Two words concerning insurance for you collectible Triumph: "Stated value".
If you think your concours TR6 is worth $20,000 and you want to make sure
that there is not a disagreement with your insurance company over its value
after Bubba plows into it with his 79 GMC pickup, get stated value insurance
from a company that specializes in collectible cars. Most people
(including myself) think only in terms of who has the lowest premiums when
choosing insurance for your car. But think about it: You don't cut corners
and go with the cheapest parts when you're restoring your award winning TR3.
You shop to find good prices, but you don't put crappy parts on the car just
because they're the cheapest. You put high quality parts on it. Yet when
it comes to insurance, we simply say "who is cheapest" and go with them.
Then when our restored TR250 gets stolen or totaled, and we say it was worth
$20,000 and the insurance company says its worth $1,500, we have to go to
war and maybe even court. Yes, with stated value, you may pay a little more
because the premiums are based on what YOU say the car is worth. But, there
is no argument over it either. I learned this the hard way some years back
after my 1971 TR6 was totaled two weeks after it finished a comprehensive
restoration. It was a long, difficult fight with the insurance company even
with a file full of receipts, photos, ads from Hemmings, etc. And I still
didn't get what I had in it. When my final option was hiring an attorney
and suing the insurance company, I weighed the cost of filing and fighting a
law suit versus the difference in money that I still felt I was owed, and
decided to bow out. After all, discretion is the better part of valor. Keep
in mind, what I'm talking about applies mainly to "restored" Triumphs. If
you have a car that is in need of a lot of work, stated value may not be a
cost effective option. But once you restore it and have a lot of money sunk
into it, it is probably a good idea.
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