Collector's Car Insurance

Classic or collector’s car insurance is a form of the fine arts insurance area, such as insuring a painting or sculpture. 

The basic premise of collector car insurance is that you use your collector vehicles on a limited basis and have regular-use vehicles for daily needs.

Overall, you want what's best to save money and to get unrivaled insurance coverage. The following are some practical tips on the difference between standard and specialty insurance, and how to make the best choice.

* STANDARD VS. SPECIALTV COVERAGE:

Standard insurance costs considerably more than coverage offered by a specialty program provider, who better understands the nature and purpose of a collectible vehicle. Although standard companies can provide adequate coverage for a daily driver, they rarely offer the added benefits associated with collector car programs.

You will pay a higher annual premium with standard insurance and their classics are depreciated.

Additionally, you will probably pay fees for liability coverage on each vehicle, whereas a specialty policy may only charge a single liability fee for your entire collection.

When your collector car or cars are driven once in a while for pleasure drives, club events, special excursions, not used for business, it's time to enroll those cars in a collector car specialty insurance program. Most collector car programs will require you to have at least one regular-use car for each driver in the household.

There are specialty insurance providers available to suit your needs. If you are in doubt just go to your current insurer and ask  basic questions to learn about your existing coverage.

* AGREED VALUE COVERAGE:

There are three types of automobile insurance offered today: Actual Cash Value, Stated Value and Agreed Value.

While you are likely familiar with ACV, Stated Value and Agreed Value may sound very similar, but are actually quite different.

As with most regular-use auto insurance policies, an ACV policy depreciates the vehicle to pay the insured an amount that is depreciated to the time of loss. Surprisingly, a Stated Value policy is very similar by paying the lesser of the stated amount, the cost to repair the covered auto not to exceed the "Stated Amount," or the Actual Cash Value. The Stated Value policy is really just the same as an ACV policy!

Only Agreed Value insurance policies guarantee a client will get all of their money back in the event of a total loss. There is no depreciation of a vehicle's value with an Agreed Value policy. Most collector cars have stable values and appreciate over time. Because most of these vehicles are somewhat rare, an "Agreed Value" insurance policy should be obtained to protect collector cars.

* RESTRICTIONS:

You should consider the types of restrictions that accompany a specialty policy and find one with flexible usage guidelines that best suits your overall needs. While many specialty programs strictly limit owners to driving their collector vehicles in parades and car events only, some providers offer more flexible usage guidelines.

For instance, if the insured has a daily driver in addition to their collector vehicle, that client should be able to drive the classic for limited pleasure driving. Something else to keep in mind is that most specialty insurance programs don't allow vehicles to be used for commercial transportation or racing.

* WHAT'S COVERED?

The popular standard for coverage used to be 25 years and older vehicles, but it's always best to inquire on a per-vehicle basis. There are new cars that are now insurable as collector cars including kit cars, replicas and modern classics. An exception is a car produced as a "limited edition." For example, Ford released just 1,000 "James Bond" edition Mustangs, which sold out immediately and are clearly collector's items; cars like these are eligible for coverage. Specialty insurance includes all of the coverage that's included with a daily driver-physical damage, liability,  medical, bodily injury and property damage liability. 

It is easiest to get coverage for a vehicle that is 100% stock and in very good condition. A stock vehicle has all its factory-original parts, including the engine and interior. Coverage availability and terms may differ if the vehicle is modified, and the definition of modified varies by company. For example, about half the companies consider a vehicle modified if you replace original rims with chrome rims. Other common modifications that affect coverage are giving the car a new paint job, replacing leather seats with cloth and replacing the original engine with a more powerful substitute.

One factor that is pretty essential to many collectors is towing. When looking into specialty insurers, choose one that includes towing-specifically, flatbed towing. This will make it far less likely that your collectible car will be damaged if it has a breakdown on the way to the car show.

The classic or collectible car market is an important one.  You’ve put a good of deal of money into your collectible cars and you should want them protected with the right insurance.