[tirwin]

We've all heard the adage that insurance is a numbers game. The trick to being profitable is getting the right customer mix. The 'secret sauce' for an insurer is having better actuarial tables and how good you are at identifying good and bad customers and pricing accordingly. The rest is just marketing and maintaining a positive brand reputation.

What is interesting to me is that you would think the overall collector car insurance market would be relatively good business compared to insuring daily driver vehicles. Most collector vehicles aren't driven as much and as a general rule they are going to be maintained by people who generally care more about that sort of thing.

The flip side is older cars lack the safety features of modern cars so there is probably more risk of serious injury in an accident. And of course as cars appreciate in value, the payouts are probably much bigger when they do happen.

Consider the market run up in our cars. When I joined Pelican 5 years ago it seemed like there was a much higher frequency of people looking to buy '80s 911s. The rule was low teens got you in the game and high teens was a great car. People said "they are all $20k cars." Not so anymore.

But Porsches aren't unique in this regard. A few years ago a Dino was a poor man's Ferarri. That market exploded.

So that brings me back to the business of collector car insurance. I've now talked to 5 insurers (current + 4 prospects) and there is a pretty significant spread - 3X from lowest to highest. Why is that I wonder?

It makes me wonder if each insurer has a 'sweet spot' for the kinds of people and cars they insure. On the low end, I must be getting out of Leland's since they seem (at present) unwilling to work with me. Maybe they were great when my car was a $20k car but maybe they see the market changing and I no longer fit their ideal demographic. On the high end, I must not be in Hagerty's sweet spot either (though I'm sure they would be happy to take my money). I can't seem to justify how they could be so high compared to the others.

This has been a curious exercise.

If anyone has any other feedback I'm all ears.