My Father is trying to buy back a car he built in the early 80's but is having trouble finding an insurance company that will cover the car. He checked with Hagerty and they said no. Does anyone have any suggestions as to who I should refer him to? The car is a home built and titled as such. Thanks for any help, Matt
In Arkansas, they passed a law this year that allows homebuilt and kit cars to be titled as the year that most closely resembles the vehicle. So get it titled in Arkansas, then back to IL! American Hobbyist Insurance is a HAMB Alliance vendor; you might check with them.
WWW.GRUNDY.COM Sneed, Robinson and Gerber in TN is another opition. Sorry I don't have their 800 number handy. They have a speciality car insurance called "Show Machine" that covers newer Vettes, Mustangs, Mini-Trucks, Kit Cobras, etc. I got rear-ended in my newer Vette and they were WONDERFUL to deal with, no issues what so ever in getting it repaired.
Get it titled, get it appraised by a certified appraiser. Allstate will cover it and the loss will be based on the appraised value, not blue-book. There's lots of insurance info on here, you can do a search if you need more info. Cheers, John
I'll check that stuff out. Thanks. The problem comes in that it is titled but as a home built car. It does not resemble anything else. It is a completely home made space frame chassis and body. It does use a 215 aluminum Buick/Olds engine in it and might be able to be re-titaled as something along those lines?
This is a long shot but after looking at the style of body, what about an insurance company that insures race cars, drag cars, circle track cars? Don't know of any off the top of my head but perhaps there might be an ad or something in a drag mag. Just a thought.
Are you by chance Matt Werksman? For some reason, my memory wants to say that car was built by Cotton Werksman, and that guy in the photo looks like him, I think. But I could be all wrong. I saw Cotton at the Street Rod Nats in Tulsa thirty-something years ago, and I don't have any reference material to compare.
What do you plan on doing with this car? Do you just want to insure it for loss purposes? It's obviously not street legal so that may be your problem with the other insurance companys.
Now why would you even suggest the car isnt street legal? Just because it looks like a race car?? Come to eldora speedway for the kings royal in july. You will se a street legal sprint car and a street legal indy car. Oh ya they will be driving around too.. Anything can be licensed if done properly Dave
Hey Matt, two things come to mind. First off, how do guys insure sand rails that are run on the street? Second portion, I realize Cotten handbuilt everything but he did use the Olds engine didn't he? For insurance (and licensing??) why not explore finding a "donor" vehicle that originally had that type engine to obtain paperwork and THEN go after insurance. I have trouble believing you do not have a close enough relationship with your insurance underwriter based off of the cars you and your Dad have done over the years to get this handled. I think I would "force" the issue a little more.
This is a long shot but after looking at the style of body, what about an insurance company that insures race cars, drag cars, circle track cars? Don't know of any off the top of my head but perhaps there might be an ad or something in a drag mag. Just a thought. Denise-that's a good idea, I'll look into that for him. Are you by chance Matt Werksman? For some reason, my memory wants to say that car was built by Cotton Werksman, and that guy in the photo looks like him, I think. But I could be all wrong. I saw Cotton at the Street Rod Nats in Tulsa thirty-something years ago, and I don't have any reference material to compare. Yup, I'm Cottons son Matt. What do you plan on doing with this car? Do you just want to insure it for loss purposes? It's obviously not street legal so that may be your problem with the other insurance company's. The insurance is strictly for loss, damage or theft. At this point in time, we are buying the car back and going to restore it as the current owner has let it go pretty bad. And the car is street legal. Hey Matt, two things come to mind. First off, how do guys insure sand rails that are run on the street? I don't know??? Second portion, I realize Cotten hand-built everything but he did use the Olds engine didn't he? For insurance (and licensing??) why not explore finding a "donor" vehicle that originally had that type engine to obtain paperwork and THEN go after insurance. I have trouble believing you do not have a close enough relationship with your insurance underwriter based off of the cars you and your Dad have done over the years to get this handled. I think I would "force" the issue a little more. Brent, Years ago my Dad had it insured through State-farm as his agent and he were "tight" and we had all our cars and house through them, so it was not a problem. Now, the new guy is an A**hole and doesn't even want to talk about it. Maybe we'll have to keep working on him? I was also think along these lines......since the car will be here at my place and all the storage and work to be done in my shop, I was thinking since the vehicle won't be driven (at least for the next year or so) maybe I could get a rider added to my homeowners insurance to cover, theft or act of God type damage? Anyone have any thoughts on that??? Matt
Matt, that is too cool that you are Cotton's son. Way to inherit some great hot rod building genes!!!! Your dad always marched to the beat of a different (really cool) drummer; never a cookie cutter kind of guy. My State Farm guy said I could insure a 46 Ford I have that was not running for theft, etc, even though it was not drivable yet. I would think you could be able to do that. I'll ask him the particulars, as I got it on the road pretty quickly and just got regular insurance for it.
I'm just looking for PL/PD for my project car which is basically an 86 S-10 pickup platform with all sheet metal replaced with a tubular 'cage' and a woody style body. It has lights, signals etc. and should be pretty much street legal. Looks a bit like an early thirties topless pickup. It's titled and registered, and I put the VIN tag back on the new wood cowling. My regular insurance underwriter wouldn.t touch it as it was too modified, but I would think that there must be a company out there that does this kind of thing. I live in Michigan. Bill
There is a guy who hangs lights on a Sprint car and 'does' the PowerTour. There were pics in HotRod of him "showing" it to a Patrolman somewhere along the way. I know they REQUIRE insurance to 'do the tour' so for enough MONEY, I'd think anything is possible.
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