Daily Driver practicality
 

I wonder how practical it would be to use my 1975 S as a daily driver? It's off the road right now but eventually it'll be driveable again after a thorough going-through.
I'm wondering what insurance options I may hgave and what to look out for in that area. Am I thinking wrong that a refurbed 1975 911S cant be driven 15K miles a year reliably and with insurance?

I drive my 1979 SC 9-10 months out of the year in Milwaukee. I've put about 16K miles on it since I bought it four years ago. I drive it to and from work whenever the weather isn't too rainy (it is a Targa).

You should probably have another car to use in case you need to do some work on it that takes more than a few days. Also, have AAA because you never know when something will fail and you'll need to tow it home and figure it out.

I was on AAA insurance for a while and liked it a lot. Had to change for unrelated reasons, but hope to change back soon. The rate was pretty good. Be sure to have it assessed if you can't get agreed price coverage, to ensure fair value if something were to happen.

Just get it all running well and keep up the maintenance and you should be able to drive it daily. One of the 911's claim to fame is that you can drive it daily unlike a other super cars.
I drive mine a few times a week. I have to rotate cars to keep them going. A car not being driven is a bad thing in my book. Cheers.

driven my '86 targa as a DD for the past 20 years, including snowstorms in denver/etc. Only complaint I have goes back to using it in DC summers during rush hour, where it's mediocre ac system didn't cut it for me.

OP, where are you located? what's your typical daily use?

I put 30k on my 85 Carrera last year.

I'm in Dallas/Fort Worth. My daily commute is about 17 miles each way, almost exactly half city half highway. My biggest concern is the insurance. A fender-bender could cost $10 to fix right, as the car has a an all-metal widebody on it. I don't think USAA does agreed-value policies, either...

Check out Hagerty. Do a search, there was a discussion a while back on insurance.

My main concern, when I was using my 911 as a DD was parking. I had a locked gated parking lot away from traffic, and always covered my car. And, I have a hidden kill switch.

I talked to Hagerty but they don't want to inure a daily driver. at least not for me. they just wat to insure occasional use with mileage limits and such. Since I'm the one who owns the vehicle I think it's MY right to decide when and where to drive it, not theirs. It's their right to choose not to insure me.

Hagerty's didn't want to insure my 89 either except with very low yearly mileage, etc. I went through Leland West because of PCA and it was very reasonable for agreed value insurance and 7500 miles per year. Check them out as an option.

I think my biggest concern would be that if I had to go out of the office to meetings what would clients think of it. I know that sounds crass but some if my clients would not get it.

I'm know you can get an unlimited mileage policy with Allstate on a 30 YO car.

Insurance
 

Just as someone who recently bought an 86 Carrera to DD. ( Love it, but if you're in hot weather, the AC is going to be a problem, and if you're in traffic, get a fan for your oil cooler).

I had extensive discussions with Hagerty and other people. Essentially if you're daily driving it, unless it's a low amount of miles, you're going to have a problem.

The agreed value policies usually are very expensive.

I had an extensive discussion with my insurance provider (Geico) and it turns out, they give you around NADA value of the car, which USUALLY isn't retail value, but it's generally fairly close. A lot of people had told me they replaced it at the price of straight line depreciation, which turned out to be untrue.

That being said, this is all for if the car gets totaled. I can't see how a fender bender can be much of a debate. You get in a fender bender, they get an estimate, they pay for the estimate.

I owe less than NADA on my car, so I'm ok with my regular old GEICO insurance ~100 per month for full coverage.

I will contact Leland West and see what they have to say, I need more than 7500 miles a year though!
I'd love to be able to drive it up to Garden of the Gods and Jackson. That used to be a regular route for me, DFW to Colorado Springs in 10-12 hours, then from there to Jackson is another 12 hours if I go through Aspen, less if I go through Cheyenne. Pictures!
Feeling better about being able to do it, at least, insurance or no.

I think the repair bill on replacing a fender that costs $3k if you can find one is going to make them want to total the car, would you?

Honestly, I hope never to test that theory and maybe someone else can answer it, but a body-shop estimate is what it is.

Consider that NADA value for an 86 Carrera Coupe like mine is around 30k. I don't think they're going to want to total it for that value when they can fix it for 2k.

So I guess that depends on if your insurance company uses straight-line depreciation or if they use NADA. My guess is the straight-line thing is a myth, GEICO talked to me like I was crazy for even suggesting it, and if my BANK was OK with the GEICO insurance, then I'm not sure how it's a problem.

I don't just like driving mine every day, I LOVE driving it every day. I don't give a rip about insurance or what anyone thinks. Never been stranded in three years. Life is short!

Car's paid for so no issues with the bank.
USAA asked me if the car had been modified and gave me the impression that they didn't want to pay for replacing any body modifications such as fender flares. Kind of upsetting.

That's a fair concern. Mine is pretty much how it came stock from the factory. If the car is paid for, even if you have to replace a fender once or twice, I honestly think it's a small price to pay.

@jeffbotman funny, that's what my father-in-law said to me when I told him I was buying the car "is it the most practical thing? No, but life is short man..."

Keep in mind that this is pertinent if you caused the accident/damage -- if somebody else is at fault, you'd be dealing with their insurance company, etc.

Outstanding!

