silverriff

I have finally gotten my 1972 Cutlass 455 on the road. I am going to be turning in my much- too- much- a- month lease very soon, and will be looking for my Cutlass to be my daily driver. Fortunately I only need to go about 2 miles down the road. In any case I currently have antique plates on it that "restrict" me to shows, repairs, etc. Although my first car was a 1972 Monte Carlo, that had antique plates, that I drove every day for 3 years, and was never hassled. I am not too concerned about getting "full plates", but this time though I am dropping some good money into the Cutlass and would like to get some better insurance, with a higher agreed value, not the $1,500 KBB value. The car is FAR from perfect, but as everyone knows, its not how it looks, its how much money you just put into replacing parts people never see. So what would be a good coarse of action? I want to drive it fequently, I DO NOT have a garage to keep it locked in, but its also not a $30,000.00 resto job....at least not yet. Any opinions?

Lady72nRob71

Will this be your only car? If so, then many classic insurance will not cover it as they have to have proof of a regularly insured vehicle. Also most require a garage.

How is traffic on your way to work and how many cops do you spot?
Heck, for just two miles, i would be on a motorcycle or even a bicycle on most nice days...

jaunty75

I think that collector car insurance is out of the question. You'll need to get a regular policy through a standard company like State Farm or Allstate or a million others. I would be surprised if they let you tell them the value of the car. They will have their own tables for such things, and if you want their insurance, that's what you'll have to go with. If you want to value it at a higher level, they'll tell you to get collector car insurance, and that means all the restrictions that go with that, including keeping it in a locked garage, driving it only to car shows and in parades, and all the rest.

My guess is, that, bottom line, from the insurance company's point of view, it's either a collector car or a daily driver. It can't be both.

To be safe, you'll likely have to get rid of the collector plates and put regular plates on. But that's only if you get caught! On the other hand, I wonder if there is any interest on the part of the insurance company as to what kind of plates you have. I doubt it, but I don't know. In other words, if you get regular "daily driver" insurance, the insurance company might expect that you register the car that way, too. Otherwise, you're telling them one thing about your expected usage and telling the state something else.


But please let us know what you ultimately do.

Bluevista

My wife is in auto insurance and she says that in your circumstance your normal insurance company should be able to sell you an agreed value policy.
try calling your insurance agent or an independent agent and talk to him/her about what you have to do.
A good Independent agent will search around all the insurance companies and find the best deals and service, mine does all the time and he's always saving me bucks.
Usually a certified professional appraisal is needed with photos like the collector companies want, that covers everybody.
All I know.

silverriff

I just wanted to post an update to this question I asked. I have not been able to find ANYONE the will give me either an agreed or stated value for a non-garaged, daily driven, primary car. This sucks! I have gone through all the major names, and my local independent people and they all say "no" before I even finish asking the question. It either has to be a well protected classic, or a crappy daily driver. It can't be both. The only thing they all suggested is that I document and save all of the receipts for the work I have done to it, and "cross my fingers" that if anything was to happen, the adjuster would take that stuff into account when they appraise the damages. I guess its better than nothing, but defeats the "piece of mind" that insurance is supposed to give you. Oh well. I guess if it was this easy to own a sweet *** classic car, everyone would be doing it. But I do have one question to ask.... I researched the NADA value on my car, and was actually surprised that the low end daily driver value was over $4,000. How accurate is that estimate based on anybody else's experience?

jaunty75

It may suck, but it's also completely predictable. Your car can either be a collector car or a daily driver, but it can't be both at the same time, at least as far as insurance companies are concerned. I'm not sure what Bluevista was talking about when he said his wife said you should be able to get an agree-value policy for a daily driver. I would have thought that that was not possible, and it seems that your experience bears this out.

Lady72nRob71

Those are pretty good ballpark estimates. They were very close when i was looking to buy my car years ago. However, they are just a guide.
Do keep all receipts, as you never know when you may need them.
Regular dailly driver "insurance" companies will try to screw people in each and every way, so it is best to try to not ever have to use them. Drive more defensively, put rifle club stickers on the back window, immobilize it (club, alarm, etc) when parked unattended, etc. Since you live so close to work, the risks are pretty low of you being in a wreck. If you live near the southern "border" states, be sure to get uninsured coverage.

Jamesbo

What Borders ?

Get it. [That's a period]

cutlassgal

Borders Bookstore??? LOL

Bluevista

Get a Volvo and some Birkenstock sandals in that case.

Southern Borders?, they have cookbooks for crawcrabs.

The southern border here is the Streetsyltucky area, I think the Mason-Dixon line goes right through it, about 10 miles south as the monkey flies.

Sandy was born south of the border, down Ravenna way.

cutlassgal

Cookbooks for crawcrabs!! LOL! Nicole loves Borders. Everytime we go to her dentist in Solon, we have to go to Borders! I like the smell of coffee when I walk in there! LOL!

The Mason- Dixon line goes through the Boro????

Lady72nRob71

I envision "crawlcrabs" down here...

cutlassgal

That's funny, Rob!!!

jaunty75

The Old Cars Price Guide puts the value of a '72 Cutlass at anywhere between about $3500 and about $7500 depending on whether or not it's a 2-door vs a 4-door, hardtop vs coupe, or Cutlass vs Cutlass Supreme. If it's a convertible, it'll be more still. This is assuming a car between #3 and #4 condition based on their system where #4 is running condition and needing restoration and #3 is a good restoration but not showroom condition.


This is for the most part irrelevant when it comes to value. Value is determined by condition, rarity, and desirability, and while putting new parts in will certainly improve the condition, it won't affect rarity and will only mildly affect desirability. It's like with your house. You can spend $10,000 on a new roof and $30,000 on a remodeled kitchen, but it doesn't mean that your house is suddenly worth $40,000 more because buyers expect the house to have a roof and a kitchen. The house's value is determined as much by the value of the houses around it as anything else.

The fact that these are new or nearly new may add a fraction of that $40,000 to the value, but certainly not the whole $40,000, and the value of having spent the $40,000 will drop quickly the greater the amount of time that elapses between when the work was done and when you're trying to sell the house. A new roof is worth more if it was done last week than if it was done six months or a year ago. Much longer than that, and it's not really a new roof anymore.

Your rebuilt 455 is worth more if the car has 5 miles on it since the rebuild than it would be if it has 500 miles or 5,000 miles since the rebuild. But your car's value is determined mostly by what people are paying for other '72 Cutlasses in similar condition.

silverriff

Thanks very much for all your info. I have a 1972 Cutlass "S" 2 door coupe, 455 with TH350 auto on the floor. It runs and drives well, and week by week is getting better. I just got the front end rebuilt with all new polygraph bushings and it rides 200% better. No more holding onto the drip rails when rounding corners. I have a rebuilt Q-Jet being shipped as we speak and hopefully next week I will be getting a brand new exhaust system put on. HOPEFULLY "knock on wood" that will be it, for the time being, of the high priced investments to get it into good daily driving condition. Then comes the body work, which is the fun part! I need to get some damn pictures up here. It is already drastically improved even from the first time I posted up here.