Car Insurance?

[Scott Rodrigues]

I'm getting things together and wanted to know from everyone's experience who the best insurance provider for our babies are and what the rates look like. Im in California and have heard from other old school owners who swear by State Farm. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

 

[Gordon Holsinger]

I'm getting things together and wanted to know from everyone's experience who the best insurance provider for our babies are and what the rates look like. Im in California and have heard from other old school owners who swear by State Farm. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I am insured by hagerty I live in northern va

 

[Bill Eisinger]

The key to any insurance policy for vintage cars is the notion of "agreed value" versus "stated value" as well as any driving restrictions that the policy may contain. Agreed value is the value that the owner and the insurance company agree on as to the total value of the car...most of the vintage car insurers are very reasonable in arriving at that value and, for the most part, will recognize some, if not all, of the cost of the restoration of the car which is almost always more than market value. Stated value is the value that you tell the insurer when you take out the policy. It has little or no bearing on the actual maximum payout you might receive in case of a claim....that will be up to the insurance company as well as where you get any damage repaired. State Farm as an example, has their own claim centers who likely have zero experience in estimating the cost of the claim for classic cars. Also, it is common for the main stream insurers to have a driving limit of some kind in their policies...either an annual mileage limit or restricting the driving to events or parades....that is often lost in the fine print of the policy and can obviously be a big problem if you file a claim where you are out of compliance with that provision. State Farm is certainly a reputable insurance company for conventional vehicles but unless they have agreed value policies I would look elsewhere. Some of the more common classic auto insurers are Hagerty, Grundy, and Heacock...there are also others. I am most familiar with Grundy as that is what I have...my cars are all insured for agreed value and have no driving restrictions. Grundy and Hagerty (and possibly others) will also insure your conventional vehicles and their "fleet discount" rates can be very attractive. One other thing to note is that just because one of them is less expensive in one area of the country doesn't mean that they will have the best price in another area...for whatever reason the price differentials are not consistent...not only for geographical areas but also for types of cars. I'd suggest getting two or 3 quotes. You'll find that vintage car insurance rates are generally much cheaper than policies for conventional vehicles....the risk is lower as we tend to be more careful with our classics.

 

[Gordon Holsinger]

The key to any insurance policy for vintage cars is the notion of "agreed value" versus "stated value" as well as any driving restrictions that the policy may contain. Agreed value is the value that the owner and the insurance company agree on as to the total value of the car...most of the vintage car insurers are very reasonable in arriving at that value and, for the most part, will recognize some, if not all, of the cost of the restoration of the car which is almost always more than market value. Stated value is the value that you tell the insurer when you take out the policy. It has little or no bearing on the actual maximum payout you might receive in case of a claim....that will be up to the insurance company as well as where you get any damage repaired. State Farm as an example, has their own claim centers who likely have zero experience in estimating the cost of the claim for classic cars. Also, it is common for the main stream insurers to have a driving limit of some kind in their policies...either an annual mileage limit or restricting the driving to events or parades....that is often lost in the fine print of the policy and can obviously be a big problem if you file a claim where you are out of compliance with that provision. State Farm is certainly a reputable insurance company for conventional vehicles but unless they have agreed value policies I would look elsewhere. Some of the more common classic auto insurers are Hagerty, Grundy, and Heacock...there are also others. I am most familiar with Grundy as that is what I have...my cars are all insured for agreed value and have no driving restrictions. Grundy and Hagerty (and possibly others) will also insure your conventional vehicles and their "fleet discount" rates can be very attractive. One other thing to note is that just because one of them is less expensive in one area of the country doesn't mean that they will have the best price in another area...for whatever reason the price differentials are not consistent...not only for geographical areas but also for types of cars. I'd suggest getting two or 3 quotes. You'll find that vintage car insurance rates are generally much cheaper than policies for conventional vehicles....the risk is lower as we tend to be more careful with our classics.

