Geeting Around Company Policy - Part 2

[Iain Wilson]

I posted a while back about finding a way around my company's policy of not
allowing employees to fly private aircraft to places of business.
Someone suggested getting my own insurance and having the company named on
the policy. I pursued that and here's what happened:

I checked out AOPAIA and they offer coverage up to $1,000,000 for liability.
Adding my company as named insured cost an extra $50/yr and with $10,000 a/c
damage coverage the total cost per year for renters insurance was $465. Not
bad at all I thought and the cost would be recouped from the reduced flying
cost (Aircraft Rental - Airline Ticket or mileage cost)
The cost breakdown is as follows
Liability - $240
Damage - $175
Additional Insured - $50

Interesting that the $10,000 damage is pretty close to the $1,000,000
liability. I'm sure that the insurance companies have run the numbers here
and worked out that the chances of a pilot getting sued for a mil are about
the same as incurring $10k damage...

So I proposed this to my company but no go. They said they need at least
$3,000,000 liability coverage. <sigh>
Back to AOPAIA I went but they don't offer coverage over $1,000,000 and
suggested I get blanket coverage from somewhere. So I tried PICLife.
$3,000,000 coverage costs $3,930/yr with a 10 year policy!!!

Over $1,000,000 must be a magic number in the insurance world. Anyway, the
$4,000 breaks the bank for me, back to the drawing board.

Iain

[Gary Drescher]

"Iain Wilson" > wrote in message
ink.net...
> Interesting that the $10,000 damage is pretty close to the $1,000,000
> liability. I'm sure that the insurance companies have run the numbers here
> and worked out that the chances of a pilot getting sued for a mil are
about
> the same as incurring $10k damage...

If the chances were equal, then $1M liability coverage would cost 100 times
as much as $10K damage coverage. If the costs are about the same, then
incurring $10K damage should be about 100 times as likely as incurring $1M
liability.

--Gary

[Robert M. Gary]

I"m in the same boat, my company would never allow me to fly. $1M
policy wouldn't even pay for their large legal staff. I assume only
people who work for very small companies are able to use the $1M
policy to encourage the use of flying themselves. Most companies seem
to want at least $10M. When you are talking about companies that have
more than $100M in stock issued, $1M doesn't sound like much.

-Robert



"Iain Wilson" > wrote in message et>...
> I posted a while back about finding a way around my company's policy of not
> allowing employees to fly private aircraft to places of business.
> Someone suggested getting my own insurance and having the company named on
> the policy. I pursued that and here's what happened:
>
> I checked out AOPAIA and they offer coverage up to $1,000,000 for liability.
> Adding my company as named insured cost an extra $50/yr and with $10,000 a/c
> damage coverage the total cost per year for renters insurance was $465. Not
> bad at all I thought and the cost would be recouped from the reduced flying
> cost (Aircraft Rental - Airline Ticket or mileage cost)
> The cost breakdown is as follows
> Liability - $240
> Damage - $175
> Additional Insured - $50
>
> Interesting that the $10,000 damage is pretty close to the $1,000,000
> liability. I'm sure that the insurance companies have run the numbers here
> and worked out that the chances of a pilot getting sued for a mil are about
> the same as incurring $10k damage...
>
> So I proposed this to my company but no go. They said they need at least
> $3,000,000 liability coverage. <sigh>
> Back to AOPAIA I went but they don't offer coverage over $1,000,000 and
> suggested I get blanket coverage from somewhere. So I tried PICLife.
> $3,000,000 coverage costs $3,930/yr with a 10 year policy!!!
>
> Over $1,000,000 must be a magic number in the insurance world. Anyway, the
> $4,000 breaks the bank for me, back to the drawing board.
>
> Iain

[Marty Shapiro]

(Robert M. Gary) wrote in
om:

> I"m in the same boat, my company would never allow me to fly. $1M
> policy wouldn't even pay for their large legal staff. I assume only
> people who work for very small companies are able to use the $1M
> policy to encourage the use of flying themselves. Most companies seem
> to want at least $10M. When you are talking about companies that have
> more than $100M in stock issued, $1M doesn't sound like much.
>
> -Robert
>
>


Size of the company is not always the answer. It depends to a great extent
on the attitude of the top executive. When T.J. Watson Jr. was alive, even
after he had stepped down as Chairman and was only Chairman Emeritus, IBM
had a very liberal policy regarding the use of private aircraft on company
business. That all changed after he died.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)

[G.R. Patterson III]

Marty Shapiro wrote:
>
> Size of the company is not always the answer.

