Mr. King

Do any of you guys have classic car insurance or do you just use regular "daily driver" insurance? My 66 Cutlass is the first classic that I have owned that wasn't also my daily driver. Any advice, stories or things to avoid would be great.

Thanks in advance

Mr. King

Redog

My Delta is reg as a Classic Car, but Classic cars in PA do not require emissions testing, this way I can swap in that 395558 350 block in a few years.

The laws in PA are that a Classic car can not be drivin as a daliy driver. It can be driven on the weekends and one day during the week to get to work. Antquies can't be drivin during night hours.

I currently have regualer insance on the car, but when the swap happens, I will be getting classic insurance. Some classic insurance companies limit milage

Eightupman

I recently asked about Classic car insurance through my company, USAA. The referred me to another underwriter, but cann ot remember who. I did not qualify for the following reasons. 1.) I do not garage my car. 2.) The car is driven more than 2500 miles a year. (actually I think I only clocked 1300 last year, but thats because is was down for a few months till I changed the transmission) AND FINALLY (the kicker..) My wife has two speeding tickets on her license. So even though I would be the only one actually ON the policy, her record basically voided me of any hope for about two years. If I get into a wreck with the car and it gets totaled, I am screwed. Best chance is to do for full coverage and get an appraisal documented anyway.

John

Want-A-Vert

Try Hagerty insurance. I was referred to them by my Allstate agent. The insurance is cheap and I asked for 4,000 miles a year. I think its Hagerty.com

Kennybill

I too have Hagerty's on three of my cars. Cars muct be keep in a garage and you set a value of the car upfront, minium of $5000. I value my cars between $7000 & $9000. You also have to send in photos and be approved. I have never had a claim, yet. Good Luck, Ken

esoteric

I use State Farm, with Mulitple car discount insurance. I also got an appraisal and set that payout amount at that value. So if the appraisal comes in at 15K I set the value at that. I own 8 cars now and for us in Michigan it works out great. I drop the coverage to storage in the winter as we don't drive them during that time. My 1970 Cutlass costs $27 a month during the summer and $2.97 a month during the winter. My 1972 Convertable Cutlass is $32 a month during the summer and $4.31 a month during the winter.

I get conflicting answers when I ask about milleage limits, sometimes they say no more than 3K miles per year and other times they say there is no limit. But honestly I don't really get a chance to put more than 3K a year on here in Michigan.

68vaolds

Try Grundy ,they go by an agreed value. They are very affordable.

fmbjogger

I use Hagerty and swear by them. Had one claim after scraping the side on the garage. They worked with restorer, agreed on a price (hefty) that would get the car perfect and paid with no hassle. I don't think you'll be disappointed with their rates or level of service. A +

fmbjogger

"Kennybill"...love your collection !

jaunty75

You all realize this thread is almost 5 years old?

oldcutlass

I've used JC Taylor. They have an agreed value policy, agreed value is if the car gets totaled you get that amount of money. Other companies use an Actual Cash Value policy. You get fair market value no matter what vakue you put on it! Be careful and make sure you understand what you are buying! The car must be garaged, you must have a car for every driver in the household, no underaged drivers, and no underage drivers in household.

Lady72nRob71

Don't matter if more useful info is being added to it!

oldcutlass

Hmmmm, thanks Jaunty, I did not realize it!

aliensatemybuick

Been using J.C. Taylor for YEARS!

ScottMHoffman

Following is advice from the point of view of an insurance agent. Their are many good classic car insurnace carriers, American Collectors, Hagarty, JC Talyor, Gundy are the bigger ones but I am sure other exist.

The most important part of the coverage for your classic car that varies from your standard auto policy is that physical damage coverage is agreed value. Agreed value means you have agreed with the insurance company on the value of the car and this what you will be paid in the event of a total loss. Any other valuation will not get the coverage you want.

The carriers offer this enhanced coverage at a lower price because of the restrictive underwriting. They typically require garage kept, low miles, no driver under 25, require a primary car for every driver in the household, clean driving records. Since the underwriting is allowing the lower premium do not expect good claim service if ignore the underwriting restrictions. You say you car is garage kept and it is stolen from the side of your home, you will be lucky to be paid. Let your 24 year old child drive the car and they wreck, that one is on you. You following the underwriting guidelines, the claims service will be wonderfull, but ingore them at your own peril.

Underwriting is an area that the insurance companies compete on. One carrier my allow only 2,500 miles and another will allow you to purchase 5,000 miles. Yes you will pay more for more miles. If you can not live with the first carrier you call guidelines, call another, you might find one that you can live with.

