Posted for Jack Cowell <jackcowell@optonline.net>:

 Gee, your post doesn't dove tail with my information at all. From what I
 have been told, if you successfully comply with the Lancair-negotiated
 conditions, you can participate in the Lancair-negotiated insurance
 coverage. If you choose not to get coverage under that plan, you simply
 follow the conditions of your selected carrier In other words, it is not a
 mandate, it is an option.
 
 As to the price quote you mentioned, it is far and away the lowest I have
 seen in over four years of looking. As a basis of comparison, I have over
 400 hours in a IVP with insurance company-mandated annual recurrency and I
 too had to pay for an insurance-company mandated pre-coverage inspection. I
 have never had an accident or a claim of any kind and my total complex
 single time is well north of 1000 hours. My coverage on a $250,000 hull
 value costs roughly double your quote and my broker --the very experienced
 and professional Wenk Insurance people -- felt very good about getting this
 coverage for a IVP at this price. Actually, after the rash of Lancair
 accidents and incidents last year, they felt quite good about getting a
 quality underwriter to quote a bid for a Lancair at all.
 
 Draw your own conclusion, but mine is that a quote that is that far below
 either the current Lancair number or is significantly less than one that a
 savvy broker can negotiate is a questionable quote. Some of those
 "questions" are: speed of payment and fairness in previous claim payments;
 A. M. Best rating of the company; and buried disclaimers in the legalese
 which layman would only sadly discover when a claim was filed.
 
Finally, in response to your closing thought and (I think)sarcastic repeat
 of Jeff Edwards' quote, I'm sure that Joe Bartels is not everyone's cup of
 tea, but he is not stupid or inept. In fact, from what an AIG person told
 me, he did an admirable job of negotiating this insurance option on the
 Lancair owners' behalf.