Insurance

Hi, all. Just got a letter from Heacock Classic collector car insurance, informing me they are switching from Infinity insurance to American Modern Insurance Group. Any comments, complaints or insight into the switch? I've never had a problem with Infinity, but then again I've never made a claim. Anyone care to recommend the "best" company out there, with a good reputation or the least hassle re. claims or service?
'Preciate it.
 
Thanks. Have you made a claim? While googling insurance companies, I've read a few horror stories about some owners being refused reimbursement or fighting 6 month long battles trying to settle a claim. I'd appreciate any info from someone who has made a claim and received good service/hassle free payments.
 
Hi Mike, Heacock sent me the same ultimatum about four months ago. The American Modern renewal quote was about 10% more than the prior Infinity premium. No experience with claims for either Infinity or American Modern. When I did a comparison quote with Hagerty, American Modern was half the cost for the same coverage levels however. The transition to American seemed pretty painless really.
 

Julian

Lifetime Supporter
I went through a comparative exercise last year and here's some of my observations;

Hagerty has the best reputation on service and claims response, they are however generally the most expensive and especially so for kit cars... as they say "quality costs".

Grundy, Hagerty, Sneed and Heacock all now have track day/HPDE exclusions (Grundy's to the extent you are not covered whilst parked at a racetrack!) It used to be that 'non competitive' track days were covered, but with the popularity of these events (and presumably some arising claims) that has ceased.

In the end I chose to stay with American Collectors, albeit I have no experience with claims, but they gave a rate close to Heacock (who were cheapest) and they had no track day exclusions, except specific to the Ultima where I had to attest I would not use it for "competitive or timed racing"

My decision was based around insuring multiple cars (4) and some companies do a lot better at reduced rates for more than one car, recognizing I can only drive one at a time.
 
Thanks, guys. I checked with Grundy, and they offered (I think - I haven't signed anything yet) coverage a couple of hundred cheaper than Heacock on an agreed value policy ( I quoted $120,000). I'll see what kind of quote I can get from Haggerty and American Collector. I like the part about no exclusion for 'school' track days at American.
Thanks again.
 
Just asked for quotes from Hagerty and American Collector Ins. Hagerty $2300+, American, $4500+???? These can't be right. Heacock charged a little over $1000, and Grundy was less??? What am I doing wrong?
 

Jack Houpe

GT40s Supporter
Mike, that is outrageously high. My auto insurance for my GT40 is less than $100 every 6 months BUT I carry $300k liability only, with under insured and no insured. I do not carry collision on any of my cars except the new daily drivers, soon as they get 4 years old I drop down to liability only. If you add up what we pay in taxes and insurance its a wonder that any of use can feed ourselves.

All these other collector car insurance companies will not cover you at all if your on a track, or you've had an accident with a ticket issued to you for for speeding or reckless driving, and a few other things. So whats the point? I just cover my body and anyone else that is in my car. Really 300k is not that much, I should increase to 1 million.
 
More info. American Collector just turned me down for an insurance quote. Turns out they can't make the minimum 300/500 liability requirement from my umbrella policy on a replica???? I wasn't aware this was a limitation. I didn't have that on my Heacock insurance, just 100/300. How 'bout dem apples?
 
Mike,

Try Classic Insurance 800-397-0765. I have 3 cars (GT40, Beck 550 spyder, and 67 Sting Ray) together for under 1000.00 per year. I think they use Infinity.
 
I am up for renewal and this has been a great post. I currently have haggerty with a renewal of 1466.00. I thought that to be a little much because of what others have posted. It does have an agreed price value of 100,000.00. I called classic insurance and got a quote of 1065.00 and called american with a quote of 1679.00. I was surprised that american would be the most expensive of them all and especially more than haggerty. I will be calling Met life with their concours insurance program and will post their reply and quote.
 

Kelly

Lifetime Supporter
I’m working on purchase of GT40, had previously viewed this thread, and just looked into insurance premiums. I did the online quote requests and followed up with phone call and Q&A. Thought I’d share prelim results:

<?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p>
Grundy: $685
Heacock: $704
Classic: $738 (this may not have included $63 club discount) and limits were 300/300
Haggerty: $1229


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o:p><UL><LI><FONT face=
For $100k agreed value, $500k/$300k limitsDeductables were $0-$250 for all except Haggerty ($1000 and $2500 for comp and collision respectively). None of the others even offered higher deductables for kit cars.
None offered any kind of on track coverage
Some of the rates were affected by how the car was titled. The three lower rates above were with the car titled as a 1966 vehicle (which my state allows) and may have been adversely affected if titled as a 2009 (exotic versus modifeid class).
Rates are 1000 miles per year cap. Bumping the annual mileage to 3000 miles per year increased the annual premium ~$100-$150/yr. Car could not be your daily driver but did not limit use to shows or club events only, although when I read the use policies some didn’t seem to be clear on this (Classic for example stated "occasional pleasure use").
The three companies with the lower rates all included a club (belong to any car club) membership discount (approximately $60-70 discount included in the rate).
Most had similar documentation required to bind coverage and took 2-3 days from start to finish for binding coverage.
Grundy required cashiers check prior to binding (that’s a PITA). Classic took credit card.
Grundy was underwritten by Philadelphia Indemnity, While Classic and Heacock both used American Modern. Haggerty was Essentia and handled all claims in house.


