How honest are you? insurrance question

I have had Hagarty for years, can not say enough good about them! Got 5 cars with them right now, i hear alot of crab about "call me when your get the car resarted" and normaly its coming from some dickhead local agent, i only deal with the home office and have NEVER gotten any carp at all concerning milage or original, stock , restored or what ever.

 

Folks with the luxury (or choice) of a late-model daily driver can get collector insurance w/o any problems.

Folks who choose to drive their rods as daily drivers cannot.

I don't see what the fuss is about. If you drive your rod every day as your daily driver like I do, you DO park in Wal-Mart parking lot, you DO leave it unattended when you go somewhere, you may not lock it in a garage because your garage is full of other projects.

Tough to get insurance when you make the choice to actually drive your hot rods daily. And yes, it is a choice, I could have a late-model beater, make some space in the garage, & only drive my rods occasionally, but that's now how I use my cars...nor is it how I want to use my cars.

I don't like the fact I can't get insurance because I actually drive my cars. And I'm not implying other folks don't drive theirs - everyone knows HRLC drives Big Olds EVERYWHERE! But she also has made the choice to have a daily driver, lock Big Olds in a garage, & is happy with that arrangement.

But the folks saying insuring modern cars that are more expensive than our old cars have a valid point as well. The risk of collision is virtually the same - the risk of theft will vary with model - so comprehensive should be available. I believe the sticking point is agreed value...

You folks are comparing apples & oranges...

 

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that insurance underwriters realize that if you smash up your Altima, then the body shop can have you a new fender and grille that day, and they know what it will cost them in both parts and labor. If it's real bad, it's real easy to replace the car with something of eaqual value.

OTOH, if you smash up your 1940-something car, finding a decent replacement fender will probably take at least a few days. And then the replacement fender will probably need some type of work on it to prepare it for your car (media blasting, knock out a few dings, etc.). And fixing the replacement fender might take an hour or it might take 15-20 hours. It's hard for the insurance people to accurately calculate the risk on a vehicle like this.

That said, the specialty car insurers know that you probably take better care of your car than you do your wife. You have a lot of sweat and/or money tied up in something unique... you're not gonna do something stupid in it. (Well, at least not much! ).

 

I have my Tbucket and T tudor sedan both insured with Grundy. I like their policy provisions allowing unlimited mileage and no detectable for claims up to the agreed value. They did require info about the drivers in the family and what cars we used for daily drivers. They do require that the cars are in a garage but in their online FAQ’s they say “leaving a car unattended or in the driveway overnight is not the basis for denying a claim”. Another FAQ says that “Collector cars must be used for show, hobby, and pleasure purposes only”. I drive my cars frequently – if the weather is good I’ll just go out for a ride by myself or with my wife. I am one of the lone wolf types and don’t cruise with other rodders. I don’t use the cars to go to work or run errands, so I feel that I meet the conditions of the policy. I haven’t had to make a claim yet – I suppose that is when you might have problems with some companies if they disagree with how the car was being used or where it was when the damage or theft occurred.

 

I called grundy and asked them about restrictions they have. The more I asked the more restrictive they sounded. Driving to work was ok if there is a car show after work stuff like that. Sounded like a wink and a nod. I have heard good things about them but it is unsettling that something could be a problem.

Called my insurance guy (AAA) and grilled him about the policy I have. He said no restrictions except under 7,500 miles a year. They have never asked my milage. Pretty much drive it like a normal car.

The Grundy policy was alittle less than half the cost of the AAA policy.

I just don't know if something were to happen if I would be able to phrase the story in the correct fashion to avoid an insurance problem.


Not tring to sell insurance. You never know with insurance untill you have a problem. They all could be full of BS look at Katrina's insurance problems.

 

They insured my flat black TR3 and my flat black//red/white/grey primer F-100...go figure.

 

I've been following this thread; will be having to buy insurance for my '54 dodge pickup in a few months.

We've only got one other car we'll be insuring; that's my wife's '81 Subaru (a true classic...), which I'll usually be taking to work. My wife works at home, and can just use my pickup if she wants to go eight blocks down to the grocery store.

My current insurance company just called last night threatening to cancel my homeowner policy if I don't send a photo of my roof with the moss cleaned off - which was done months ago. I'm sending a photo of my new policy instead. Don't think I'll be insuring the Dodge or Subaru with this agent either.

-bill

 

No - you're doing apples & oranges here. Your point above is why there is "agreed" value. You get paid that, no more. So it is much, much higher than the depreciated value of your 1940-something car...doesn't really have much to do with actual repair costs. That would be insuring for "full replacement value" - something they don't really do in auto insurance industry at all...

Insurance is nothing more than paying someone to accept your risk. It is a scam, but a legally required & probably necessary one in today's over litigious socieity. But it is what it is. I pay the insurance company $X so when my car is wrecked/stolen/hailed on, they pay me $Y.

I don't even care if it costs me more to insure for agreed value - I'd do it.

I think the real problem is the overwhelming majority of folks with older cars don't actually use them on a daily basis, so the insurers are willing to write low-cost premiums on them. In return, they ask for restrictions to mitigate their risk. It's the cheap premiums that are actually strangling the old car insurance industry IMO.

I'd like to see a full relacement value insurance program for old cars. I pay an insurance premium & they pay out to fix my car regardless of what it costs up to agreed value. It would be more expensive, but it's like Cher insuring her legs with Lloyds of London...insurance is just a gamble.

The insurance companies just can't seem to fathom that some folks actually drive their old cars on a daily basis. Insure it for agreed value (better yet replacement value) & raise the premium - I don't need cheap insurance, I need good insurance that covers what I do.

 

I lie about everything to insurance companies I get mail box addresses out in the middle of no where, procure clean driving records so on and so forth i feel to hell with the insurance companies.