True. My former employer allowed people to fly private aircraft on business. They
simply wouldn't reimburse you for doing so. Insurance was not a factor. I was told
that this was the result of an early executive attempting to obtain compensation for
his entire loaded cost (hangar rent, maintenance, etc.). The year before I left, the
company employed over 8,000 people.

George Patterson
None of us is as dumb as all of us.

[Marty Shapiro]

"G.R. Patterson III" > wrote in
:

>
>
> Marty Shapiro wrote:
>>
>> Size of the company is not always the answer.
>
> True. My former employer allowed people to fly private aircraft on
> business. They simply wouldn't reimburse you for doing so. Insurance
> was not a factor. I was told that this was the result of an early
> executive attempting to obtain compensation for his entire loaded cost
> (hangar rent, maintenance, etc.). The year before I left, the company
> employed over 8,000 people.
>
> George Patterson
> None of us is as dumb as all of us.
>

If my memory isn't too faulty, at the time IBM reimbursed the higher of a)
automobile mileage OR b) unrestricted coach air fare. They also reimbursed
tie down & landing fees.

Marty

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)

[Robert M. Gary]

Marty Shapiro > wrote in message >...
> If my memory isn't too faulty, at the time IBM reimbursed the higher of a)
> automobile mileage OR b) unrestricted coach air fare. They also reimbursed
> tie down & landing fees.
>
> Marty


The company also needs to have a semi-knowledgable accounting
department. You are required by the IRS to prove to the company that
you spent all your reimbursement on your travel, otherwise they need
to add it to your W-2 taxes (as compensation). You must be able to
document your costs. Simply saying it costs more than a coach fare is
probably not enough. Cars are a very special exception because the IRS
granted everyone the 30.9c (or whatever today) per mile without you
having to show all your costs associated with your car. It may be
cheaper to rent a Bonanza than to fly your own Mooney since a rental
receipt for costs is pretty black and white.

-Robert

[Continental Bill]

"Iain Wilson" > wrote in message et>...
> I posted a while back about finding a way around my company's policy of not
> allowing employees to fly private aircraft to places of business.
> Someone suggested getting my own insurance and having the company named on
> the policy. I pursued that and here's what happened:
>
> I checked out AOPAIA and they offer coverage up to $1,000,000 for liability.
> Adding my company as named insured cost an extra $50/yr and with $10,000 a/c
> damage coverage the total cost per year for renters insurance was $465. Not
> bad at all I thought and the cost would be recouped from the reduced flying
> cost (Aircraft Rental - Airline Ticket or mileage cost)
> The cost breakdown is as follows
> Liability - $240
> Damage - $175
> Additional Insured - $50
>
> Interesting that the $10,000 damage is pretty close to the $1,000,000
> liability. I'm sure that the insurance companies have run the numbers here
> and worked out that the chances of a pilot getting sued for a mil are about
> the same as incurring $10k damage...
>
> So I proposed this to my company but no go. They said they need at least
> $3,000,000 liability coverage. <sigh>
> Back to AOPAIA I went but they don't offer coverage over $1,000,000 and
> suggested I get blanket coverage from somewhere. So I tried PICLife.
> $3,000,000 coverage costs $3,930/yr with a 10 year policy!!!
>
> Over $1,000,000 must be a magic number in the insurance world. Anyway, the
> $4,000 breaks the bank for me, back to the drawing board.
>
> Iain

A company I used to work for had a policy of NO private aircraft for
business trips, period.

I flew anyway.

On one trip to Chicago I ran into the company CEO at the job site. He
asked how I traveled to the site and I told him "I flew my airplane".
He was real curious about time savings and costs and stuff like that.
It was just me and him in the room. He never said anything about it
being against company policy.

Then the company CFO walked in and the flying talk immediately ceased.
After awhile the CEO left the room and the CFO ran the same line of
questions at me. When the CEO came back all talk of flying stopped.

I had the distinct impression that neither officer wanted to talk
about it in front of the other and it was kind of a "wink wink" thing
for me to be flying myself around on company business. Plausible
deniability for them I suppose.

Just my experience with the subject.

BillC