Insurance irritation - car parts

[Dennis Kalma]

Hi guys, just want to vent for a while.

A fellow in the local PCA chapter just had an unfortunate garage fire, gas leak that flamed before he could get it stopped. No one was hurt, fire burnt pretty hot and damaged his 356 a fair bit and also consumed the parts in his garage.

Well, here is the issue, even though the car was insured and the garage was insured, the insurance companies do not appear to be covering the car parts not attached to the vehicle. So, since I have a garage full of parts, I figured I would check with my insurance company and got some very interesting and disturbing answers so far.

Turns out that a car under restoration has very limited coverage even if you maintain insurance on it. Essentially only the parts that are intended for the car are covered and then they consider that they are devalued (as they need installing) so you will be lucky to get a few cents on the dollar.

If parts are in your garage, they are not covered under any auto policy (as they are not on nor perhaps intended for a particular car) and therefore "not part of your car". But, get this, they are not covered under your house policy either as they are "car parts".

If you challenge the insurance guys, and ask them...for example...would a $3000 PC that I bought be covered under my policy if it was in my garage when it burned down, the answer is yes, most definitely. So, if a $3000 crankshaft is in my garage when it burns down, is it covered under my policy the answer is NO.

I guess I take the simple point of view that insurance is taken to protect my posessions.....in the case of my home policy it includes all the stuff in my house plus the building, and when it burns to the ground I expect that my stuff gets replaced (I have replacement coverage). It should not matter whether it is a car part or a PC or a table, they are all my possessions, they ought to be all covered. I can see that a car would be covered under its own automotive policy so that is fine.....

I am not sure if this is just Canadian insurance, but if you read the policy carefully it specifically excludes motorized vehicles (cars, snowmobiles, go karts) and their accessories.....and there appears to be no means to get them insured short of treating them the same as jewelery....get each part appraised and insured separately, a bit difficult for a gazillion car parts, not to speak of expensive.

Anyone got any good answers for this? Not that I am planning on my garage burning down, but accidents do indeed happen...

Dennis

[Hugh R]

Yeah, that's essentially true. I know a guy who lost a 63 split back window corvette that he was restoring due to a drier lint fire. Frame off restoration job lost the car, house everything. He go nothing for those exact reasons. Homeowners insurance typically pays for furniture, clothes and some cap, like $1,000 for artwork/jewelry , unless you have a rider. Car insurance same thing, what is attached to the car, not what could have been attached to the car.