I have been dealing with my collector car insurance for a couple days now and have been getting quite an education. I bought a newer 96 oldsmobile that i planned on driving more than my other cars and my insurance guy laid down a number of $200 a year to insure just that car and i have 3 others on the policy, because i said i was going to drive this one more. I said i pay that for my most expensive car thats worth 5 times as much. He said those cars are only driven to car shows and back and a occasional drive to stretch it out a little. Point being it was never said to me when i got the insurance or on the website anywhere that the cars were strictly for car shows and parades or such. I want to drive them when i want and i dont want to find out after the fact that they are not covering me cause i was not at a car show. Anybody with a insurance that doesn't care where you drive it? I am allowed 2500 miles a year for each car but i guess thats just to car shows and back?

Thanks for any help

 

Its more than just car shows and back, I think the proper term is for pleasure only. They don't allow them to be used as a daily driver and bringing them to work is highly frowned upon. I believe both Hagerty and Grundy have no mileage restrictions.

 

You need to read your policy. It will tell you what the restrictions are.

- Eric

 

Insurance companies lie. They lie when they sell you the policy, they lie when they explain the policy to you and they lie when you make a claim. They will tell you anything to discourage you from driving your car, but most classic car insurances allow driving around for pleasure, to get it fixed, on a vacation trip, on the way to the grocery store if your were testing a little hiccup you had in the idle. On the way to the bank if you were checking out if you fixed that little pull to one side when you added air to the tire. You get the picture....

 

I have my 2004 Alero under Grundy. They get about $290.00 a year, but I treat it like my 70, only run it about 800-1000 miles. By rights, I can run it much as I want to.

It's way cheaper than my progressive policy for 6 months and the deductible is nothing.

Pat

 

JC Taylor is the cheapest in my experience ($45 year per car), and they allow use other than shows. Cars have to be kept in a locked garage, tho.
Steve

 

You want the privileges of daily-driver car insurance at collector-car insurance rates.

What you need is a regular, daily-driver policy from Geico or State Farm or something like that.

In general, collector car policies restrict how you can use your car in exchange for the lower insurance rate. Restrictions have loosened in recent years, but, still, daily-driver-type uses such as using the car to go to work, go shopping, etc. are not allowed.

Contrary to what appears to be popular belief, collector car insurance companies don't object to you driving your car to and from and work or the grocery store. What they object to is you leaving your valuable car unattended in a public parking lot while you're at work or in the grocery store, and this is understandable. Collector cars are subject to theft, which is why these companies require that you store the car in a locked garage and ask that you drive it only to and from car shows and things like that. The expectation is that, when you're at a car show, you're never far from the car, and it is not left unattended. Ditto for using the car in a parade, taking it on a tour with other collector cars, going to a cruise-in, and things like this.

 

^^^THIS!

There are no universal "rules" for collector car insurance. The insurance companies each set their own. Read your policy, or shop around if you don't like it. The reality is that car insurance is all about assuming risk. The insurance companies make money by betting that you won't make a claim. Old cars make it more difficult for them because it's hard to project losses and repair costs when the sample size is so small and the parts may not even be obtainable for repair. Limits on how you use the vehicle and how much you can drive it limit their risk, which is why they can offer lower rates. The more you drive the vehicle, the higher the risk that you will eventually make a claim and the higher your premium as a result.

Remember, an insurance company is in business to make money, not to give money back to you.

 

Read your policy, like said above.

MOST collector car insurance policies will say the following:
1. Must be kept in a locked facility.
2. Maximum miles a year
3. Pleasure use only, and that really means no going to work, routine transportation of kids to school, or hauling things.
4. You must be in the car when it's driven and the driver must be 25.

Not all these things are exactly like that, but most I'd say have most of those.
My company has all of that, and they will work with you if you're going to a car show. For instance, I could drive it to work, leave from work, go across the state to a friend's place, and park outside overnight IF we were going to a car show in his town. Hot rod power tour is another exception.

 

I have Hagerty and I was able to add my son who is 21 to the policy. The agent was not that excited about it but he did it. I do not have a mile restriction but he did want a guesstimation which I stated 5,000.

 

I once had Grundy who is an insurance broker, underwritten by Northwest Pacific Indemnity Company, a shady Insurer, who gave me nothing but a hard time, when I had a claim after my car got stolen and stripped. I had to take them to court before they were finally forced to pay after they tried every trick in the book to get out of paying. I can recommend Hagerty and JC Taylor.

 

The bottom line is: You get what you pay for!

 

I have American Collectors Insurance which is American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida. I have my car insured for $40,500, high liability limits and towing up to $250 three times a year. I do have to keep it in a locked garage and am limited to 2,500 miles per year which is not a problem. I am not supposed to drive the car to work. My premium is $333/year. I just submitted my first towing claim and they paid like clockwork and were very courteous.

