Torqued Off

This whole "limitations" issue on classic cars, as far as registration and insurance, still raises a question in my mind.....and I have asked this before on the forum, with no good answers. I will try again..and I think that this applies to the question in this thread.

So you sign up for classic or antique plates, and you buy classic insurance from any of these insurance companies. Now, you go to your car shows, etc. You have an accident on the way to the car show, and awesome, the cops don't fine you, and your insurance pays off. All is good, you were doing what you are allowed to do according to all these "limitations".

BUT, then on a given Thursday afternoon you decide to drive the car to the grocery store to pick up milk, and you have an accident. NOW WHAT? The cops are going to somehow figure out you were actually NOT going to a car show and sign you up for Classic Car registration suspension and fine???? And then if that wasn't bad enough, when you call the insurance company on a Thursday afternoon, they are going to say ""Hey, why are you driving the car on Thursday afternoon,.....car shows are only on weekends, or evenings, so because you are driving on a Thursday afternoon....sorry, claim denied!!???

Really, explain this to me. If I have antique plates and classic car insurance, am I destined to get a cop fine me and all the money I spent on the insurance, no matter how cheap, was all wasted, and I just lost it all......is that going to happen? Yes or No? I am serious, because otherwise, all this "limitations" stuff is just some kind of B.S. If I am paying for insurance, then I need to know if they are going to pay up when the time comes, because these limitation of driving the car to shows or occasional use or whatever is so vague and undefinable, it makes no sense to me. Can someone please explain what I am missing when it comes to reality.

Torqued Off

Depending on an Agent to abide by a company policy or not, based on him being a nice guy is not a very secure way to operate...cause, once the accident is done, what really matters is the fine print on the insurance agreement, and what the management of the insurance company decides is the current financial status of the company and what they will or will not accept. So either these insurance companies are going to pay up on a claim or not, what is the answer?

dobeluvr

Never had a problem with State Farm. Between myself, wife, and daughter we have hit 4 deer and one tree, all with State Farm. No problems getting getting truck, jeep, and daughters car fixed.

With that said, I answered that question that it will be used way more for pleasure drives for wife and I and less than 1% of time for shows, parades etc.

cv67

x2 on reading the fine print of the policy and being straight about how its going to be used. They are there to try and deny claims anyways dont give them a good reason. Is it worth it really? Not.

State Farm on the DD they "Ok"
Now doing some lame-o thing where they rate based on 5k, 8507 mi a yr etc for a DD and raising to suit, never heard of that. Ill be shopping again soon. Didnt drive practically half of last yr and still tried to raise me well under their limit. Have an accident over that, denied. Non classic policy

Adam Boca at NCM for the toy hands down. Better coverage, rates, usage hands down.

jim2527

You had the day off from work, the weather was nice and you decided to go for a 'pleasure' drive. I believe that's well within the limits of any of the policies. In fact, I had representative of my classic car company tell me it's ok to drive to work 'on occasion'.

Richard Daugird

You were "Testing" it, perfectly O.K. Never been hassled over antique plates, even got caught racing(STUPID STUPID STUPID) after midnight leaving a bar(REALLY STUPID)years ago in my '65 Riviera.

Fast forward a month ago 'Vette parked on the street at a buddies, hit and run crunched it, no hassle from the police OR State Farm about Antique plates/classic insurance. Don't be a squirrel(like I was in the Rivi) and you will be good.

myoriginal77

If you have anyone (or you) with a military affiliation in your family you can get USAA - I switched after being a State Farm customer for 40 years - they contract for classic cars but switching my other 2 cars and my Corvette I saved $1200 a year. I'm about to add another Corvette and they do agreed value.

Frank

bj1k

So I guess what you are telling me is that I just have a bad agent because I have never turned in a claim for anything that I was responsible for in 50 years of driving and with the same State Farm agent but I was involved in two incidents where something else damaged my car and never received a dime. One incident was another State Farm customer hit my car And State Farm refused to pay saying because it happened out of my state. WHAT ? We will see , I just recently switched agents with State Farm only because switching companies at my age would increase my premiums even though I have never had an accident.

LongRoadHome

Got to chime in with this, since I just got my '77 a few months ago and insured a couple months ago with my long time State Farm agent.

Originally the 6 month payment was only $67, nearly the same as a VW fiberglass kit car from a year ago. Well, last month they asked for more pictures of the interior with the cheap seat covers removed. Made sense, I hadn't even thought about it at the time though. But what wasn't making sense to me is that they were upping the payment to $157 because "condition" of the car was not considered "good" enough.

Yes, that's right. Worse than good meant more money to insure it!

Now, granted, they insure through another company so it's based on that. Haggerty I believe, if I recall right what was said. Seems like they require either a restored car or one with original parts, or ...?

I've yet to find out what difference the newer pictures will make, showing the somewhat tattered seats are indeed of a Corvette and not something else anyway. Problem was that the payment increase had to be paid to be sure it was covered in case of accident.

All very convoluted if you ask me. I can't reason out why the poorer than 'good' condition is the qualifier for increasing cost of this insurance. At least that was the explanation I was given by one of the employees. Otherwise it's just like the old 1984 kit car, which is in fairer shape as of now, yet a mere $61 bi-annually.

Oh yeah, both at agreed values of $6000 and same exact policy type too. Has me thinking it's a special Corvette thing they're getting me on, with me not knowing anything about this stuff.

Sure makes you wonder, doesn't it? What with all the other stories people have here, good and bad.

CheezMoe

Yep, you pay more because the agent typically wears expensive suits and belongs to a country club!