Potential Insurance Lesson

[KSMooniac]

Not sure if this happened to anyone on the boards or not, but it is the first time I've noticed something like this... it appears an E owner had a simple prop strike with no other airframe damage and the insurance company totaled the airplane!  Unbelievable.  Make sure you have an appropriate stated value in your policies!  I can't believe the cost of a new (or even used) prop and a tear-down inspection could do this, but maybe the market is that bad today.

 

http://www.aviationls.com/sitecore/content/Salvage_Repository/N625MT_Mooney_M20E.aspx

 

 

[Mooneymite]

Bad news:  Repair/replacement costs are going up, aircraft values are not keeping up.  I suspect we'll see more of this as the Mooney fleet ages.

 

Good news:  spare parts will be plentiful.

[N601RX]

My plane was totaled a few years ago because the engine was stolen off it. The prop and exhaust was left behind. It was still owned by the original owner who had paid $17000 for it in 67. Other than new engines and avionics every 15 years or so he never really upgraded it any. I'm not sure what it was insured for at the time, but it could not have been a lot. The insurance company sold the airframe for $22,000 in 2001. I'm guessing they didn't loose very much on it.

[Rhumbline]

Bad news:  Repair/replacement costs are going up, aircraft values are not keeping up.  I suspect we'll see more of this as the Mooney fleet ages.

 

Good news:  spare parts will be plentiful.

 

...and all things being equal, I suspect that 2020 will substantially boost the inventory of available airframes and parts. 

[KSMooniac]

That could unfortunately be the case, unless the Part 23 relaxation gets implemented soon and allows much cheaper solutions to bureaucracy-imposed problems.

[hindsight2020]

That could unfortunately be the case, unless the Part 23 relaxation gets implemented soon and allows much cheaper solutions to bureaucracy-imposed problems.

 

I doubt very many people would sell their aircraft, assuming they can afford to maintain them in the first place, because of an ADS-B remote box that's likely to be cheaper in 2020 than it is today. Now I suppose if that came with the strings of installing a WAAS GPS as a pre-requisite then yeah I see people walking away. From my understanding the mandate can be met by a blind  WAAS receiver as part of the ADS-B unit, an all-in-one solution which is likely to be prevalent in 2020 if not today, negating the need and cost of a outright WAAS GPS unit installation.

 

I'm still somewhat surprised by the prop strike totaling the aircraft absent major airframe damage. a non-ad prop is about 8-10K installed and the teardown is all labor. A mooney E should be insured for 35-40K+ all things being equal. Even 80% of that is near 30K. My understanding is that the insurance doesn't fix your bent engine bits, so that cost doesn't go into the equation. The rest would have to be airframe damage. Didn't see pictures of that on the link. Who knows, the guy could have had a really low insured value. 30K prop replacement and engine teardown with no bent airframe? That doesn't sound right even for "certified" maintenance money.

[AndyFromCB]

I doubt very many people would sell their aircraft, assuming they can afford to maintain them in the first place, because of an ADS-B remote box that's likely to be cheaper in 2020 than it is today. Now I suppose if that came with the strings of installing a WAAS GPS as a pre-requisite then yeah I see people walking away. From my understanding the mandate can be met by a blind  WAAS receiver as part of the ADS-B unit, an all-in-one solution which is likely to be prevalent in 2020 if not today, negating the need and cost of a outright WAAS GPS unit installation.

 

I'm still somewhat surprised by the prop strike totaling the aircraft absent major airframe damage. a non-ad prop is about 8-10K installed and the teardown is all labor. A mooney E should be insured for 35-40K+ all things being equal. Even 80% of that is near 30K. My understanding is that the insurance doesn't fix your bent engine bits, so that cost doesn't go into the equation. The rest would have to be airframe damage. Didn't see pictures of that on the link. Who knows, the guy could have had a really low insured value. 30K prop replacement and engine teardown with no bent airframe? That doesn't sound right even for "certified" maintenance money.

 

$4K for R&R, $6K for prop, $10K for engine, there is $20K. And yes, insurance does fix your bent engine bits... 

[carusoam]

O3...

15k prop

35k engine

10k R&R

60k total

Just surmising what it would cost if the ground were to strike the prop....

Best regards,

-a-

[markejackson02]

I sadly learned this the hard way.  I had a 1967 M20C I had spent a lot of time upgrading.  It had the cowl closure, GPS, Aspen, etc. etc.  But it had 1700 hrs on the engine which ran fine.  The blue book with the mods was about 45K.  Gear up landing practicing for the commercial.

 

The estimate to fix it was 33K.  Included a new prop at 9K, engine teardown, new belly skin, replaced stringers in the belly, work on the flaps, etc.  

 

The 33K included only 8K for an engine teardown.  If they found it needed anything other than the teardown the insurance company was on the hook for it, so they decided to total the plane.

 

Sort of difficult since it would have been hard to insure it for what it meant to me, which was more than the plane was worth.