Insurance-carrier choices

[robert_ellison]

Investigating insurance for my Austin Healey I find 3 main companies. Grundy, Hagarty, and Taylor.

Grundy & Hagarty have no milage restrictions.

Grundy has the highest lints of coverage.

They all cost approx. $340.00 per year.

I am leaning toward Grundy and wonder if anyone has had experience with this company, before committing myself.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Michael Oritt]

There is another player--Parish Heacock--that was one of the few that provide "Pit And Paddock" insurance for race cars, and for two years I used them for the race car and trailer and Hagerty for my street Healeys.

Hagerty recently moved into the "P&P" market (and offered me a cheaper premium) so I now have all vehicles insured with Hagerty.

The only claims I have ever had with Hagerty were for broken windscreens on each car within a few months of each other and they handled the claims quickly and without fuss.

 

[Randy Forbes]

I'm a Parish-Heacock user; premium is about $250.00/yr. Whatever the mileage allowance is, I don't come near it, as the car never leaves town.

I had initially chosen them as my car was in a Catch-22 situation. The car was being painted in Florida, I was in Ohio, and it was still titled in Louisiana. I wanted the car insured before it was transported north, and Heacock's office was in the same small town (Lakeland) that the car was being painted in.

I assumed they'd want to see the car, but ultimately they just issued a policy.

 

[Johnny]

Robert, I went with "Heacock" insurance after completing my BJ7.

I chose them for their ease of eligibility. They were the only company not requiring an appraisal. I sent them photos of the car, front,rear,both sides as well as a copy of the Xcell spreadsheet I had describing my costs of restoration. Plus they were slightly less expensive. I completed all of the above online.

Here's a link explaining their eligibility requirements;
https://heacockclassic.com/are-you-eligible

 

[66healey]

I have mine insured with Heacock. For no deductible with a 25000.00 value, I pay less than $160 a year. I am limited to 3000 miles a year, but I do not drive it that many miles anyway. It also includes free roadside assistance and flat bed towing.(I think its with in 50 miles?) Ive been happy so far, but then Ive never had to file a claim.

 

[roscoe]

I'm always stumped because all of the classic /custom car specialty insurance companies (at least all of those mentioned in this thread) stipulate that the car cannot be driven to work. I understand that they don't want to insure daily drivers, but they all said "you may never drive it to work". I work on an airport where probably half the hangars have one or more classic or custom cars stored. It has a carded gate system. I guess rules are rules. I'm with State Farm for the Healey, along with the Honda civic and the Caravan.

 

[MarkA]

I use State Farm. They had two choices for coverage: "Classic Car" and regular driver. Both have the same coverage. The "Classic Car" version has driving restrictions in both annual mileage and driving to events. They did not need any appraisals. They used my value for coverage limits. State Farm has always been great handling claims for any of our vehicles.

 

[BabaKahawa]

Robert:

You might give your insurance company a try.
My regular insurer ( American National) has a classic car and a Chrome car insurance. Each has their own requirements, But with my classic insurance i can drive my car to work, no restriction on milage. And the best part is that i get their multiply car discount and my kids get to drive the cars. I compared Hagarty, and Taylor to my insurance and overall I stayed with my regular home and car insurance.
That said, after hearing about Heacock insurance, I will sure investigate.
Thanks Johnny for the link!

 

[Michael Oritt]

The big issue is whether or not you have Agreed-Value coverage versus Market-Value or Replacement-Value coverage. If the former then you and your carrier have already come to an agreement as to the value of your car in terms of both a total loss or a portion thereof. If the latter then you and your carrier have agreed that the value of the car will be established at the time of the loss, regardless of what value may be stated in the policy.

Generally only Classic Car policies such as those offered by Hagerty, Grundy, Parish-Heackock, etc. have the Agreed-Value coverage and generally conventional policies such as those offered by State Farm, etc. use the Market-Value type.

What this means is that if someone steals your BJ8 and you are insured with Hagerty with a valuation of $50,000.00 you will only have to prove that the car was stolen and you owned the car at the time of the theft and you get your $50,000.00. With State Farm you need to show what the car's ACV (Actual Cash Value) was $50,000 and that would entail proving what you paid for it, what work you had done to it, what kind of shape it was in, whether the market on Healeys has gone down, etc.

If you need to drive your Healey to work, or if you don't own a regular car, or if you don't have a locked garage space that you can devote to your Healey or if you want absolutely no limitations on the way you can use your car then go get a conventional policy. If you can live with the conditions that various Classic insurers offer then pick the one with the best price, least restrictions, etc.

 

[BabaKahawa]

Great break down of carrier choices!!

 

[glemon]

I too don't like the can't drive to work clause, I suppose that is to make sure it isn't a daily driver, but if you already have an Honda, Chevy, BMW, etc. especially insured with the same company, and or mileage limits isn't it clear the car isn't a daily driver.

No better way to start the work day than a nice drive in a classic convertible on a beautiful fall or spring morning.