Cut Off Year For Classic Car Insurance

[FLAT6FAN]

I am looking at 1996 993 Coupe as a second car. How new can a car be to qualify for classic car insurance? I plan on driving the car less than 5,000 miles per year. I was thinking of using either Hagerty or Leland West. Thanks for your replies.

[juanbenae]

i think its 15 years, minimum.

[FLAT6FAN]

Thanks. I learned that it is 20 years for Hagerty.

[aigel]

And with Hagerty and others, no driving it to work or to the store. Only to club events and joy drives. No racing either!

George

[FLAT6FAN]

Which insurance company allows an occasional trip to work or the store?

[na2ub]

What type of price breaks might one typically get from classic or historic insurance. Is it worth bothering with? Of coarse I am speaking of my 79, which is pushing 25 years old. I have just purchased a second vehicle so I can give the targa the attention she deserves.

Doug

[m325ix]

Lelland West insurance is also for pleasure use ONLY

[FLAT6FAN]

I thought one of the classice insurance carriers would allow to occasionally drive the car to work or to the store?

Who else insures for classic cars besides Leland West and Hagerty?

[aigel]

Hagerty doesn't allow the trip to work. I don't know about others. Cost savings is SIGNIFICANT. Especially since you are talking full coverage. It's on the order of a couple of hundred bucks to inscure a muscle car era vehicle for a year with Hagerty. I doubt it is more for a 911 of the same vintage.

Another problem with Hagerty is that you have to show at least one newer daily driver for every driving member of the family! So, if you have two 911s that are 75 and earlier you can't say that one is your daily driver and the other is your 'sunday driver' classic car! Even if your wife has a new car, nope, you will have to have your 'own' 75 or later car.

George (ask me how I know!)

[FLAT6FAN]

Sounds like there are better alternatives than Hagerty. Who are the alternatives?

[TerryH]

Mercury Insurance has my 4 cars and house. I'm paying right at $300 a year for my '81SC without any restrictions (there probably is a racing restriction if I actually read the contract). That's $500K each accident etc. full maximum coverage with towing. Estimated value of $13,000. I only paid $10,000 for the car.

Disclaimer... I'm old and married with no kids at home and no accidents nor tickets.

[aigel]

FLAT6FAN:

I doubt you will find a classic car insurance cover a 96 Porsche 911. You go do the risk math yourself. You may find someone insuring it, but why would they let you drive it to work, be a recent model AND be cheaper than a regular company? It doesn't compute!

George

[juanbenae]

what really made me switch to classic insurance was the fact that no blue book value exisit for cars older than 20 years. what does this mean? well if you are with allstate that means the the haggling over replacement cost is no sure thing. allstate told me they would "look for the cars value/replacment cost in my area". that was way too vague for my liking. they would not even allow an appraisal i paid for to be put on file. that was not insurance, thats a crap shoot.

[unimog]

I have all three of my Porsches insured with Hagerty. The '59 and '66 of course fall under the 'vintage' category, and they insured my '87 as an 'exotic' (boy do I feel special). I've been very pleased with their service and it was no problem for me to raise the liability limits to 300/500. I like that the fee to raise the liability was a one time fee, and if additional vehicles are added the increased liability rider does not increase. You get to set your own value, and no photos need on 'vintages' vehicles, but 'new exotic' ones require 1 exterior, 1 interior, 1 engine. Normal limitations; driving to events, shows, and "pleasure" driving allowed. One current normal insured 'daily driver' vehicle per insured driver is required. Heck if my '87 911 is an 'exotic' you '96 993 should be... Call them direct, the 'over the phone quote' was much less then the internet quote.

[RickM]

From what I've seen there are no "Agreed upon value" policies to be had that allow you to drive to work. Hagerty alluded to the fact that a very occasional trip would be ok if it was for the purpose of servicing the car the same day. Another member here mentioned that they had this fact in writing. I haven't seen the policy though.

Also, Hagert insures "exotic" cars that are 19 years or newer. At 20 years or older cost goes down and they are a bit more lenient on your daily driver. http://www.hagerty.com/vehicle_exotic.asp

[Oldporsche]

Hagerty
lealand west
grundy

There a the 3 that I can recall

Good luck,
David Duffield

[Mike Andrew]

Regardles of company, how do they know if you drive it to work occasionally? Do they have spotters/spies?
Never quite grasped this part of the deal.

[juanbenae]

they dont really care if you drive to work or not. you are just not insured in doing so. if you crash or have it stolen they will point out the fine print to you. actually i would imagine thier attorney would point out as to why they were not go9ing to pay your claim.

[unimog]

Regardles of company, how do they know if you drive it to work occasionally? Do they have spotters/spies? Never quite grasped this part of the deal.

Lets say your 911 is stolen from the XYZ Corporation Parking lot. You just happen to work for XYZ Corporation. Were you out on a pleasure drive and decided to stop in and visit the guys in the office from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm? That would be kind of tough to explain if the insurance company got sticky. I'm sure you could pull it off with a good enough excuse. For example, I'm an aircraft mechanic, "I drove it to work to use my 'specialize tools' for a repair, and that is why it was there when it disappeared". It all depends on the circumstances, and your level of comfort.

[FLAT6FAN]

No offense to anyone in the Insurance Business, but it has always been my experience that Insurance Companies try to use any excuse to pay out as little as possible. I think their shareholders appreciate this.