meeotch

After seeing a number of posts by others in the same situation, but no solutions, I'm posting this question here: Is there an insurance solution for someone who owns a classic, but otherwise doesn't need to drive? I live in NYC, and I wouldn't own a "daily driver" if you paid me. It's way less hassle/expense/yelling to take the subway / taxi / uber / zipcar / bike, and I've gotten along fine this way for 17 years. But now, my father (who lives out of state) wants me to take over maintenance & care of his '66, because he needs the garage space. The only reasonable way for me to do that is to bring it to NYC. But it seems like there are no good insurance options:

• classic insurers won't cover it, because I don't have a daily driver.
• regular insurers will cover it, but the payout if it's stolen will be book value, and therefore worthless.
• maaaybe I could get it covered as an "exotic", but that seems crazy expensive?

The use case has changed not at all: it's still a garaged, seldom driven, investment / collector car that's driven maybe twice a year. (If I have an errand to run, I'm going to take a cab or pick up a zipcar a block from my house. I'm not going to ride the train an hour into Queens to where the '66 is stored, so that I can fight NYC traffic and parking, have no storage space for my new Ikea Nuurblo coffee table anyway, and then have to lug my purchases back home an hour on the train.) But it seems like all of the classic insurers will only believe it if I were to buy a "regular" car, pay for insurance and parking for it - and then have two cars I never use. (I would still take a cab/train/bike to run errands.) And none of the above issues seem to be much different if we re-title the car in my name.

Are there any other options that I haven't thought of? I know there are other people out there who live in large cities & own collector cars. I had one agent tell me that the issue wasn't so much the use, as it was the fact that classic insurance is intended to be secondary - so they want to see that you have primary liability / collision / etc. This makes more intuitive sense to me than, "we don't want you to be tempted to drive it to the grocery store". Maybe some combination of coverages could be cobbled together? At one point I had a "non-owners" policy that I picked up during a period where I was renting cars a lot. But even that seems to be an extinct animal at this point. I've tried Hagerty, NCM, and a few others, but so far, no love.

You'd think some company would understand a super low-risk case like this, and be willing to put together a plan that covers it. Anyone out there in the same situation?

Bluestripe67

Why can't he find local storage? How could you possibly expect to find a Corvette experienced service in NYC? Sell the car to someone who will drive it, and appreciate it. It's time to collect on the alleged investment. Dennis

vettebuyer6369

I didn’t realize that collector car coverage depended on owning a driver. I understand the concept, because it proves the collector won’t be used as a driver, but still it’s an odd reason for not providing coverage. I’ll bet one of the collector companies would do it. Call American Modern, they are pretty reasonable about everything, I’ve found.

On the other hand, the obvious question is, why would your Dad want to saddle you with storing/maintaining a car for him in NYC? It doesn’t make any sense. Because he wants garage space? Find a storage unit. You are the typical “doesn’t care about cars” guy everyone talks about when bemoaning the state of the hobby’s future. What would you say to your Dad if he asked you to store his boat in the middle of NYC and take care of it? You’d say, “sorry Dad, I’d like to help, but this isn’t something I can do,” right? What’s the difference here?

Why doesn’t he simply sell it?

leif.anderson93

Thanks for putting into words what I was struggling to say without being some kind of a smart azz.

SDVette

Vettebuyer6369 is making a lot of assumptions there... You kinda sound like a car guy to my, who happens to be in NYC!

If you're going to drive it on the public road, even 1 mile, you have to have liability insurance.
I assume you also want protection from theft and damage?

Adam (from NCM) is a member here.. Maybe he will know of something?

Frankie the Fink

In every classic car policy I've looked into..

vettebuyer6369

I hear a guy who sees no value in owning a car for 17 years and, in his words, “my father wants me to take over care” of his Corvette.

If that sounds like a car guy to you, we have different definitions of a “car guy.” It wasn’t an insult.

vettebuyer6369

Yep, makes sense. Never thought about it.

RatDog

As suggested, talk to Adam Boca at the NCM. He figured out some issues for me when I bought my car.

I wonder if a a bigger issue in your car is not only the lack of a DD but storing your car away from where you live.

Steve

Frankie the Fink

I thought NCM didn't insure in NYC - which is why I didn't bring it up....

RatDog

I think you may be right about that.

Steve

Not Red Rob

American Modern has been amazing insuring my collection, even projects and a ‘89 Callaway that only has 1,100 miles on it and not driven at all.

