Has anybody here have or had classic car insurance with their regular carrier and had a claim? If so,what was your experience? any problems as to getting paid or getting what you paid for? Any feedback is appreciated.

 

Up until now, that is what I have had. They asked a lot of questions when I was talking to them about it, and of course, they had no idea what an 66 442 L69 is. They did stress the fact that just because I estimated it's worth at a certain price, they would not necessarily be able to reimburse to that amount........ depends on their appraisal (after the accident........???). It wasn't a real big deal cause the car was not driven during most of the time I had it insured with them.
Now that I have my car running again, with some new goodies on it, I am going to go with one of the 'classic car insurers'. I feel I will get much closer to it's true value in the event I have to file a claim.

 

If you have standard insurance it will be based on market value. What you need is an agreed value policy whereas the car is worth the value as stated in the policy. Anything else and your at the mercy of the whim of the insurance company.

 

They were MUCH cheaper than regular ins. carrier but the fine print does say there would be an appraisal so even though they sold me coverage based on agreed value it may be renegotiated after a claim. Recently I heard the founder died so time will tell if the heirs hold the customer service values as dad.

 

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I have State Farm and have a set value in place my wheels were stolen with in 24 hrs they came out started the process to have me a check and a few hrs later they were recovered so I canceled the claim

 

The classic car insurers are MUCH cheaper because there are restrictions on how much you can use your car. By limiting usage you limit risk to the insurance company. If you plan to use your older car as a daily driver, you will pay more because the risk of accident is higher.

 

The mileage limit per year on mine is 2500. Hagerty does not insure daily drivers either.

 

I have agreed value coverage on my car pending the appraisal. My agent is very good and they assured me that I would get paid if I had a loss or a claim. I've heard stories of how regular carriers won't pay or want to debate if there is a claim. I've even heard stories of how bad the classic car insurers are in a claim situation. My agent says the key is agreed coverage versus stated amount coverage. My carrier was much cheaper than Hagerty with the same limits of coverage on my other everyday cars. I can drive 4K miles per year too with my policy. Just getting some feedback on the subject.

 

Who is your insurance carrier ? Sounds interesting.

 

I find this to be highly objectionable and this is a VERY CRITICAL aspect. If this is true, I feel that Haggarty is being irresponsible and quite frankly underhanded by doing this.
For years the consumers have dealt with different type policies and because too many consumers have been burned thinking they have had coverage that they didn't have. The two major types were "stated value" and "agreed value". The former meant exactly what is described above, in the event of a claim, it would be subject to appraisal and value adjustment. The latter means they agree to cover it at the policy value. Most of the major insurers now have "agreed value" which is a better service to their customers and less smoke and mirrors. But if Haggerty has that disclaimer, then the policy really is "stated value" and they are being nothing short of dishonest by calling it an "agreed value" policy. That is disgusting.

 

On my 65 classic insurance (State Farm ) I have a stated value for 10k it cost me I think 120 a year during I can only drive 7k miles a year also there was condition that the car must meet to qualify as shiny paint was one of them, must be garaged when stored
Also during the construction I suspended the insurance to parking insurance with runs me 30 dollars for the year and if damaged while stored still pays the claim for the set value of 10k unless I was driving it

 

Not sure it is a disclaimer. I read the policy and if I understood it right an appraisal may be requested. I may call them in day or two to ask because you know how things like this are often lawyer language.

 

I have Hagerty Guaranteed Value, there is no negotiation period. No fine print in my policy.

 

I have Cincinnati insurance. I went with them from a recommendation from a good friend in the insurance business. All insurance is great till you need them,then it starts. State Farm can KMA,I wouldn't buy insurance from them for any reason. I say this not out of any claim or disagreement,it's their ruthlessness I have a problem with. I swapped to them after a problem with Nationwide. I NEVER had a claim of any kind,auto or homeowners and they kept jacking the premiums,so I left. All financial gurus will tell you to shop your insurance every year or two because people get complacent with their insurance provider. They think that regular increases are normal and they're not. They also think that the longer you have been with a company the better they will treat you,that's BS. They will treat you the same if you have been with them 1 day or 20 years and don't think different,you're only a policy # to them. I've had Cincinnati for about 4 years now and I've had negligible premium increases from them. Like I said,I have a great agent who does what they say when they say,unlike the drunk Nationwide agent I had. Whenever I made a change with him,I always called back to make sure he did his job. He was always my best buddy with 'I'll make sure Nationwide takes care of you'. That wasn't the case and I dropped them and he's called back several times trying to get me to go back to them and I finally told him to go away.

