Insurance when you don’t own another car??

[RichardPercival]

Hi all,

I’ve looked on the search and can’t see anything since 2007 on this topic.
When I look for insurance none of the regular carriers like Geico or AllState will cover the 1966 230SL and direct me to classic car policies. However Hagerty and Grundy etc will not insure the car unless I own another car as a daily driver!?
As I live in New York, I use the subway and cabs to get around. Does anyone know of / have / recommend any kind of specialist broker or insurance that will cover with only owning this one car?
Thanks Rich!

[mdsalemi]

That’s an interesting one Richard. When I first went to insure my pagoda, I had trouble because we didn’t own any cars but not for the same reason that you are in. We had company lease cars that were not in our name. Hagerty fully understood this because they are in Michigan and there are a lot of company lease cars in Michigan, the home of so much of the automobile industry.

In your case, they are determining you don’t have enough driving experience is my guess… if Hagerty won’t insure you, it’s going to be an interesting quest to find insurance.

Do let us know when you find it!!

[rwmastel]

In your case, they are determining you don’t have enough driving experience is my guess…

Or, they think because this is his only car he will be driving it many, many miles per year.

[Vander]

State Farm should do it, they have a specific classic car policy with an agreed upon value clause that they actually partnered with Hagerty on in some capacity. But 1/3 price of Hagerty.

I can't remember 100%, but I'm pretty sure they didn't ask about my daily driver.

2,500 mile/year limit is what they do I believe, but also seems to be the norm for most classic insurances.

[Rahul]

I'll second State Farm, they've been great and were much cheaper than the competition when I looked.

[MikeSimon]

I "third" State Farm. I have all my vehicles with State Farm, including 3 cars older than 25 years and 15 motorcycles, 13 of which are classics/vintage. They require 2 photos of the vehicle and a n estimated value they will agree on. In one case, the insured object is a non-US market one and they limited the value to $5,000.- until I provided a 3rd party value estimate, which they accepted.

[Raymond]

A few years ago, McKeel sold the majority of Hagerty Insurance to State Farm, so they may indeed have a better understanding of agreed value cars.  (As an aside, Hagerty used the millions from the sale to buy The Amelia, Greenwich, and Concours of the Americas.  Pebble refused his offers.)

[mdsalemi]

Insurance is a funny business and I think unless you’re in it, it’s difficult to comprehend all its nuance.

HAGERTY has never been an “insurance company”. They have never been listed as the insurance provider on my insurance certificates, some of which date back more than 20 years. They are a managing general agency, writing risks on behalf of various carriers. I think you could also call them underwriters, but then again, I am not intimately familiar with all the insurance terms. It’s pretty much the same with Grundy. I had them for a few years and they were never listed as the insurer on my Pagoda either. They sold the policy and they did the underwriting, but it was another company which actually carried the insurance.

FWIW HAGERTY didn’t exactly sell them selves to State Farm, it’s a bit more complex. They went public…and if you’re interested, you can read more details here: https://www.autoweek.com/news/a38346538/hagerty-goes-public/

But as it’s time to review all of my insurance needs, daily drivers, house, insurance, etc. I will call State Farm since it comes so highly recommended from my fellow members here!

[mdsalemi]

State Farm was about 15%+ more in cost than Hagerty for my Pagoda…plus, they only write 6 month policies. They were higher in cost across the board for my daily drivers and homeowners as well. Jake, you simply are too high. Staying with Erie and Hagerty.

[RichardPercival]

Thanks all!
Luckily one of my friends went to school with the local State Farm agent here in NYC near us.
They ran into the same issue of usually only covering it as a second car, but were willing to underwrite it without the
daily Driver.

It costs considerably more ($1470 per year) than the quotes I was getting if I had another regular car (in the $440s per year) but was way better than the JJ Best folks who are doing the financing could find - Their best was Safeco at $6600 per year!?

[RichardPercival]

The agreed value is the sales price I paid - I don't see a specific mileage restriction on the policy, though it is a 'Vintage' so classic car policy.