Finally, I would encourage anyone with a garage kept, limited use classic car to get classic car insurance. It is not only less expensive but offers better coverage with a claims team that understands what they are getting in a claim. A claim on a 2011 Honda Accord is very different than a claim on a 1970 Olds 442.

jaunty75

Thanks for the good info, but I've always wondered about this.

In all the years I've purchased collector car insurance, no insurance company has ever asked me to tell them the mileage on my old car and then tell them again a year later to verify the amount of miles driven. How do they really know how many miles a year I drive it?

If it's just the honor system, that's great, but then the question becomes, what's the point? If there's no enforcement mechanism, somebody somewhere will abuse the system.


P.S. I currently use J. C. Taylor, and they've never asked.

ScottMHoffman

Yes it is an honor system. But they did ask you the mileage on the car on the date of the application. So they can look at the odometer at the time of the accident and divide by the years insured. You would also be suprised what you will say to a company just after an accident that rats you out.

Unfortunately insurance is always abused and we all pay the additional premium because of this. But at claim time, when you can honestly and with proof, show you followed the underwritering rules, the claim will be much faster.

jaunty75

This makes sense. Thanks.

Lady72nRob71

Hagarty is one that does not restrict by mileage. It loosely restricts the use of the car, as long it is for pleasure use only. I talked to them about this and it is generally determined on a case by case basis. Reason for asking is I like to take short vacations with Lady, and it is always possible I need to stop in the grocery store for a couple items.
Always had good folks on the phone when i would call in to renew. Hopefully if I ever need to claim, they will deliver... I am probably going to get their roadside assistance program next year.

66 442 Jim

[QUOTE=jaunty75;344987]

In all the years I've purchased collector car insurance, no insurance company has ever asked me to tell them the mileage on my old car and then tell them again a year later to verify the amount of miles driven. How do they really know how many miles a year I drive it?
QUOTE]

I used to own a 1977 Porsche 911 and I was also a member of the Porsche Club of America. They had a deal with Leland-West Auto Insurance so that if you drove less than 5,000 miles a year, you could get greatly reduced insurance (~$300/year) if you meet the restrictions that were listed in previous posts. I had that car for 15 years and every year when the renewal came due, I had to fill out a form with the odometer reading and send it in. In the later years, they were asking for a photo of the odometer as well as the form. I guess that someone was abusing the system.

ScottMHoffman

Another thing to remember, the larger the loss, the more investigation that will be done. Total your $50,000 classic car on a Thursday morning during rush hour when you rear ended a 2011 Corvette because the Corvette brakes are slight better than yours. Sending the driver to the hospital so now the loss exceeds $100,000. YOU WILL be investigated. Insurance company to neighbor or co-workers, so does Fred drive his 68 Cutlass to work? Response Oh yea, I hear that thing 2-3 times a week, wakes me up every time.

An insurance policy expects everyone to be honest, you the insured, the insurance company and any 3rd party. Claims go much better when everyone has been honest.

Seff

Just for some European reference, as a 21 year old driver with no previous car ownership and no prior accidents and a deductible of $4000, the cheapest non-classic car insurance I could find (through the army) was $4200 a year. :P If I go for a classic, it can only be driven for pleasure and another daily driver must be owned. Free info for you guys. :P

hookem horns

+1 on Hagarty based on price and sales service, but never had a claim and hope I never do. Also happy with AAA for our home and regular car insurance and many swear by USAA if eligible. You tend to see better price/service with a company that serves a higher quality risk pool (classic car owners protect our toys way better than the average driver).

I agree completely with Scott on the ethics of the insured but always remember insurers (auto/home/health/etc) make money by collecting more premiums than paid in claims. Abuse can go both ways, especially when the issue is not black & white . "Reasonable and customary" as defined by insurers ususally ain't real market price (auto/home/health/etc) which is why I like stated value with Hagarty.

ELY442

Never had a problem with JC Taylor for over 20 yrs and counting.

bkeese

I've had JC Taylor for 30 years, but NOT without a problem. I like the fact that collision reduces for each added car until you hit 4 and then it is zero. I have had ~ 10 cars with stated value ~ $100,000 for $850 year. I was very happy until I had "Betterment" explained to me.

