Well after 35 years of flying RC I have finally been involved in a property damage accident. My model went unresponsive on take off and crashed into a fellow club members hatchback. I don't know the procedure for filing a claim with AMA and I'm getting nowhere on the phone. I've left messages on their voice mail but no one has returned my calls. Can any one here on RCU be of help here. Just want to file a claim with my AMA insurance.

AMA insurance is SECONDARY. you must file first on your Homeowners or liability.

Have your safety officer go to the members only section and file an incident report.

Or goto: http://www.modelaircraft.org/askama/

Or Email Ilona Maine: [email protected]

Insurance Safety Coordinator
• Insurance Claims
• Insurance Questions

Follow the steps, the plan does work. I believe that I requested the claim paperwork and it was mailed to me within a few days. I believe Ilona helped me straighten my claim out. The AMA insurance is secondary, but since everyone who has a primary has a deductible, the AMA insurance can basically pay the deductible on the primary.

It does work...

Jeff

System works fine. Had a claim and it was settled in a few days. No problems

That HiPo 1/2a engine a little too much for ya there?

?

Well as hard as it is to believe I do fly other models than 1/2A's.
This one was powered by a OS 70 Surpass. It did about 3 grand damage to the 2008 Toyota that it crashed into. Not a pretty sight. See photos below.
I think an update is in order here. I followed goliathman's advice and e-mail Iiona Maine at AMA. She responded in less than 24 hours with all the stuff I needed. She also returned my call that I had placed to ask if she wanted photos included with paperwork. I've filed the claim and now we'll see how it takes to get the damaged vehicle fixed.
One more thing that came as a surprise to me. There is a $250.00 deductible on claims. I can see why this is the case to eliminate frivolous claims but it did come as a surprise.
When I find out more i'll post it here as it seems only fair.

Just an update on the AMA claim that started this thread.
The process is complete as of yesterday Aug 13th. All went well and no problems were encountered. The only complaint I have with the process, and I've mentioned this before is the $250.00 deductible that I knew nothing about before this.
I've been an AMA member for many, many years and had never heard of this. Now don't get me wrong here, I have no problem with the deductible per say, just the lack of general knowledge on the subject.
Does anyone here know about this in advance?
I think not but let's hear what others have to say on the subject.

The knowledge of the deductible is kinda out there,
if we assume all AMA members read the AMA Membership Manual, we can assume all members have been told.
However, most just pay and fly... its a hobby, not study hall after all.

Did you have any HomeOwners or other liability insurance?

No, I had no other insurance. I think this may have been part of the reason that the claim was handled in such a prompt fashion. There was no dispute about who was paying for what. I'm responsible for $250.00 and AMA is responsible for the rest. (About $1700.00)

Well, I hate to break the news to you but on the piece of paper that your membership card comes attached to every single year there is the Safety Code on one side and the Insurance Summary on the other side, complete with the deductible clearly spelled out. It also has the link and document info on the AMA web site to get even more info.

The same information is also in the Membership Manual published every year.

I am not sure what else can be done to make it more obvious.

But I am glad to hear that the situation worked as advertised for you. And deductible or not, it still beats paying the full freight!!

http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/500-j.pdf

http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/500-a.pdf

http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/memanual.pdf

Gee, I'm sorry. Didn't mean for anyone to get their panties in a knot. Chill out.

Mike
yeah, I was thinking the same thing

Thats just him, always putting his 99 cents worth in.....
He doesn't know how to do it in a nicer way.

Sorry you took it in a bad way. Just trying to get the info across with a minimum of fuss.

Right. The fellow said he had never seen or heard about the deductible and wondered where the information was communicated. I showed at least 3 sources. I forgot to put a smiley face on it. But then you make a snarky remark about my post not being done nicely. [&:]

I'm sorry then, I'll give you 97 cents credit on your account..

Amazing....a thread as simple as this one gets all blown up....

Rewind the tape and see where it happens, see where the thread heads south.....pretty typical, huh?

Mike, sorry to hear about the accident, glad to hear all will be back to normal.......but next time before posting here make sure you have all the rules and regulations memorized backwards and forwards.

He asked a question, or at least indicated that he was unaware of something. SO I am the bad guy for providing the links to the info? Or is it the snide carping remarks of the "Usual suspects"? No, couldn't be.

Here is his post talking about the deductible:

Mike-

Heck, I knew all about the deductible, but I'm fuzzy on some other details of liability insurance, especially as to insurance provided by and contracted for by AMA. Seein' as how you have prompted an insurance expert to comment on your story, maybe I can get some education too.

Hypothetical incident: When charging some LiPo batteries in my detached shop/garage, I fumble-fingered and selected NiMH instead of LiPo. The ensuing fire spread quickly to neighbors' properties, and the destruction to houses etc. added up to $3,800,000 and change.
Am I covered? Here's a breakdown of liability in order of who-pays-what as I see it, with question marks where I don't know.

1. $250 paid out of my pocket (deductible on AMA insurance)
2. $5000 paid by AMA from operating funds (covers $5K HO insurance deductible)
3. $300,000 paid by HO provider for my primary residence (or split between multiple HO and landlord policies?)
4. $1,000,000 paid by my PUP provider
5. $245,000 paid by AMA from operating funds
6. $1,000,000 (or $250,000?) paid by Westchester liability policy
7. $1,500,000 (or $0?) paid by Westchester excess liability insurance policy

Question marks:

Item 3. - an exercise for me to determine if liability coverage of several landlord policies overlaps HO

Item 6. and 7, - not clear what total coverage is if the liability arises from a fire. Basic policy from Westchester has limit on that of $250K. No declarations page for excess policy, nothing gleaned from quick scan of policy.

Probably all made crystal clear by AMA documentation made available to me, but can somebody help me find it?

Abel

Abel, well I hate to break the news to you, but it's all right there on your AMA card. You will need to split the card open with a jeweler's saw and you will need an electron microscope to read the verbage, but it's all right there.

Thanks for taking the time to give an update. Some real good info there. Seems AMA did a good job taking care of their end of the costs.

Hey Mike .. sorry about the plane , good on you for keeping your AMA up to date and glad no one was hurt .

in the pics it looks as if the only damage is to the hatchback ? nothing else ?

i ask because 3k is awful steep for a hatch .. they usually run about 1300 painted for most Toyota's

and don't worry about the trolls , they don't have anything better to do .

Dan

About post # 11.