Classic car insurance for a daily driver?

[iamadonut]

Is there such a thing? I've checked all the major companies -- Hagerty, Grundy, AON, etc. and all of them stipulate you can't drive the car to work.

Can anyone recommend a company that would allow me to drive my 70 coupe to work 5 days a week, up to 12k miles a year? I don't mind using a "regular" insurance company -- does anyone know of one that will give me an agreed-upon value or appraised value? Right now I have Wawanesa but they will only insure the car for the amount I paid for it and it's worth a bit more than that.

Thanks for any help.

 

[69Rcode_Mach1]

I'm with aetna and they had my car inspected and appraised for $25,000 where i bought it for 14,000. My car was kind of a steal though.

 

[KnownRider]

I asked USAA once if they would have a problem insuring a classic Stang. They said they would simply insure it for its blue book value. Now I did not ask about appraised value.

 

[geordie]

I believe that another restriction on classic car insurance is that you have to have one vehicle for every registered driver in the household, excluding your classic. This prevents me getting classic car insurance as we have two drivers in our family, one Caravan and the Mustang.

I'm stuck with liability insurance as anything else is very expensive considering I probably drive less than 500 miles per year.

 

[iamadonut]

Yeah, I've read that stipulation, too, which doesn't work for me because I just sold my '02 GT and now my only car is the 70 coupe.

Why do they make this so hard?

 

[DarkBuddha]

I've done a lot of looking on this exact subject. There is good news... some regular insurance companies will insure a classic at an agreed value. It ain't cheap. I had insurance with State Farm, agreed value policy for $14K, full coverage, collision and comprehensive, 100/300 limits, $500 deductible, and the total was $450/6 months (yep, $900/year). I'm 31, have no speeding tickets in over 8 years, never had an accident, and live in the city of Seattle (which probably didn't help). $900/year seemed a bit pricey so I eventually switched to USAA, which DOES NOT offer agreed value policies, because the car is simply sitting in my parents' garage until I get back to Tampa to pick it up.

Now, for the bad news. Other insurance companies will insure your car, but will do it based on the "blue book" value. This means they simply look at the car as a 35 year old piece of scrap iron and that's what they'll pay. USAA is one of these companies. As I said, USAA does not offer agreed value policies when I checked with them in January.

More bad news... some insurance companies offer "stated value" policies. From everything I've read and heard, legally, stated value policies aren't worth crap if the car gets wrecked. Its not a binding amount so the premiums aren't very high. I don't even know why stated value policies exist other than to scam hardworking folks into thinking they're getting more coverage than they really are.

Hope this helps...

 

[KnownRider]

Hmmm...bad news indeed. I cannot see dropping between 10 and 15K for a Stang if the insurance company is not going to reimburse me fairly. Might have to abandon the idea of getting one.

 

[DarkBuddha]

Hmmm...bad news indeed. I cannot see dropping between 10 and 15K for a Stang if the insurance company is not going to reimburse me fairly. Might have to abandon the idea of getting one.

As I said, there are companies that do agreed value policies. Go with one of them and you should be protected adequately. When you get an agreed value policy, they essentially do the math and charge you as though you'd purchased a newer car.

Oh, and think about it... what are you going to buy instead? The insurance companies do the same kind of thing for all cars, they base your car's value on their special insurance blue book. This is why insurance for a newer car is more expensive, because the blue book on it is still pretty high. For example, don't think you're gonna be able to go out and buy a 5.0, build it up, and think the insurance company is gonna insure it for what its really worth.

 

[Max Power]

""Why do they make this so hard?""

They don't make it hard, they just want to insure people's pride and joy, not old daily drivers. The claims on daily drivers are exponentially more frequent than collector cars. That is why they can insure your collector so cheap, cuz there are very few claims on collector cars.

If they insured daily drivers, rates would go way up and then they would be just like every other insurance company. That would suck.

 

[L8knight]

I had insurance with State Farm, agreed value policy for $14K, full coverage, collision and comprehensive, 100/300 limits, $500 deductible, and the total was $450/6 months (yep, $900/year). I'm 31, have no speeding tickets in over 8 years, never had an accident, and live in the city of Seattle (which probably didn't help).