 

[QUOTE=jaunty75;812035]You want the privileges of daily-driver car insurance at collector-car insurance rates.

What you need is a regular, daily-driver policy from Geico or State Farm or something like that.

No i'm not looking for that , if i put it under my regular policy and something happens to it i get blue book price for it. I by no means am going to drive the car all over i would still put less than 2000 miles a year on it just dont want to be told where i have to drive those 2000 miles

 

Good luck with that.

Again, insurance companies are trying to limit their risk. THEY dictate when and where you can drive the car because there is a much, much lower risk of an accident if you are only driving the car on weekends and to club functions. The risk goes WAY up if you are using the car to commute to work in bumper-to-bumper traffic. If you want unrestricted use, you get an unrestricted (and expensive) policy. You'll need to look long and hard for a declared value policy that allows unrestricted use, and if you do find one, you won't like the price.

You can always get liability insurance for daily driving. The problem is collision or comprehensive on your car. Your options are you take your chances or you don't drive it.

 

Yes i have the same insurance as you now, if you read the policy it says "a Collector vehicle should be maintained solely for use in exhibitions; club activities; parades; or other functions of public interest." So i can drive it 2500 miles a year but only to those functions? But when i talk to them on the phone they say yes we realize it needs to go out at other times to be exercised whatever that means to them

 

I agree thats why i guess im talking about it here just to get a feel for what everybody else is doing

 

I don't think the insurance company is telling you where you can and can't drive it. They're telling you where you can and can't leave it. (2000 or whatever miles a year is 2000 or whatever miles a year.) It's not the driving of it to and from your place of work that bothers them, it's the leaving it unattended when you get there that bothers them. Most people driving their car to work leave it in the parking lot for 8 hours or whatever. It's in the parking lot for an hour or more if you drive to the shopping mall. This is why collector car insurance companies say that you can't use the car for "daily driver" uses because that implies that it will be left in a public place unattended on a regular basis.

As has been noted, many collector car insurance companies are allowing more yearly mileage on a car as a response to demands from car owners that they not be so restricted, and the companies now go along with this probably as much because their competitors allow it as anything else. When I first bought collector car insurance 20 years ago, it was 1000 or 2000 miles per year tops. Any more, and I couldn't have their insurance. Nowadays, the companies are allowing 5000 miles because people want to drive their cars. But they're still restricted to driving them for collector car-like purposes, and that means that you're always with the car.

There are gray areas here as well. People drive their old Olds to the OCA Nationals and stay in a hotel for several nights not only while at the show but possibly going and coming as well if they live more than a day's drive away. The car ends up getting parked in the hotel parking lot overnight. That's a public place, unattended. I think the insurance companies just bite the bullet on this and realize that there will be some instances where unattended parking is unavoidable even when you're attending a car show. In their eyes, this is an occasional thing, not a daily exposure as would be the case with driving the car to work or weekly exposure taking it to the grocery store.

 

Yes i agree with you on your take, i guess they don't think we watch our cars like a hawk as much as we can. I would rather have the car than the insurance money.

 

All of my policies from Hagerty state drivers less than 25 years are not insured and the policy is null and void for coverage. You may want to get that adjustment from Hagerty in writing!

Pat

 

I got an quote from Hagerty for my '62 Super 88, with high enough limits to satisfy my umbrella policy's requirements. The quote was only $150 per year. Initially, I thought that the rates were cheap because they understand that responsible old men don't plan on wrecking irreplaceable cars that are as old as they are.

Looking at the fine print in the terms, there were things that I didn't like -- such as clauses implying that I should only be driving to collectors events, shows, parades, etc. I didn't find the policy to be very appealing because of the restrictions. I have enough experience to understand why they put those clauses in there. They're there so that they can can deny claims that lie outside of the accepted limits on use.

I'm thinking that if you want a daily driver, then you've got to deal with Blue Book values. That's just the way it is.

Many people have mentioned reading the fine print of your policy. That's good advice. To that I would add that it's important to be familiar with what your State law codifies in the statutes as fair claims practices. You'll probably find that insurance companies are only required to perform common, commercially accepted methods of repair. In other words they don't have to go looking for expensive obsolete sheetmetal when they can buy Bondo. If you don't like that then your only recourse may be to have the car totalled, buy it for salvage, and start over at your own expense.

I don't think there's any way around the fact that when you drive an old car and it gets wrecked, you're never going to be made whole, regardless of who your insurance company may be. One company may charge less, one company may perform cheap repairs, another company place a low replacement value on your car, and yet another may place a high value on your car and refuse to pay it because you violated a restriction.

Another option is to just realize that if you're in a wreck, then you are screwed. When something really bad happens you may end up having to take the hit and start over.

