Insurance for your vintage MOPAR?

Hagerty? American Collectors? Others? Lets hear the good, the bad and ugly stories before I take the dive for the first time in over 20 years!

DISCUSS!!

They all offer comparable claim service, and they all have similar requirements (must have another vehicle, collector vehicle must be kept in a locked garage, etc). The differences you will encounter are with rates, and with activities excluded from coverage. Get quotes from multiple carriers and ask them for a list of coverage exclusions. That's the only way for sure you'll know if you're getting what you need, and for a price you're willing to pay. Rates for anyone else have nothing to do with rates you'll be quoted, so ignore anyone who says "XYZ is the cheapest."

My wife was after me for years ( with good reason ) to insure my 68 Dart race car ( not street legal ) I saw Heacock /. American Modern at Carlisle a few years ago and spoke to them about coverage I did and the policy is very reasonable a few hundred a year for my race car and my 92 D150. They are good to deal with.. last year somebody ran into my quarter panel ( hit and run ) while the car was sitting outside my trailer at the track , I didn't see it happen and there were no witnesses , they paid for most of the repair minus my deductible with ease and no problems all I had to do was send pictures. With my D150 on my regular car insurance was around $800 just for the truck with a deductible , now that it has classic plates my insurance with Heacock is less than $200

I have Heacock Classic (AMIG) on my '72 Dart. So far I've only had a couple of towing reimbursements, but they were easy to deal with.

I ended up going with them since they were the only ones who'd write coverage with a nitrous system of any size. They also covered me while the car was under construction "at least 80% complete". Also I have emails confirming that I can run an occasional errand while out for pleasure use. As usual it has to be in a locked garage when not in use.

I've had a couple of different insurers on the toys, but switched to Hagerty some years back.
Ran a shop a few years ago where we repaired/restored classic vehicles, and Hagerty was great to deal with.
They're also invested in the hobby.
Switched a few of my later-model limited-use vehicles over to them, too.
Rather than look for the cheapest rate, look for best service and best fit for your vehicle(s) and how you use them.
All will require proper garaging & non-daily-driver use.

Hagerty on my '72. Never had to file a claim though.

American Collectors has been great with me, including my front engine dragster race car.

I would recommend Don Kennedy agent for Hagerty.

His number is 602-284-6240 his email is 1donkennedy@gmail.com

Don races a NHRA Super Stock car.

I have seen several of his customers who have had claims and they sing his praises.

I have insurance through him for my race car but have never had a claim.

I've had Hagerty for the last 12 years or so. Had to file a claim for a not at fault accident about five years ago. Adjuster was out two days later, and I had a check within a week. They even give you the option of taking your vehicle in to be repaired or being paid to fix it yourself. I deal with them direct (not through an agent) and I couldn't be happier with them.

I am not really concerned about the rates. Mostly about how any claims have been handled. I also had no idea you could go with Hagerty without using an agent!!

I have been using Hagerty since the mid 90's. I have had a couple claims, including a cuda they wanted to total. They are great, and worked with me, even though I had the cuda under insured.

Co-worker had a '62 Impala bubble-top, white, VERY original car. Shortly after buying it, he decided to use a product (don't remember exactly what the brand was) that was essentially a wax with a small bit of compound in it that was supposed to take down a small amount of oxidation and bring back some shine. He starts on one side following the instructions on the bottle, when he gets down applying the stuff he looks back to where he started and sees the paint bubbling.hoses/wipes it off, tries to call the manufacturer and they blow him off, saying it says to test on a small panel before use. Calls Hagerty and tells them the story, they say email pictures. They had him a check within a week to paint the ENTIRE car.

I've used them for for 20+ years with never a claim. Checked prices occasionally and they've been cheapest for me, but as was said everybody is different and so are their insurance rates...