That's how mine is right now, with State Farm and an agreed value. I only pay for 6 months though, then it goes into storage which drops the price to a whopping $14 for 6 months! I wish there was something else I could get for the "driving" 6 months since I really only drive it about once a week and only for a few miles around the 'hood'. But I'd rather pay the $50/mo than lose out on the investment.

 

[KnownRider]

Point well taken DarkBuddha. Thanks.

Looks like a classic Stang is once again on the agenda.

 

[Pakrat]

Not that I am approving of a fast one, but let's just say that you had classic insurance and that you had an unfortunate accident on the way to work. Who's to say that was where you were really heading when the accident occured. Further more if you bought a real **** box for a couple of hundred dollars, whose to say that it's not your daily even if it only actually leaves your yard once a year to get an inspection sticker?

 

[Ozsum67]

I insured with St. Farm. No hassle, no sneaking around hoping I didn't get into a wreck while just cruising around the block. "But wait Mr Agent, I really was going to a car show." Yea right. A sound company for sound piece of mind.

 

[EL1NOR]

Any idea what a seasonal 1967 fastback would run a 21 yr. old with another car for his daily driver and a clean record??

-Tim

 

[DarkBuddha]

Further more if you bought a real **** box for a couple of hundred dollars, whose to say that it's not your daily even if it only actually leaves your yard once a year to get an inspection sticker?

They've got you there too. Their requirement for a daily driver is something that is less than 5 years old, and that applies for every driver in the household. Sure, you can probably find a 5 year old POS for $200, but will it actually pass inspection? Probaby not.

 

[65fsbkhipo]

$265/year...State Farm...liability only.

 

[bnickel]

Any idea what a seasonal 1967 fastback would run a 21 yr. old with another car for his daily driver and a clean record??

most classic car insurance companies have a minimum age usually 28 or older

They've got you there too. Their requirement for a daily driver is something that is less than 5 years old, and that applies for every driver in the household. Sure, you can probably find a 5 year old POS for $200, but will it actually pass inspection? Probaby not.

the ones i have been looking at say it has to be 15 years old or less

 

[MustangPaul]

Don't get me started on this!

Hi all--

I live in Louisiana, the center of the known universe when it comes to high insurance. (Estimates of 40% of the cars on the road aren't insured.)

I drive my 66 GT to work every day and I've run this round and round. Clean record, no claims--I'm an insurance agent's dream! Anyway, all of the places I checked will not let you drive your car to work. My guess is that they aren't worried about damage on the way to/from work, but damage in the parking lot at work. Either way, I refuse to lie as I don't want to have something happen while the car is in the parking lot and be out of luck.

I kept State Farm as I have a good agent and I always like to be able to talk to someone face to face as opposed to calling on a phone and waiting and waiting. . . .

Feeling bad? Married 36 year old. No tickets, no nothing. Agreed upon value of 19,000 gets me over 550 every six months. High? Yes. Will SF cover me if my car is totaled at work? Yes. Worth the peace of mind? Hell yes.

I don't skimp on tires or insurance. One'll save your life, the other your sanity.

Again, if we had good sense, we'd all drive a Camry.

Go figure.

Just my thoughts.

--P

 

[KnownRider]

Again, if we had good sense, we'd all drive a Camry.

LOL! Ain't it the truth.

USAA was charging me around $800 per year for my Eclipse and I've got a spotless record (ok, one speeding ticket in my life). So some of these State Farm figures don't sound too bad, all things considered.

 

[L8knight]

I almost switched from State Farm this year because I felt I was paying too much... AIG had great rates. But then I've been with State Farm since I was able to drive (16, now 34). And since my record is clean for 10+ years they will waive 1st accident surcharge should I ever have an accident (knock on wood). And, given past experience of how quickly they get you back on the road or check in hand (and hearing stories from friends with not-so-good insurance), I'm playing it safe and staying with 'em. So like others have said, paying a few bucks more is worth the peace of mind knowing you are going to get back all the money you've put into the car (so you can go buy another one! ).

You wanna' hear a horror story?

My uncle built/restored a 68 fastback for 3 years, got it finished. Was out for the first weekend with it when some old lady pulled out in front of him causing him to swirve and roll it. Totalled. Insurance paid him <$500.00. He had over $10k invested in it, easily. We aren't allowed to talk to him about it, needless to say.