Bill I am well aware of how insurance policies work. I was an auto lines. Adjuster with Allstate for four years

 

[Bill Eisinger]

Bill I am well aware of how insurance policies work. I was an auto lines. Adjuster with Allstate for four years

Not sure what your point is...my post was in response to Scott’s initial question.

 

[DanR]

A refresher is a good thing for some of us! Insurance "Fine Print" is a problem for most folks.

I too have Hagerty with an agreed value. An annual review may be in order?

 

[65beam]

We have 5 Beams insured with Hagerty. All have set values based on what it would take to restore them to their current state. When we start a restoration of a car that we just bought our agent requests a value based on the condition of the body and what it would take to buy another body of the same condition. As work progresses photos are supplied to him and he asks for an increase in the value. We recently did this several times during the restoration of the RHD Harrington. When the car is finished he asks for the final agreed value. We have receipts for everything bought or done during the restoration so we know what the total cost was. Agreed value is adjusted every year. Our agent takes the time every year to update values for all of his clients. Hagerty does state a car will be a total loss if repair exceeds 70% of the value. That's where a good agent comes into play. I've seen this situation concerning repairs on four of our cars in 1997 due to mother nature damage and I still have the cars. We left State Farm many years ago when a value meant nothing to them. They didn't want to pay for the repairs to our red Harrington when a 17 year old backed into the front of the car. We had their classic car policy. The adjuster wanted to write it off because it was old and had no book value. In addition to the usual coverage of the Beams we also have towing/road service for the beams and our other cars. They will tow both the SUV and trailer with the Beam for 250 miles. They will also do the road service on our other cars. Another coverage we added to the Hagerty policy was coverage of our spare parts. We have a parts room with not only a stock of just about anything needed to repair the cars but also a large amount of NOS items. They cover up to 20K loss of these parts and we have another coverage that covers up to $1500.00 of lost or stolen tools. Multiple cars gives deep discounts on coverage and they have not asked us for miles driven since they don't restrict miles driven. We have full coverage with $0 dollars deductible. The yearly premium for all of this is $1138.00. That figures to an average of roughly $228.00 per car. That covers my opinion of why to use Hagerty.

 

[belmateo]

I'm getting things together and wanted to know from everyone's experience who the best insurance provider for our babies are and what the rates look like. Im in California and have heard from other old school owners who swear by State Farm. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I am in California as well and agree with the others that Hagerty is the way to go. Allstate, State Farm and AAA are all about the same overcharge you for minimum insurance coverage.

 

[Warren]

Look at California specific policies and the exclusions.
Find the best by studying them.
Insurance can be rather state specific keep that in mind.
Haggerty was too expensive for me in So. Cal.

Farmers , State farm , Allstate, agents are basically captive agents in California. Farmers bought J.C. Taylor to expand it's it's agents ability to offer different policies as they offer stated value only in that exchange. Other captive agents can place buisness with other carriers mentioned in previous responses. Ask them and if you're comfortable with them ok, if they pile on a broker's fee move on. Most all are submit for approval on new business.
What that means in California is you may have to just go with your standard carrier in the beginning just to avoid the hate mail from the DMV within 45 days of purchase threatening to cancel your registration if you don't provide proof of insurance.
I don't want to get too technical here but the idea of stated value is more like a what that companies used to use as a car symbol for valuation and rating purposes. One can certainly get by with a stated value policy however you got to be comfortable with arm wrestling adjusters and most people buy insurance for freedom from worry and problems others because it's a state requirement.

 

[belmateo]

With Hagerty, I have always stated the value and never had an issue about it.

 

[65beam]

The facts are that like everything else it's whatever gives you that warm fuzzy feeling. Our Hagerty agent has a knowledge of cars and is a long time Tiger owner. That says a lot. The next car will also have a Hagerty card in the console.

 

[tylerite3124]

I'm in Texas and I too have Hagerty with an agreed valuation. For grins I called my Allstate agent to see how his rates would compare and he advised me to go with Hagerty.

Rick