I live in the mid-atlantic area and am searching for reputable classic car insurance. Any suggestions? One drawback I see is that I am unable to garage the car.
If you meet the qualifications and have enough daily drivers - Hagerty is very good. They do require you have a non-classic driver for each licenesed driver in your household and that no one under I think it was 25 drive the car. Also that you drive less than 2500 miles a year. They don't have a lot of other restrictions except that the car MUST be garaged.
http://www.hagerty.com
I pay $130 a year for $12,000.00 agreed value comp, 100/300 liabilty, full glass breakage, towing etc. on my 1968 Plymouth Fury. If you have more cars it gets cheaper they don't double charge you for liabilty - they figure you can only drive one at a time.
Throughout the years I have used several of the speciiality insurance carriers. I currently have Haggerty on the four "classic" cars I insure, they are good people to work with, ie, they don't make a fuss over cars that have been modified from stock. In the past I had problems with the other carriers in as much that they took my money then bocked at modifications when it came to renew. I have a 36 Ford coupe that I have had for fifty-three years, it has hydraulic brakes and a 48 Merc 59 AB engine, all of the upholstery is original and it has only been repainted once . I would not call that much of a modification, yet the former carriers did.
I have never had a claim on any of my old cars, when you have a claim then you find out how good your carrier is.
A word of caution when it comes to insurance.....THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH..... If you try to save money on your coverage by going with...Actual Cash Value (ACV) in lieu of Stated Value. With ACV coverage the value of the vehicle is established by the insurance company, you might think the car is worth mega bucks where-as the insurance company thinks the car is worth mini-bucks, then the fighting begins... With Stated Value, once the value is established on a vehicle and you pay the money the carrier is obligated to pay the amount stated in the policy.
In the case of my 39 Plym Conv. Coupe.... A resent issue of the Old Car Value Guide lists a 39 Plym conv in #1 condition at $26,000, of the three resent listings for a 39 Conv on either eBay or Hemming', none of them have exceeded $26,500. I have mine insured for $45,000. because that is what it was appraised for in it's present condition, when the top is on and the upholstery completed I will raise the liimits to reflect the added value.
Another word of caution...... Don't drop your insurance on your classic car (s) in the winter when you are not driving them. Some people think their home owners insurance will cover the car in the event of a fire, etc, while the car is garaged. My wife tried that several years ago until I found out about it. I had to get a letter from our carrier in order to convince my wife that she and the agent were wrong. I knew about this lack of coverage because a friend of mine lost a 39 Ford Woody in a house fire because he had been told his home owners policy would cover the car if it was in the garage. Generally speaking HO will only cover lawn mowers, yard tractors
etc, and some boats stored in a garage that is insured.
I carried insurance on my 39 Plym the whole time it was under construction, I have know far to many guys that lost either their whole car and or parts of it while it was in someones shop being worked on...... Most shops have a very large sign informing one and all that.....THEY ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FIRE OR THEFT........
Ok guys............ I am sorry for such a long winded response to a short question, I guess I have a bad habit or telling the whole storey where-as a simple yes or no might have been good enough....Bill