With an agreed value policy they have to look up selling data for the same make and model and get an idea of what it is worth before they agree to it. What if the car is so rare it has extremely limited to no selling history of other cars for them to look at? I know of a situation where a rare car is not for sale but he is getting offers of much more than any insurance company is willing to insure it for. Is there a place that can give a real estimate on a car that insurance will accept? Does he just live with what the insurer says they will insure it for? I know at least three insurers were contacted and all come back with a similar value. I feel like it should be insured for what someone is willing to pay for it since it is rare enough that they would not likely be able to replace it. That or just sell it.

Any ideas or thoughts?

 

Eric I would ask a couple companies. They are probably going to require pictures and that would not be a problem for your car. Good luck with it.

 

At first when I told them it was a 1987 Olds Cutlass custom. The classic insurance agent was not to thrilled. After I sent the pictures of my car. The agent was like oh wow! And had no problem with going to replacement cost. Replacement cost is higher than market value. I told him what my replacement cost would be. He had no problem.

 

You would have a couple options. If you can get a certified appraiser to give a realistic price, the insurance company will usually trust that. Also, running the car through an auction with a reserve you know it will not sell at will give you a value the insurance company will usually accept. The auction route can be risky as the car may bring nothing and then you are out all the fees for nothing. Beyond that, if you can provide the insurance company with a list of money spent (not counting labor) they will usually accept that as well. Obviously the last one may be far under the value you are looking for. This is what I had to do with my vista. Hagerty did not want to insure it for what I wanted, so I made a list of all the big purchases I had made (no actual receipts just a word document) which got me close enough to an agreed value I could live with. Hagerty accepted the values without asking for any actual receipts.

 

If this is for an older car, consider one of the firms that specialize in insuring these, such as Grundy or Hagerty. You can submit an certified appraisal and they will accept that for insured value. My experience with Grundy has been faultless.

I've used conventional auto insurers before for old cars, and my experience is, regardless of what they say, there will ALWAYS be a problem with full claims being paid.

 

Grundy put a reduced value on my H/O because it hasn't been restored, it wasn't horribly low but it was less that what I have into it/market value (in my opinion). Hagerty gave me no issues with the value I wanted. Hagerty is more expensive, but I have yet to hear any complaints about them insuring something based on the Owner's preferred value and taking care of things post-accident.

 

Two of the companies are listed above and they will not insure it on an agreed value policy for what someone is offering to pay for it.

 

JC Taylor may be an option... Anytime I provided a value to them it was accepted, but maybe I just got lucky and didn't exceed their limits...

 

I've always just told them (Grundy) what I wanted to insure it for and they have always written it up or added it to the policy, no issues. I did send pictures...... Tedd

 

I've had no issue with American Collectors insuring for higher than sale value, however, I have yet to make claim.

 

Hi,

I have my old cars insured through Farm Bureau, all my old cars are stated value, and every few years I increase it a few thousand and never heard any issues from them, I should mention my cars are all normally insured as drivers vs speciality as I drive them way more than the allowed mileage and nice days take the to work during the nicer months.

I would get a appraisal on your vechiles and go from there.

You need to ask yourself, what are they worth if something was to happen, I know in my case I won't get rich, but should be fairly close to what I have invested in them, which is probably the best I can hope for.

Regards,
Jim

 

I would say your next step is to have the vehicle appraised. If you cannot convince an experienced appraiser the car is worth what you want, I think it will be a lost cause with the insurance company. If I have two people willing to give me $200K for stock cutlass with a 350 it does not mean any insurance company will insure it for that. Obviously that is an extreme example and I am in no way saying that the car is not worth what you are trying to insure it for, all I am saying is that the insurance company is going to want some kind of "proof" before taking your word about what someone is willing to pay and raising the agreed value your number. Is this for your Jetfire (which came out beautiful by the way!)? As I said, I had a similar experience with one of my cars recently. Until then I have never had an issue Hagerty accepting the amount I wanted. When I had my vista on the road initially, I only had $10K on it which was enough to cover my loss at that point. After I finished it, I wanted to increase the value to a safe number, and Hagerty did not want to come anywhere close. I assume this was due to a similar situation. You don't see many Vista Cruisers selling at what I wanted to cover it for. I spent a few weeks going back and forth with Hagerty through my agent. Finally, I made a list of every big part purchase I could remember and Hagerty agreed to a number I could live with.

 

I have my '72 U code Supreme insured through Hagerty. Initially I had 25K agreed value plus 1500 for memorabilia and Hagerty gave me no problem whatsoever. After recently having it appraised at 31K, I simply went online and bumped up the coverage. Again, no problems whatsoever, other than the additional 9 bucks a month 😀

 

Is yours a stated value policy or an agreed value policy? If it is a stated value policy you should look more into it. Most stated value policies are very bad. I use to confuse the two terms at one time and didn't know the difference.

 

I think the next step is to ask the insurance companies what appraisal company they will accept as proof. The difference is over 30K. Just not sure how you appraise a car when it has no selling history. Only one went through auction and it is a different year and nowhere near the same condition and nothing original on it.

 

Asking the insurance company what appraisal company to use is a great idea! The price difference I was fighting was about the same. I don't remember the exact agreed value they quoted first, but I think I finally settled for $15 -20K more than they were originally willing to cover. Like you said, it is hard when there are not any comps to look at. The W34 Toro has the same problem in that I don't really know what it is worth (supposedly only about 120 built in 68), but I covered it for a number I could live with and Hagerty did not give me any issues with that number. I think part of their problem with the Vista is that it is pretty highly modified. As you know it is better to be safe than sorry with an agreed value as you never know what might happen. I hope it all works out for you. I know that I was pretty uneasy even driving around the block to get the final bugs out of the car when the final agreed value was up in the air and the car was technically still only insured for $10K. Hopefully you will find an appraiser who takes the rarity of the car into account and compares it to similar vehicles; as in model year range, desirability, number built, and condition rather than the exact same car.