 

I have Safeco, regular full coverage auto on my wifes and sons Mustangs. Classic car agreed value on my Cutlass, plus homeowners. We had a hail claim last year for my sons car parked on the driveway and the roof of the house. Baseball size hail hammered the house and the boys Mustang. Since there was a homeowner claim, they waived the deductible for my sons car and paid out $3500 for the claim on it and a $15k on the house. Had the checks in a week. I have no complaints with Safeco and probably will stick with them for a while as they were the least expensive for all my insurance needs. They also give great discounts for teen males who are in school with great grades all the way through college, by far the least expensive by a few hundred dollars per year.

 

. I called Hagerty to clarify and they said in the event of a claim they may get an appraisal to determine the damage but in the event of total loss the pay agreed value.

 

Classic car insurer hands down. The daily driver insurance agencies will cost much more and they wont know what to do should your classic need body work. Buddy got rear ended last year in his pristine 55 BelAir (kid texting!). 22-25K worth of damage. Both rear quarters a trunk lid, California bumper and a ton of under-structure damage not to mention he got hurt due to no head rests. They let him pick the guy to do the work. They let him choose the parts. He had a custom candy flip-flop paint job with phantom flames. They said if the paint doesn't match to his liking's they will paint the whole car. Now you wont get that from the daily driver insurance companies. The company... JC Taylor. Our group of car guys have all been with them for 25 years +.

 

Yup..

 

Thanks for clarifying that. It is nice to know that they are not being devious. I'd hate to think that all of the improvements made over the years have become unraveled. From what I've seen, the playing field has pretty much been leveled with the major providers in regards to costs and service.

 

I have shopped around and State Farm is hands down the best I've been with I have not had any increase in fact in the last 7 years it went down twice
I insure my home and five cars with them 1 witch is a classic

I feel my home insurance is about 50 bucks to high for the year but my auto by far is cheaper

Not to mention on basic collision repairs most Cheeper insurances use after market or junk yard parts
State Farm puts on new factory parts when they can on older cars they tend to use used parts but try and stay away from aftermarket as there policy

 

I had exactly the opposite experience with SF. I was a 30 year customer up until 2008. Premiums would go up every year. 2009's bill was the last straw, both HO and Auto went up about 15%. ( no claims for 20 years ) I called my agent and asked if there was anything he could do, any provision for long term customers - he said sure, we can keep it near the same if we raise your deductable........... WTF???????? Goodbye State Farm, hello the Hartford thru AARP. Immediate savings of over $400 per year (identical coverge). If you are an AARP member, I don't believe you can beat the rates thru the Hartford anywhere.

 

I use American Collectors Ins. $240.00 per year at a $40,000 stated value on my Corvette. I havnt had any claims yet thank God so I really dont know much more about them. I think they are sponsers of some big car shows. Anyway there very happy to take my money. LOL

 

Hagarty, American Collectors, JC Taylor, Safeco, are all good reputable companies. Take your pick on the one that fits your needs, as all have different restrictions and pricing.

 

Not trying to be a jerk but the topic was experiences with a regular insurance carrier,not which is better. I know all about collector insurance and I was just trying to see if anybody had their classic car with a common insurance carrier,had a claim and what the experience was. I have an agreed amount of $50K with my regular carrier and I carry high limits of coverage because I'm debt free and I want to keep it that way. I can drive the car 4K miles a year and my premium is $290. That's cheaper than Hagerty wanted.

 

Up till last year I had regular insurance on this car. I basically asked how ther coverage worked in case of an accident and after going through a bunch of departments, I finally got someone in claims that knew the answer. It's what I explained in my first post, permalink #3.

 

Have all my vehicles and house with Liberty Mutual. The bride hugged the garage door. I called and they asked if I had a body guy I used, no questions, no run arounds. I paid my $500.00 and they paid the rest. All on stated value of the vehice. It's daily driver insurance, no different than my 06 Silverado. With the house, multiple vehicles, no tickets.......I can't beat the price or service.