I understand where you are comming from on your post, but want to take issue
with
several points you make:
John T. Blair wrote:
> Many have suggested having "collector car" insurance. This is great for
> an infrequently driven car and I have it on my 48 TR1800, 65 Morgan, and
> 71 Sonett.
>
> However, this still leaves room for problems. Say for instance my Morgan
> is insured with a "collector ins. co." for $20,000 and is appraised for that.
> Now some one hits me. He doesn't have collector ins. And the problem becomes
> mine. Even though I may be able to prove (via the appraisal) that the car
> IS worth $20,000, the other ins. co. only wants to give me $6,000 for the car.
If you have your insurance with a collector insurance company, such as Grundy,
and
have comprehensive and collision on a agreed value policy for $20,000 you don't
have a problem! If someone who is insured with another company runs into you
and
destroys your car and only gives you $6,000, your collector insurance will make
up
the difference. At least thats the way the law requires it to be done in North
Carolina. You collector insurance company will probably sue the other company
for
the money, but you won't even know its happening. You will have gotten your
check
for $20k and replaced your car!
>
>
> Now a worse example. In the case of the 77 Gremlin. It is NOT covered by
> collectors ins. The owner paid $1,500 for the car. Maybe done some work on
> it, etc. and has at least $2,000 in it. Then it gets hit. The normal
> responce
> from the ins. co. is a settlement of totaling the car and giving you $200.
You point out one of the problems that all of us who are involved with the old
car
hobby need to be aware of. Just because we invest a bunch of money in a car it
doesn't mean its worth that. As an example. If you look in the Old Car Price
Guide it indicates that a #1 77 Gremlin is worth $3800. A number 1 car is "a
95-plus point show car that is not driven." So if someone wanted to invest in a
Gremlin and hope to ever get his money back he would need to face the hard
reality
of what the vehicle was worth! In North Carolina, and I assume most of the rest
of the county, a insurance company only agrees to provide repair or replacement
cost. If you have more in the car than its worth, you will lose! Looking at
the
value of a 77 Gremlin we see that a #3 car is only worth $1500. According to
the
Old Car Price Guide "most of the cars seen at car shows are #3s." "A good
driveable vehicle needing no or only minor work" is a #4, a number 4 Gremlin is
worth $775. We have the responsibility to understand how this works, after all
we
are the ones making the investment. If we use references such as the Old Car
Price Guide and the Kruse Collectible Vehicle Auction Results & Collector's
Guide
as a basis for determining what our vehicles are worth and then to base our
insurance settlement expectations on we can be better assured of recovering our
investments. In North Carolina, if you can't settle for what the insurance
company offers you, you have the right to go before a arbitrator. If you have
kept a eye on the value of the vehicle, you should have no trouble "getting what
its worth."
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