Hagerty NAZI Gestapo/ Regular Insurance Dolts

[george71z]

My '71 is with an outfit called American Southern Home. It is through the Heacock Insurance Group. Their address is ostensibly in Burns, Tenn., but the I deal mostly with their office in Lakeland, Fl. The owner, Ford Heacock, is a classic car guy and always brings his Ford GT to an annual show in Lakeland. The coverage is more than adequate; they limit my mileage, but they cover the spare parts in my garage in case the house is destroyed. I have valuation based on an appraisal Also get roadside assistance and the annual premium is $250. I have had them for over 19 years and no complaints.

[Z train]

I have a stated value on my car of $18,500 with State Farm. All I had to do was get an independent appraisal with pictures. Most appraisals do cost if you go that route. For my stated value insurance I pay about $175 per year. The car must be garage kept and there is not any mileage limits that I know of.

That's not good enough.As inyou STATE it's worth XXXXX.They state it's worth XXX.You get paid what they state.You have no say.If it's an AGREED policy,you've gottem.

[conedodger]

That's not good enough.As inyou STATE it's worth XXXXX.They state it's worth XXX.You get paid what they state.You have no say.If it's an AGREED policy,you've gottem.

Exactly. Be sure you understand this. Stated value just means 'you say that your car is worth X.' You will get paid what they say it's worth plus whatever you manage to negotiate out of them using "comps, appraisals, valuations etc..." What this means is that they will say your car is worth X. This number will almost certainly be disturbingly lower than your stated value. You refuse to settle, and go out and find a few cars similar to yours that are for sale or have recently sold. If you can prove that your car was worth more in this way, you nudge them in the direction of your stated value. Appraisal is just that, you get an expert to look at your car and state what it is worth. Costs something, in my experience, about $300 but it is solid evidence that your car is worth more than their X value. A valuation is something an expert writer might do. I am not aware of anyone doing this for the Z car but in the case of Porsche, Bruce Anderson does valuations on each Porsche model annually. He looks at sales of cars and comes up with a range of value with the added 'low mileage excellent examples can be worth 10% or more above these values.'

You want an agreed value policy. No haggle. You suffer a complete loss, they pay you that amount. You have to keep on top of that amount though. If you think your car is worth X and they agree to that, then 10 years down the line the car is worth double that, and you suffer that loss - you agreed to X. Sorry about that...

My wife is an insurance broker... I ask questions.

[Walter Moore]

Ben,

Back to your original post: You say that you told Hagerty that you would be using the car for some business trips. I have been involved with discussions on this subject at two different employers. MOST personal auto insurance policies specifically exclude "business" use of any vehicle insured on a personal policy. The agent may, or may not tell you this, but check the fine print and the exclusion is normally in the formal policy. Most of the time, if you want to use a car for business trips, even occasionally, you need a commercial vehicle insurance policy.

(This is why many companies strongly recommend using either rental cars or company vehicles for business travel.)

One of my children was even told specifically by an insurance company (I will not name names, for liability reasons) that they would not insure him because he worked at a Pizza Hut restaurant. He was a manager, and never made deliveries, but the fact that he worked at a restaurant that is known for deliveries made him too high of a risk. He got insurance, but the second company eventually discovered the name of his employer, and sent him a registered letter telling him that he had six months to either: A) upgrade to a commercial policy or send them a notarized letter, written by the franchise owner stating that he would NEVER be asked to make deliveries. He recently found a different job.

Auto insurance coverage is based on the risk of having to pay a benefit. That risk is normally based on three factors: A) Driving history, Location, and C) Duration of exposure.

The driving history is easy to quantity, but the other two become nearly impossible when business travel becomes part of the equation. If you only drive for pleasure, then the exposure time is low, and the locations are easy to identity. Even commuting to work, the locations are identifiable, allowing the insurance company to calculate their risk. But if you are truly going to use a vehicle for business, then the location and duration become extremely variable, and the assumed risk becomes huge.