Insurance

[CBuff]

I beleive you need to get a VIN assigned to get the insurance. I am currently on that step of the process. 

[TurboWood]

Thought I would share that Hagerty won't touch Caterham in CA. At least that is what I was told by their sales person. American Collectors rates also doubled since last year.

 

Daniel

[wdb]

My experience with Hagerty isn't great but one thing I did learn is that what they will cover seems to vary by agent as well as region. It really makes me wonder.

[Croc]

12 hours ago, wdb said:

 I did learn is that what they will cover seems to vary by agent as well as region. It really makes me wonder.

 

Insurance is regulated state by state in the US.  Each state is a completely different insurance experience.  Just because Hagerty is good in NJ does not mean it will be good in an adjoining state.  This means risk conditions, limits, premium rates, special conditions, and claims experience differ by each state as Hagerty use different insurance companies to issue the policy behind the scenes.  They are also in the middle of migrating from being a Managing General Agent issuing policies via a third party insurer (Markel) to actually having their own insurance companies.  Its very hard to generalize insurance experience across the US.

[KnifeySpoony]

19 hours ago, TurboWood said:

Thought I would share that Hagerty won't touch Caterham in CA. At least that is what I was told by their sales person. American Collectors rates also doubled since last year.

 

Daniel

My car has been insured with Hagerty in CA since 2021. Ask for someone else?

Edited December 17, 2025 by KnifeySpoony

[slowdude]

7 hours ago, Croc said:

 

Insurance is regulated state by state in the US.  Each state is a completely different insurance experience.  Just because Hagerty is good in NJ does not mean it will be good in an adjoining state.  This means risk conditions, limits, premium rates, special conditions, and claims experience differ by each state as Hagerty use different insurance companies to issue the policy behind the scenes.  They are also in the middle of migrating from being a Managing General Agent issuing policies via a third party insurer (Markel) to actually having their own insurance companies.  Its very hard to generalize insurance experience across the US.

If they are their own insurer, prices will remain the same or go up, but their spread on the insurance products will go up?

[Croc]

12 hours ago, slowdude said:

If they are their own insurer, prices will remain the same or go up, but their spread on the insurance products will go up?

 

No such thing as a spread - thats life insurance.

 

Prices are based on cost (losses) plus anticipated expenses plus a profit margin and sometimes investment income offset if it is a long enough loss settlement pattern.  Costs as based on how badly you crash or get sued, etc. 

 

By switching from MGA to insurer you just switch out a commission for a direct cost.  Hard to tell if there is a ton of profit margin in this - I doubt it.  Gives you control of your destiny though if you have ambitions to grow larger.  

 

 

[CBuff]

[TurboWood]

Grundy also rejected to quote in CA.

 

Daniel

[Slonie]

 

On 12/16/2025 at 3:48 PM, TurboWood said:

Thought I would share that Hagerty won't touch Caterham in CA. At least that is what I was told by their sales person. American Collectors rates also doubled since last year.

 

Daniel

 

 

This is kind of crazy how much these things vary from state to state and anecdote to anecdote. I have Hagerty here (in California). Never had to make a claim but everything has been straightforward. However — I got my policy more than five years ago, so clearly YMMV.

[Nocturnal005]

I checked into hagerty and was given a quote that was essentially the same premium as I'm paying via state farm but with significantly less coverage. One thing that I did like w the hagerty quote was the guaranteed value they provide in the event of loss. I elected to stay with my current insurance after the quote.