</UL><o:p></o:p>
Not sure why Haggerty was the outlier but how the car was titled did not affect their rate. I was clear and questioned the other three companies if they understood it was a kit car, use, and they were quite familiar with the car and indicated they already insure like vehicles.


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I haven’t actually tried to secure the coverage yet and will need to drill in a bit deeper before/when I do.


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Best Regards,
Kelly

 
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Mike Trusty

GT40s Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
If you ever want to know how many tickets your wife has got in the past few years just apply for insurance for your new GT40. :-( And no they will not accept an exclusion stating that she will not drive the car.
 

Kelly

Lifetime Supporter
If you ever want to know how many tickets your wife has got in the past few years just apply for insurance for your new GT40. :-( And no they will not accept an exclusion stating that she will not drive the car.

Mike, think you should consider repossessing her parking space :laugh:

Take care,
Kelly
 
wow, I added mine to my USAA account and it was less than $750 for $105k.

DANGER Will Robinson!

Have you read the fine print in your policy? I'm a USAA member too, and have my daily drivers insured with them. However, I would *never* insure a collector car with an ordinary insurance policy.

USAA, State Farm, Allstate etc. offer what's called 'Actual Cash Value' policies (ACV). That sounds very warm and reassuring. It's not, because in the event of a claim, they determine the ACV, and invariably they are way low on their offer, which is a take-it-or-leave-it thing.

Sometimes they also offer a Stated Value policy. That sounds like what you have. They ask you what you think your car is worth, you tell them, then they charge you some percentage of that value. However, if you read the fine print you'll find that they are not actually obligated to pay you that amount in the event of a loss! Instead, they refer to the ACV rules--they just pick a number out of the air and hand it to you. That number is usually defined by somebody who knows nothing about collector cars, who just thumbs through an Autotrader and averages the prices of nominally similar cars, minus a bit.

Stating your value at the time they wrote the policy is merely their way of extracting a higher premium. Very sneaky!

What you want, and what the various collector car companies offer, is an Agreed Value policy. This is exactly what it sounds like--you and the insurance company sign a binding contract ahead of time, in which they agree to pay up to X amount to settle your claim. In the event of a total loss, they will pay the maximum amount you agreed upon, period, dot.

Lest you think I'm being paranoid, let me tell you that I have a friend who had his '72 Corvette Roadster insured with USAA. He went to dinner and came out afterwards and it had been stolen. At the time (quite awhile ago now) it was worth about $20K. USAA gave him $9800. When he asked how they came up with that number, the adjuster told him that he'd looked at every early '70s Corvette advertised in his local autotrader (including some that were basically parts cars), then just averaged the asking prices, and subtracted a small percentage of that average to account for the idea that most cars sell for less than asked.

When he protested, they told him that they've got armies of lawyers, and although he could choose to engage counsel, and might even win, at the end of the day, by the time he had paid his lawyers, he'd likely wind up with less in his pocket than they were offering him at the moment.

Like you, he thought he had made a deal with them ahead of time (he had stated its value at $20K). They explained the fine print to him, he hung his head and walked away with his $9800. :furious:

Don't let that happen to you! If you don't know for a fact that you have an Agreed Value policy, phone up USAA and get clarification. If they can demonstrate to you in writing that they have in fact sold you an Agreed Value policy, that's great. But chances are that you'll soon find yourself shopping with a speciality insurer.

I've been with Parish (now Heacock) for about 15-20 years, and have been very happy with their service. I have had to file a few claims (never my fault thankfully) and they were all settled quickly and very fairly, and it was an easy process as well.
 
I'm with Heacock also. I'm 52 and live in North Central Florida {read; I live out in the country} and found it interesting that before insuring me their underwriter called and asked about my previous history with driving exotic cars. I told him and he said "OK you're good." We agreed to a stated value om my GT40 and they matched my insurance with my daily driver. I'm skeptical of insurance companies at the best of times. I always think I'm getting ripped when I pay my premium but I'm always thankful I have it when I need it. Thankfully (Fingers, eyes and toes crossed) I've not needed them. I've heard that the fine print really comes into focus when you call on any of them for service though. Visions of steam coming from my ears fills my head thinking of what they would tell me if I claim.
 
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