Dear Readers,
I am reposting this for Randy Harris who is not on this list:
Cheers,
Rick Feibusch
I wrote:
> Y'all better be looking at all of your classic insurance policies right
> about now and find out exactly how uninsured you are. As a professional
> classic car appraiser, I have watched Big Healey prices rise consistantly
> with the cost to completely restore one in, nationally speaking,
> overpriced Southern California. etc. etc.
------------------------------------
Richard,
See below my post to Britishcar Forum this morning:
Randy Harris '66 BJ8, '68 OTS
For the past week or so I've been following the various online threads on
Healey values and recent auction prices. Concerned that my agreed value
insurance policy is too low for both the '68 E-Type and my '66 BJ8, I called my
agent who represents Great American Insurance Co.(among others) I've used this
company for almost 20 years and have never had a problem coming to an agreement
on a fair and just insurance amount.
My current policies are "agreed value policies", that is in the case of a
total loss they pay out whatever we both agree to upfront and state in the
policy, irrespective of the actual cash or replacement value. I set the
Healey in 2003 at $38k and felt that was a good estimate at the time for a
solid #2 show/driver. The Jag is slightly more at $40k. Its condition is
similar to the Healey.
This morning I called my agent and asked her to increase my policies to $48k
on the Healey and $50k on the Jag. After reviewing three different collector
car guides including the NADA guidelines, allegedly updated monthly or
quarterly, she said that both were too high for agreed policies and that I
would have to obtain appraisals for insurance levels that high. The
publications are showing '66 BJ8 Healeys at $50k for SHOW cars. I think this
is too low by 20%. My Jag could be insured for close to what I want, perhaps
$45-47k. I explained that guidelines be damned, if I were to lose one or
both cars, I would want to have enough insurance to go out and purchase
replacement vehicles in the exact same condition as what I have now.
Although she was simpathetic, my agent was quite adamant in her contention
that the cars were not worth what we think they are - at least to the
insurance companies.
She says that for about a month after BJ and RM auctions, she gets frantic
calls from collector car owners insisting on greater values due to the run
ups at auction. The official guides (probably rightfully so) tend to
discount those auction results and use actual sales recorded - not on eBay
or Hemmings but I guess through retail and DMV records.
What does all this mean? Well for me it means I need to find an appraiser or
change insurance companies. I KNOW that I cannot replace my Healey for $38k
nor can I replace the Jag for $40k. It would be interesting to hear what
others are finding as their renewals come up or they decide to increase
values. It would also be good to hear if there are insurance companies out
there with different ideas of what our cars are worth in a "stated value"
policy.
Randy '66 BJ8, '68 OTS <<
"Randall Harris \(SFFI\)" <sffi@rcn.com>
|