Interesting. I use my regular insurer for my 69 B'cuda(AmFam) and it's very reasonable because it wears a collector plate and is limited use. They also carry my '18 Mustang GT convert and they are VERY happy to charge me for that one even though it is limited use. There is only 2 of us in the house and we have daily drivers insured with them also so both of those cars are "pleasure vehicles" but because that Mustang can't wear a collector plate and is considered a performance sports car....they charge me for it. I didn't realize Hagerty did late model stuff.....time to go shopping! Thanks!

State Farm here, no issues.

I used to have Hagerty for a few cars. Never had a claim though. Then I called them to see if they would insure our 2016 Challenger Scat Pack, since it is a sunny day driver only. They said SURE - $1300.00 a year, & no dropping the collision for the 6 months it's not driven - so $1300.00 a year no matter what. Then I called Grundy, & insured ALL our vehicles through them. The Challenger is now under $200.00 a year, no limit on mileage, zero deductible on both comp & collision, & stated value of $45,000. And the rest of our vehicles are WAY less than any other insurance I shopped around for. I had one claim so far with them - they use contract adjusters & I had NO problems. Grundy is AIG Insurance. VERY happy with them.

Grundy here

FWIW, AmFam does not offer Agreed Value coverage.

I use berkley classics, I used to have hagerty, but they wouldn't insure one of my cars because it had NOS on it in the 90's. Even to this day they wouldn't insure this car because it had nos on it all those years ago. So now I have all five of my classic cars with berkley. They are pretty much the same as all the others, but there is no mileage limit and they were a bit cheaper than American Collectors. One thing good about Hagerty is that they will insure a project car where some of the the others won't. Really important if you have over 50K into a car that you can't drive, but could lose in a shop accident.

Im using Hagerty but you're limited to who offers classic insurance in Canada.

i have had American Collectors on my charger for years, because my agent [whom i have been with since around 1973 or so] deals with Erie insurance which i have on my house and daily drivers [and has been a VERY good agent !] and he had that company as well. i have never had to file a claim. [knocking on my head, er, i mean, wood ! ]
however, i'm thinking to ask him if he deals with any other collector companies as well, and if he does, i will compare with the possibility of switching when my current policy expires in august.
i want to stay with my guy because he has been absolutely fantastic over all these years, and at this stage of my "game of life", i see no sense in switching agents now.

That's a big issue, some insurers forbid "pleasure driving" i.e. all driving must be to car-related events, etc.

I had Hagerty for 20 years and I really did love them. Had a claim once that went flawlessly! A few years back I decided to check prices and found them to be at the high end of collector car insurance. I don't mind paying a bit more for good service, but I saved $600 annually for six cars by switching to Grundy. $50 or $100 I wouldn't have bothered. I verified coverage in line with Hagerty and the limitations. Nothing I can't live with. I called Hagerty before switching and they wouldn't budge. Other than providing pics of the vehicles it was simple. So far adding and subtracting cars has been simple too. I've not had a claim, but I know people that have had them with no issues. Grundy will insure daily drivers although I've not checked pricing.
KID

Do both have pleasure driving as being ok?

I see AmFam calls it stated amount coverage Is that a way to try and under pay you in a loss?

No. It's just a different type of coverage. The consumer chooses who to have for insurance and what coverage they want. Sadly, a lot of consumers are ill informed and think they are buying one thing, but really getting something different.

Stated Amount = you tell the insurance company what you think the car is worth. They insure it for the LESSER of that amount or the Actual Cash Value. This is disclosed in the policy, which most people don't read. This coverage also has no additional exclusions/restrictions like a collector car policy would. It also costs more because the exposure is greater due to the lack of restrictions. This coverage is a good fit if you drive you classic regularly. The best way to utilize this coverage is to pay for a professional appraisal prior to insuring the car so that you can support your Stated Amount should something happen. The vast majority of carriers will offer Stated Amount coverage.

Agreed Value = you and the insurer agree that the car is worth this amount. If it's totaled, you get that amount, period. This coverage typically has lots of exclusions/restrictions and costs less than a Stated Amount policy. Only some carriers provide Agreed Value coverage.