In CT our driving season is mid-April (once some soaking rains have washed all the salt and other corrosives off the road) until the first snow. This is my first year that I am able to take advantage in my '76 S. It has been great, I put on about 4500miles. Just have to be prepared with another ride when the inevitables happen: dead starter, light switch died, etc.

I work in the insurance industry, and here are a couple of tips to get a descent settlement should you ever need it:
1. Keep really good records for maintenance items as well as things added. Adjusters are impressed when you can show evidence of recent brakes, new shocks, new clutch, etc.
2. You can generally add to your policy for options and modifications that increase the cars value up to some maximum ( like $10k). This could be anything like a wing, new wheels, audio system.
3. If you maintain high liability limits on all your car policies, and maybe have an umbrella policy, your company will likely consider you more of a premium customer and their adjusters will have that information. In the event of a loss, there will likely be more leeway to get you a better settlement.

Obviously, if you can qualify for an agreed-value policy that is the best thing for a valuable older car. But, even with standard auto policies, I have seen people receive well above book value for their cars because of their good records and persistence.

Mick - they have many different policies and one of them was unlimited mileage if I remember correctly. I didn't anticipate needing more than 7500 but actually think I'm going to end up going over so will probably readjust for this year. I think my insurance is roughly $60 month for agreed value of $40K with that mileage. Hope this helps.

What if your odometer is broke?

MattR

I'm waaay too OCD to drive a car without a working odometer.

THanks for rthe discussion, I feel better about the idea of using my car as a daily driver in the future. At least it's a possibility./

Well that's some yearly mileage there Bucko...

I avg. 10K a year on m8 '83 SC...am retired but live in the country so often drive 40 miles one way for a cup of coffee at B&Noble. Love driving that SC.

I am in Austin, and I drive mine pretty much daily. The biggest problem is heat soak in the summer - if you park in the sun, it is very tough for the AC to catch up even if it is working well (mine isn't). I will drive mine to the office (10 minute drive) where I can park in a covered garage, but won't take it if it will have to sit in the sun or in traffic. A cover helps - I have a greenhouse cover that works reasonably well if you must leave it parked outside - reduces the oven effect. When I need AC, comfort, or hauling capability, I drive my 328i wagon.

If you have to ask...

A/C can be upgraded. Many posts on that.

Can you tell us more about an umbrella policy?

"And the winner is...." Wow, and in comparison to most, I drive a lot of miles in my 85. About 6k a year. Great to see them on the road!

I think he's referring to a general Umbrella policy. Not necessary specific to Auto insurance. Once I got into Commercial insurance I realized that everyone should have an Umbrella policy.
They are very cheap and can cover you if you have a party and someone trips and falls then sues you or if you run into a situation where the limits you carry on some other policy are insufficient to cover the loss. (Homeowners, auto etc)

It's nice to have that safety net and it's so cheap it's crazy not to have it. imho, but before I worked in this industry I'd never heard of such a thing for people. I thought it was a business thing. I don't know of anyone in the industry that doesn't have an Umbrella policy.

It's no 1975, but I went for it full on about 5 months ago and have been daily driving my 1988. I expect to put about 10-15k on it a year. Headed out on a 3 to 4,000 mile honeymoon trip in 2 weeks. We'll see how it goes.
I say go for it! Make sure you get a good insurance company. There are sites that track how likely different insurers are willing to pay out claims. DO NOT go with the cheapest insurance.
I like USAA. I have no connection to them at all, but it's a world of difference from being with the insurers who's goal it is to NOT pay out.

Someone rear-ended me at very low speed at a light. Cracked my rear reflector ($600) and a small bend in the metal in the center - about 1/4 inch. Their insurance paid the resulting $3.2K repair bill.

Fender benders are very spendy with these cars.

I've inquired in the past, reasoning that paying separate liability for each car, house and business seems like I'm wasting money. My current agent does;t seem to want to talk about it. I'm not sure if it is because they make more money with individual liability policies of or not, or if I misunderstand how they work, so I am looking for some insight.

I drive my '74 and '77 every day unless it's snowing, I love it. Parking at the end of parking lots keeps most of the scratches and door dings away.

I don't know how much of the following applies to a '75, BUT:

I would daily my stock-ish '86, for sure, and I actually plan to in the next year or two when I downsize "the fleet." The car runs well and has a great tractable engine for traffic and around town (much better than my M5 in that regard), and even returns decent MPGs when needed. For CO winters, the heat is obviously more than adequate.

I have a crazy-upgraded Griffiths A/C (thanks to the PO) to make the summers bearable, and the system absolutely freezes me out on the hottest CO days (mid 90s).

You will have a premium and policy # attached to each item, but I like having all of mine with one carrier. Each one has it's own policy because the coverages are different, the exclusions, wording etc is all different depending on what's covered.

For commercial insurance you generally have to go through an agent, but for personal lines I find that I can put all of my policies with one carrier, do it myself without the agent/broker and do it online. House, Umbrella, Auto's, Motorcycle etc. I like that I can pull up every type of insurance I have and make adjustments, add or delete a car etc.

A footnote for Umbrella's. They generally require you to have some high limits on all of the "underlying" policies. For auto/home etc I had to increase those limits. The cost for an UMB is cheap though. Usually a few hundred bucks a year.

+1 Yes, I was talking about a Personal umbrella policy. It adds additional liability coverage to all your personal insurance policies - cars, home, boat, renters, whatever. They generally start at $1 million and go up from there. Surpringly cheap, too.