Betterment - when repaired the car will be in better shap then before therefore the policy owner needs to kick in for this better car he is receiving. My 1968 Z28 RS Camaro was stolen, driven until it blew up, breakining a 2 robs and damaging the crank in the original MO block. Zurich Insurance the underwriter for JC Taylor (JC Taylor just writes the insurance, they are not an insurance company) stated they want to put a TargetMaster GM engine in my car, but since it had 65,000 mile the engine was halk used up therefore I would have to pay for half. Well this lit my fire. I said the car was restored and they asked for receipts. I said I bought it restored and they said they needed receipts. I asked to speak to a supervisor, who promptly read to be the passage in the policy, but she continued on and read the part about "If we can not restore the car back to it's original value they would pay the difference". Well what do you think the difference in value is of a 65,000 original numbers matching 68 Z28 RS Camaro and a 68 Z28 with a Target Master engine. I tried to explain to the supervisor that after they were done they would owe me thousands of dollars, but got no were. They truely had NO experience with this. So I jotted down all the info and called Zurich corporate headquarters and asked for an underwriting VP. We talked for a few minutes and I explained my situation and he said he have someone at the ofiice get back to me. Ten minutes later the superviso called me back and explained that I misunderstood her, it was her intention to fix my original block all along. Three sleeves, 8 pink robs, new cam and crank, balanced and I was ready to roll.

I called Grundy after watching Grundy sell his insurance on My Classic Car, "Stated Value" "No milage restrictions" and the first this I was told was their milage restrictions, so I hung up.

My son is 22 and likes to go to car shows. He drives my 1962 Corvette, but JC Taylor won't cover him, so I get an antique policy threw State Farm (the insurer for all my non-antique vehicles) for this car over the summer (No drivers under 25 unless insured on another State Farm Policy) then drop it in the fall. State Farm does NOT have removed from service for antique vehicles.

Well, that's my story, hope you learned something, I did.

Higgins

I had Hagarty but changed to Grundy as they were quite a bit cheaper. $250 a year for Hagarty vs $200 for Grundy.
Higgins

CQR

Anyone had any good/bad with Heacock?

TenMidgets

I looked into Hagerty but they said they would not insure a classic for any use other than going to car shows. They asked me if I would use the car "for errands on weekends" and I said yes. I felt a bit baited because honesty led me to a rejection from them. They also list "driveway" as a storage option on their website but its a trick question because they will only insure if the car is garage kept 24/7.

So what's to stop me from saying its garaged even though it may not be? I suppose if i had a claim for damage they wouldn't pay the claim.

ScottMHoffman

TenMidgets, Nothing is stopping you from saying it is garaged but nothing is stopping the insurance company from not paying the claim. Why have the insurance if the claim will not be paid. Classic car insurance is inexpensive compared to regular car insurance because of the strict underwriting. The carrier's have you sign the application stating that you will follow the guidelines so they can prove at the time of loss that you were not truthful. The courts are not going to be sympathic to the owner of a collector car when his claim is not being paid.

TenMidgets

Totally agree Scott, and I don't believe in insurance fraud...but when you buy a car of this age and want to insure it economically its a huge difference between $150 a year and the $1,440 a year I added to my policy to be able to get the car on the road and go register it.

I am still looking for a provider, just wanted to express the frustration I had in feeling baited by Hagerty. Its fine if they only want to insure certain cars in certain situations but that is not how they market their insurance.

m455sx

i have State Farm antique coverage i set the value of vehicle if totaled which is according to book value. They require Antique tags and restriction on how far from home i can drive from where it is garaged. But i have never turned in a claim. I would like to know if anyone has had experience with there service for antique vehicles.

Lady72nRob71

Before I signed up with Hagerty, we had a long talk on use definition.
I can use the car anytime, anywhere, as long as it is for enjoyment only. SHows, occasional road trips, cruising for no reason, sometimes a dinner out etc.
Not to work, not to school.
"Errands on the weekend" would be city slogging to grocery stores, shopping centers, banks, and other high risk places for damage or wrecks. You would use your daily driver for that.
How if you wanted to stop at the store for a couple items on the way home from a show, that is okay, as it is not a routine thing.

As for primary storage when not in use, you do need a garage for most collector's insurance. Of course if you are out on a road trip, you would not have one for a few days, but that is just temporary.

I know this is an older post, but just wanted to toss in some clairification.

CRUZN 66

My preference is J. C. Taylor located in Pennsylvania.... I have five vehicles insured with them and have never had any issues.... usual restrictions such as inside storage, no daily driving, etc. The only strong point ever expressed by J. C. Taylor was related to my 1989 one ton crew cab.... had to be completely stock (which meant I had to remove my bed cap) and had additional restrictions such as no hauling or towing for which I had to sign a declaration to that fact.

1970cs

I have Hagerty Ins. Made one claim for glass, they asked serveral questions, and said where and when do you want it repaired? They paid the claim in full!

FYI most classic insurance companies will discount for some car clubs and also for use of antique/classic plates. Here in Michigan that plate is only supposed to be used for car shows, club functions, parades and repairs at your local shop! I am sure that the rules have been broken a time or two