Insurance - don't believe the first broker you call

I wound up inheriting a student. Older guy (in his 50's) who had
taken lessons on and off, and finally finished. Brand new private
pilot, well over 100 hours at checkride. And he went out and bought a
Bonanza. And not a little one, either - a 1970's A-36 six-seater.
His CFI at the local FBO knew he was out of his depth and brought me
in.

So this guy is trying to get insurance. Less than 200 TT. No complex
time, no high performance time, no instrument rating. He got with an
agecy that was recommended. Was told $10,000+ if they could insure
him at all. In the end he was told they couldn't insure him at all
(couldn't find coverage), at any price, not even to take dual. Come
back when you have 250+TT and 25+ retract. Meanwhile they wrote the
airplane with me as the (only) named pilot - since the plane was far
away and would need to be brought home.

I hear stories like that here all the time - could not get insured at
any price. I simply don't believe it. Well, this time it was my
issue, so I started making phone calls.

It wasn't quick and easy. I made quite a few phone calls. But a week
later, my student told the agecy to go **** up a rope. He was covered
in the airplane. The insurance company wanted me to make 3 takeoffs
and landings in the airplane by myself (since I did not have time in
that particular model of Bonanza) before I instructed him in it (but
they would cover that as well - they simply named me as a pilot) and
they wanted him to get 25 hours dual with me before he could solo it.
They also wanted 25 hours solo before carrying passengers. And they
wanted just under $7000.

So the next time you hear "uninsurable at any price" from your agent,
don't leave it at that. Some things really are uninsurable at any
price, but they are few and far between and you probably don't want to
do that anyway. Most operations can be insured.

I could tell you the particular agencies, but it wouldn't do you any
good (unless you have this specific issue - low time pilot in
expensive Bonanza - in which case email me). There's no real
consistency. One company will write one operation but decline
another, and another company does just the opposite. It's not like
automotive insurance, where there are standard tables. Aviation
insurance is very much judgment based, and judgment varies.

Michael