JohnZ

Maybe OP Meeotch lives in an apartment and doesn't have a garage, like millions of others in NYC.

When I was at Michigan State in '60-'62, my roommate was from NYC, his home was on the 18th floor of an apartment building, his family had never owned a car, and he had never even ridden in a car, much less ever drove one. I taught him to drive my stick-shift '56 Chevy 210 Delray(when he was 21) and got him a Michigan driver's license. He was a sensation at home - the only guy in his age group of friends who knew how to drive and had a license.

Tampa Jerry

Do people insure classic cars which are not registered? If so let the registration lapse and insure the car for fire, theft and comprehensive. You could store the car in a storage facility, provided the insurance company is aware of its location and approves. Jerry

63 340HP

When I first purchased my 63 I did not have insurance on another car, because my daily driver car was a company provided car. It's been so long ago that I cannot remember if American Collectors even asked if I had other transportation. I don't see much difference between the subway as your daily driver, or company provided transportation as a daily driver.

I would think the big hurdles to convince an insurer to underwrite a policy would be if the garaged location's security is adequately supervised (in Queens), how do you practice not leaving the vehicle unattended when it's being driven, and most important where do you drive (not in NYC, but where do you actually plan to drive the car)? Be prepared to answer these types of questions.

I get where you are at for transport, as I have had a number of friends who moved from CA to NYC for work, and they each sold the daily driver car after a few months because they used public transport and garage costs were excessive. When they got out of town they would call me and review the rental car flavor of the month that they picked up in an Upstate town (the car garage expense savings easily covered a rental car weekend every month).

SJW

Contact one or more insurance brokers who can shop this around to numerous carriers. You want an agreed value policy on the car. A good broker might be able to find a carrier that will write one even though you have no other car.

Live well,

SJW

meeotch

Ha - I'm not sure what it is about the internet that invites cries of "you're doing it wrong"... But thanks to those posters who understood where I'm coming from / offered solutions. In fact, I did contact the folks at NCM, and they've been very helpful (and super nice). Also KJE Consultants here in NYC - the agent there told me he's run into this exact situation in the past, and he's going to try and find some alternatives. (One would be getting "regular" insurance, but convincing the insurer to offer an agreed value rather than actual cash value.)

If anyone really wants justification of the fact that he continues to own the car: It's been in the family for just shy of 20 years. I owned it myself for a number of years, but had to give it up when I moved to NYC, for the reasons I mentioned. It was the last car I owned, in fact. My sister even had it at her place for a while. My dad's getting up in years now, it's a hassle for him to get it to the mechanic for periodic checkups, and in terms of "pleasure cruises", I'll probably get more pleasure out of driving it a couple times a year than he will. (And he can still drive it when he comes to visit.) Yes, it's a total pain in the *** dealing with cars in NYC (which is why most of us don't own one) - but I'm willing to do it because it's a great car - and because, you know, I love my dad. You might be surprised how many "car guys" live in places where it's difficult to have a car, I'm guessing - so you know, judge not.

If anyone's interested, I'm happy to report back with my whatever the ultimate solution turns out to be.

PaulUptime

Yes, do report back with what you found with this fun "1st world problem!"

I was thinking maybe you could buy (register and insure, obviously) a beater car? Something basic, cheap and reasonably reliable that you could store someplace close enough to get to, but cheap enough you don't feel you're wasting money on. That beater will meet your requirement to obtain a low-cost agreed value policy for the Vette, and use to get to wherever you've stored your heirloom Corvette. There must be plenty of rural locations within a 90 minute drive that will offer security, affordability and likely even interesting road trip destinations. I'd imagine a Saturday morning, get up early, head out of the city, get your Vette and go for a drive!

I've driven NYC with my '65 and though it was a happy experience, it's not something I'd ever care to repeat.

meeotch

First World problem, for sure! And yeah, the beater car was on my list of strategies to evaluate. But it rapidly becomes either too expensive (renting *another* parking space, to the tune of a few $hundred/month), or too painful: most of the City has alternate-side parking, so all of a sudden, you're playing parking roulette every night for a car you don't even use, or you drive it out to some remote location and basically hope nobody calls it in to the cops as an abandoned vehicle. Lotta hoops. I've got a few decent leads, though - hoping one of them ends up being more reasonable than the price of beater car + reg + insurance + parking.

Brave man. It once took me nearly 2 hours to get out of Manhattan when I missed the turn for the tunnel the first time. (Thankfully, not in the 'vette!) Never again... in any car.