the world, I can see it from here)

LANNYBOB

hey top thumbs do you like my signature? be honest

STLPilot

My Feedback: (21)

So what your saying is they got another quote, right? You don't think they learned from this mistake and don't have a back up plan if it happens again? Also the person stated that the insurance company might go under due to failing stocks?? Thanks for you vast knowledge on the subject. Whether it be the 3rd hour or 3 weeks before, the AMA still got their provider. Looking at the AMA's track record, it doesn't look like they've put a lot of pressure on the insurance companies over the years, might not last forever, but has not happened up until now.

model.flyer

Once again, you show you have no idea what you post about. The AMA has, in the past, been forced to self-insure when no other insurance was available. Many older members will remember those times. It can be verified in the archives of Model Aviation Magazine.

You make too many assumptions based on thin air.