 

As an example of what constitutes "common, commercially accepted" methods of repair, consider the following true story:

A wealthy fellow owns a Rolls Royce. Someone damaged it in a parking lot, bashing in the sheetmetal. He took it to the RR dealership to be serviced. RR had a very specific plan of action for repairing the car. It was going to be EXPENSIVE. It involved repairing the car according to RR's standards. The insurance adjuster refused to pay for it to be fixed to RR standards.

Essentially, RR wanted to replace all damaged sheetmetal at great expense. They weren't even willing to use lead as a body filler, because that's not an approved RR standard of repair. The insurance adjuster demanded that they use Bondo.

The case ended up being litigated. Experts testified regarding what constitutes "common commercially acceptable" methods of repair that satisfy the state's statutory requirement. Experts from Rolls Royce testified why such inferior methods were not acceptable to Rolls Royce and why they would void the vehicle's warranty.

The insurance company won, because the law in the state used the "common commercially acceptable repair methods" language. That means that even if you have a Rolls Royce, you still get Bondo because that's what the law allows the insurance companies to pay for. If you don't want Bondo, then the insurance company will pay for the cost of Bondo and you get to make up the difference.

I'm at the point where I won't allow an insurance adjuster to directly negotiate with my body shop, because I don't want them getting involved in ex parte negotiations with the shop in my absence. I just tell the shop what I want, I tell the insurance guy not to even bother talking to them because I won't accept his input, and that the limit of his involvement is going to be writing a check to cover the commercially acceptable portion of the repair, and that I'm planning on taking care of the rest. Not very many people negotiate with adjusters this way, but the adjusters know exactly how to handle the case when you ask for it to be handled this way.

I have a love-hate relationship with insurance companies. Yes, they're out to make a profit, and there's nothing wrong about that. But adjusters are dicks who get bonuses based upon the difference between what the claim should settle for and what they can actually get it to settle for, and they make their bonuses off of money that you leave on the table. Insurance companies bank on the fact that you'll take the settlement instead of litigating.

 

I would not make it up and I think they would have a hard time not paying a claim since he is listed on policy.

 

I'm with Collector's Auto Insurance (through USAA) and my restrictions are the same as most of those list above with only one addition.
Anyone driving the car covered under the policy has to have had a valid driver's license for 10 years.


At least it keeps the kids from asking to drive it.

 

My regular insurance company told me I could do an agreed value on my car. I get an appraisal thru one of several area appraisers they work with and in case of loss they pay the agreed value. I'm sure it's not at collector car rates but I would * guess* the rate wouldn't be much if any different than my daily drivers that are worth as much or more than what my 72 supreme is worth. I would guess an appraiser would value my car at 10-12k other than being an old car it's not a special model, and for 10-12k I could replace it w a similar 68-72 olds a body in good condition! No special restrictions were mentioned, as I do like to drive it other than in parades lol

 

J C Taylor is my choice..... Have five vehicles insured with them... Rules do apply as with all the others, but one good feature is that liability insurance is free for any vehicle on the policy after the third one....

 

Well after many days of banging my head against the wall talking to all the collector car insurance biggies, i bit the bullet today and just put it on my regular car insurance policy. Cost more and doesn't quite cover full purchase price if it gets totaled but i can drive it whenever i want now. As a prior person stated "you get what you pay for" Thanks everyone for your input, greatly appreciated!

Greg

 

I was trying to make sure you had heads up on the possible pitfall. I did not imply that you were fabricating anything, just due diligence!

Now with that being said! I called Hagerty today and I have discovered that in the last couple of years, they have developed a program for youth drivers to promote the future of the hobby! So they do indeed insure younger drivers on policies with standard collector cars. I was also told if it's deemed a race or performance car that they will not insure youth drivers.

Pat

 

I find it interesting that the agent has the add'l driver (the son) age/birthdate listed only as 'on file'....

 

I have had CHROME for my cars for several years. Haven't had a claim but they allow generous miles and let me put my teenage son down as a driver.

 

Agreed or stated value is what I've always done, too. First with AAA, and now more recently with State Farm. State Farm locally does not require appraisals. I reduce the cost by running a high deductible. It makes me very careful behind the wheel. They accept whatever value number I give them, but I am always honest about the value. Small benders I can fix myself, without submitting a claim. I only had one major claim on a '63 Riviera with AAA in about 2004. It was fixed very well, and without issues. The shop even threw in some minor rust repair. I had to chase down a new rear bumper, but I wanted to get one newly chrome plated, which obviously was not covered totally.
State Farm occasionally asks for odometer readings, but I have not seen any major increases in premiums due to excess miles. They know I do the Great Race Rally as well.
I'm very happy with State Farm. I drive my cars whenever the sun shines, including grocery, school, and coffee runs.