5x5 Aviation Insurance launches with no arbitrary age limits
Direct-to-consumer underwriter targets high-end, owner-flown aircraft
Minneapolis-based 5x5 Aviation Insurance announced it is providing underwriting services directly to aircraft owners and pilots in the high-end, owner-flown market. Coverage will initially be available in five states, but is expected to expand to all 48 contiguous states within 12 months.
CEO and founder of 5x5 Troy Kopischke—a pilot and aircraft owner himself—said, “No more one size fits all. No more arbitrary age cutoffs. No inability to transition.” Promising a different approach to aviation insurance for the high-end market, Kopischke and his executive team of pilots and aircraft owners, including Chief Underwriter Jeff Rhodes, spoke to AOPA shortly before launching their service in Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, and Virginia. “We expect to be everywhere, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, by the end of the first year,” said Rhodes. 5x5 will provide updates on its website as it adds coverage in additional states.
The company has been inspired by the safety approach taken by aircraft owner associations. “We’ve relied on the owner pilot organizations that many of the turbine aircraft models have representation with,” said Rhodes. “TBMOPA, Citation Jet Pilots, and the like. The owner pilot groups really have done a lot of work with safety and operational best practices. And we’ve keyed our underwriting guidelines to what those groups are recommending as the best ways—and that includes transitioning and training. What it doesn’t include is arbitrary cutoffs for pilot age.”
Rhodes said 5x5 has taken age out of its underwriting criteria from an arbitrary underwriting guidelines standpoint. “I don’t think that an age 65 or an age 70 cutoff is predictive of real risk,” he said. “I think a much better predictor of risk is relying on our training partners to evaluate the ability of that pilot from a year-to-year standpoint or even midterm throughout the year. Complex aircraft require strict adherence to standard operating procedures. They require regular training and proficiency. And if a pilot is meeting the standards and adhering to SOPs, there's no reason why that pilot can't keep flying a complex aircraft well into their 70s or beyond. But they’ve got to be evaluated. They’ve got to meet the standards.”
For the biggest discounts, 5x5 customers can opt to share flight data from their aircraft. “The models that that data will help create from an underwriting standpoint will better inform how best to train, how best to operate, and how best to pick risk from an ‘older pilot in a high-performance airplane’ standpoint,” said Rhodes.
“We all know pilots who are 45 or 50 years old that don't have the ability to fly the airplane that they own,” he said. “And we know pilots who are in their 70s or beyond that are sharp as a tack and we would trust with our spouses or our children. I really feel that reliance on training partners and a regular evaluation of that pilot’s ability is a much better way to underwrite and not an arbitrary cutoff. You know, we’re not just an insurance company for older pilots, but I think that a lot of them will find a home with us where they’ve been turned away by others.”
To speed the application process, 5X5 created a tech-forward “Instant Estimate Tool” that enables applicants to answer questions about themselves, their aircraft, and their flying habits to get an instant ballpark insurance cost. In as little as 10 minutes, applicants can expect to receive detailed quotes with multiple hull and liability coverage options. The process can be done entirely online, but 5x5 said agents are ready to answer questions or handle applications by phone.
“I think that the biggest differentiator between us and our competitors is the direct-to-consumer approach,” said Rhodes. “We’re not just a broker that represents the interests of the insurance companies that we represent. Developing relationships between us and the insured is an important part of our process. It allows us to be selective of the type of risk that we write. We don't have to go after the big-dollar premiums that are outside our target market. We can really specialize our underwriting approach and cater directly to our target market.”
