insurance opinions

[Sabbot]

Any thouhts on good insurance companies to bundle coverage across several low annual mileage classic vehicles?

I currently have my Caterham S3 insured with Hagerty and have had no issues but also no claims. I noticed that Chubb insure classic vehicles and wondered if anybody had any recommendations for companies offering agreed value policies on bunch of low annual mileage vehicles - in this case the Caterham, a 1970 Elan S4 and a Triumph Bonneville.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Sabbot
typo

[WestTexasS2K]

I use State Farm agreed value coverage policy. No restrictions and reasonable prices. You will need to have other things insured with them. I have 5 vehicles and 3 buildings with them so its takes about 2 min to add an Ultralite.

[Croc]

Hi Stewart - I use Chubb Insurance for everything except the Caterham. Chubb would insure it but for a premium of $2500 per year and must keep it under 3000 miles annually. This is insurance code for "we do not want the risk." They had no problems with the agreed value insurance on the 1965 mustang. So I use Grundy (MGA for Philly Gen) for the Caterham as Hagerty required a 24 hour security service before they would insure the Caterham. I work in insurance and I think Chubb are very good and I would recommend them highly. They were excellent during my claim last year when the steel pipe took out my Audi (and very nearly me!). If you want to chat with a good Chubb agent close to you - I can send you details offline. I still think your best bet is with a specialist classic car insurer.

 

State Farm, Allstate, and Nationwide will not insure Caterhams or other seven replicas in NJ. I had my old seven with State Farm and they changed their underwriting policy and refused to renew despite me having all my other business with them.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Croc

[Kitcat]

Croc is rarely wrong, but maybe this time? State Farm insures all my steet cars including my Birkin and Caterham. Annual premium abt $600.00 for the se7ens as long as mileage was under 5,000. I just renewed my Birkin insurance two months ago. It does exclude track-day damage tho.

[sevenup]

I have my Stalker 3.4L, MG gt 3.9L Sebring clone, and my Arkley Midget insured with Hagerty. Costs me @ $400 annually. Basically, just can not use the car for every day use, only for pleasure.....

[WestTexasS2K]

The only restriction with Stste Farm was I had to have a daily driver. No mileage limits.

[lucky dawg]

My CSR is with State Farm. No problem at all insuring it at a fair rate.

[wemtd]

Mike I expect this could be an insurance in NJ vs. insurance everywhere else issue. My dd insurance in NHL was different than everywhere else

[Croc]

People forget that auto and home insurance is not federally regulated unlike banking. So each state is different for insurance regulations and operations. Insurance policies are unique by state for that reason. NJ is not an insurer friendly state so the availability of products that suit our cars is more restricted than other states where the state governments take a more business friendly approach.

[ChuckeD]

The purpose of having insurance is to protect your assets if and when you have a claim. No question that Chubb is the best when it comes to a claim filed and State Farm, well wait to you weather the experience of a claim with State Farm.

[Kitcat]

My State Farm claim experiernces have been exemplary: On my first claim they gave me $1K more for my flood-damaged 1 year old Accord than I paid for it, the 2nd, they gave me $3K more for the value of the Honda van my son totalled. And no increases in premiums.

 

Maybe claims service varies state to state also?

[BruceBowker]

Very happy with Haggerty so far. Only wish they would also insure daily driver so I don't have two policies with two companies. I understand Grundy now does this.

[xflow7]

I realize that this thread was started in the vein of soliciting suggestions for alternatives to Hagerty, but I'll go ahead and put in my plug for them anyway.

 

My Seven has been insured with Hagerty for 11 years now and I've been very pleased. Every time I have called them they have been responsive and helpful.

 

In that time I had one claim which was quite large after a deer strike. The only minor quibble I had about the claims process was that the adjuster they sent to the shop doing the repairs was versed in classic cars, but more along the lines of hot rods, muscle cars, etc. I think. He was a little out of his depth in assessing the damage to something that is constructed fundamentally differently (i.e. thin-wall tube and aluminum skin). However, we worked through it and Hagerty paid the $15k claim in full without any fuss.

 

Dave

[jeffs]

I signed up with Grundy a couple of months ago after Hagerty left me high and dry. Their site was advertising a deal to move all your vehicles over to them. I haven't done it yet as I've had such a great experience with State Farm, but you might want to check it out.

 

Mike is correct BTW, it is a NJ specific thing that State Farm will not cover a seven here.

[xflow7]

It's a good point that insurance options and characteristics *do* vary a lot from state to state.

 

In light of that, I'll amend my endorsement of Hagerty to state that my experience with them has been in OH, MI, NY, and VT (the claim was while in Michigan).

 

Dave

[lucky dawg]

Going back to the original question, the best place to start is with the insurance agent who has the rest of your insurance policies (ie: auto and homeowners). They already have a relationship with you and will try to keep an existing customer happy.

[IDreamOfChapman]

Going back to the original question, the best place to start is with the insurance agent who has the rest of your insurance policies (ie: auto and homeowners). They already have a relationship with you and will try to keep an existing customer happy.

 

I'd do that too.

 

I tried, but in Oregon State Farm won't touch a Caterham so I ended up with American Collectors. The Hagerty rep (again, it's state by state) I spoke to for Oregon would not cover "pleasure driving," only driving to and from club events. This came as a shock to me since in California my Hagerty insurance had no problem with me driving anywhere I wanted within mileage limits.

[lucky dawg]

I'd do that too.

 

I tried, but in Oregon State Farm won't touch a Caterham so I ended up with American Collectors. The Hagerty rep (again, it's state by state) I spoke to for Oregon would not cover "pleasure driving," only driving to and from club events. This came as a shock to me since in California my Hagerty insurance had no problem with me driving anywhere I wanted within mileage limits.

 

Ask your agent to specifically speak to the underwriter who handles classic and rare cars. It is the same person for OR and WA. PM me if you need the name of my agent, who can then provide the info to your SF agent.

[Croc]

....so I ended up with American Collectors.

 

I have used American Collectors on my seven previously a few years back. They were good but never really had much dealings with them beyond the policy set up. They are a good alternative to Hagerty/Grundy in NJ. They have to insure classic cars in NJ as they are based in Cherry Hill, NJ!