Lots of people use these terms interchangeably. They are not at all interchangeable. There are advantages to both, but if you go with a carrier that offers Stated Amount, you have to do a little bit of work in order to ensure you're properly covered if the vehicle is totaled.

I have had Agreed Value on my RO car with American Collectors since 1985. A few years ago, I got a quote from Hagerty just to check rates and they were about double what I was already paying.

In all of the years that I have had the policy, I have never had a claim with them but dealt with their customer service recently to resolve an issue with the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration and they were very responsive and took care of it quickly.

Get some other quotes and opinions before you decide.

AmFm made me get an appraisal before issuing my policy. The stated amount is $94,500, 100,000/300,000, 1,000 deductible. Premium $255.30 a year no restrictions. Multi car and house discounts included.

Thanks for explaining the difference in the two policies.

I would strongly encourage you to check your policy. I was with Am Fam for 28 years. At 25 years my WORKING agent retired and I went through 4 or 5 agents before bailing to an independent. During this frustrating 3 years I became aware that my two CC policies had been changed from AGREED VALUE to STATED VALUE. likely during a renewal period in which i didn't read the 14 pages of BS.
I also had business, house, workman's comp and others with them. We had ONE claim in the last 15 years due to a dishwasher leak. At renewal time the house policy jumped by 35%. They also sublet the business policy. During the 28 years the only other claim was for hail damage.
I asked them to total up what I had paid them vs what they had paid out over all of the policies during that 28 years. No response.
IMO they are not the company they used to be.
Again check your policy or you could get shafted

During my 25 years of repairing/ restoring collector vehicles I only worked with 3 companies.
State farm in every case was horrible.
Hagerty just wrote a check, NO BS
Allstate was good but that was MANY years back and I'm not sure on the others

Yours is a great example of doing a Stated Amount policy the right way. The appraisal sets the baseline for the Actual Cash Value. Since you are owed the lesser of ACV and Stated Amount, as long as your appraised value and your Stated Amount match, you're in good shape.

yes, stated value is terrible, they can question value at claim time

Therein lies the issue with Stated value. Depending on a number of variables, the number is subject to change. With agreed value you're locked in. In my dealing with insurance companies over the years some are better than others when it comes to fairly settling a claim. So myself, I like agreed value.

Mine are with Hagerty. And solely based on recommendations.

Not once did I hear they were tough to get your car repaired

Probably not the cheapest. But Costs were not my primary concern, Quality was

Thank-you for your response and the education.

Mike

Do any of the classic cars insurers, like Grundy, also do insurance for home and other autos? Trying to get a discount to bundle all needed insurance…would be nice to only deal with one company.

None of them do home insurance as far as I know, but some of the major home/auto insurers partner with companies like Hagerty to bundle your coverage and include your classic car.

My insurance broker reps hagerty and bundles policies together but there's no discount for it. They've been pushing me to move my Hagerty policy to them but the price is the same and it seems like the couple times I looked into it and had questions they had to contact hagerty themselves for answers and get back to me whereas when I call the 1-800 number directly they can tell me anything instantly so I've never seen the point to change.

Grundy does not offer homeowners, but YES for all your other vehicles. When I switched to them about 6 years ago, I had 6 vehicles on my policy - two of them were comp only (my Cudas that are not driveable), 3 are everyday drivers, & our Challenger a pleasure driver. My total annual savings was around $3500.00.

Lots of great info here. Thanks to everyone!!

I use Hagerty.

Their idea of what beastie is worth & mine are pretty much the same...and they are enthusiasts themselves. (Although I'm watching to see what effect taking the company public might have on that.)

Pay extra for the "driver's club" membership because I like the 120 mile tow-back feature & enjoy the magazine.

Am I the only one who uses J.C. Taylor? great rates on ACV policies.

I left JC Taylor about 4 years ago for American Modern...they beat the JC Taylor pricing by quite a bit.