Collector Car Insurance

[Clark K.]

I am interested in insuring my two classics with Hagerty. Low quotes for insurance mean nothing if they do not pay claims well. So, anyone out there who actually had (horrors!) a "loss claim" with Hagerty? I would like to hear your story. -Clark

[Jeff A.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

Clark,
Nothing but the highest of praise for Hagerty. My '66 BB (adequately insured) was in a shop fire. Initially, the damage didn't appear to be too severe, but as the body shop, my mechanic and I got into it, it was worse than we thought. Hagerty ultimately paid the full value of the policy (less $2000 that they considered to be salvage value). There were some 'negotiations' between the body shop and Hagerty, but no hassles on my part. I would recommend them in a nanosecond!
Jeff

[William B.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

Hi Jeff, sorry for your loss. I am with hagerty, I sometimes wonder if my cars are insured enough for a total loss.
Once they decided to pay the full amount were you given the option of keeping the car or did they want you to surrender it to then?

[John F.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

Most companies will let you have the salvage for a reasonable price. It saves them the hassle of storage, towing, etc.

John

[Jean C.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

Hagerty has done well witn one Texas Chapter member whose cars were damaged by Hurricane Ike and another chapter member whose car was damaged in transport when hydraulic fluid from another car leaked on it. No hassles, favorable settlements. I hope Grundy does as well for me if I ever have a claim.
Best regards,

[Greg F.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

Has anyone used Heacock? Any examples (positive or negative)?

[Paul Y.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

Hagerty paid a windshield that I was not going to claim after they called me up to check on a chip repair. They insisted that they were there for that reason. I have nothing but praise for the way that they conduct business. Paul

[Valeria H.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

I have American Collectors Insurance. My toyota and
lexus are insured with USAA who is great to deal with and their quotes are about as good as you can get. When I insured my corvette they did not have collector insurance and referred me to American Collectors. I am fully insured with them. Last year I had a little fender bender on the front grill only about 1/2 inch which I was going to pay for myself. I returned the car to the garage and placed the cover over it so my husband would not notice. The next day I backed the car out of the garage and heard this crunching sound coming from the front of the car (not good). The whole front end was ripped off. Long story made short, American Collectors took care of the entire 10,000 bill and my insurance rate did not increase dramtically.
This year USAA came out with a collectors insurance of their own so I called them up to get a rate and their price was higher than American Collectors. Sounds like there are several good options available.
Valeria

[Glenn D.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

I have not had a claim with Hagerty , but based my decision to go with them , in part from people that I spoke to that did. When I did speak to them I felt they were very professional.

[Warren F.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

Clark,

I can relate a story to you about Hagerty and their claims service. I had purchased a nice refurbished 1969 Camaro SS L78 Convertible and chose them to insure with. Policy premium based on 35K value in 1998. Driving the car about a mile from my office it caught on fire (engine bay) and the car died at an intersection. A car pulled up next to me and pointed down at the ground, I rolled the window down and the passenger yelled that the car was on fire! I opened the drivers door and leaned down to look under the car and could see flames near the bellhousing area. The passenger in the car next to me had a cell phone and called the fire department, which happened to be a half a block away. I jumped out of the car and ran to the front and opened the hood, which immediately allowed the fire to flame up when exposed to fresh air, having no extinguisher I immediately shut the hood until the firemen came and opened the hood. They flooded the engine bay with water and then flooded the interior with water. A slider bed tow truck arrived and hauled the car home to my house.

I called Hagerty Classic car insurance to notify them of the casualty. They sent two individuals to my home within the next week. Both showed up within an hour of each other, a man who was an appraiser and a woman who was the claims adjuster. The man looked at the Camaro and remarked, "well it looks like you'll need an old junk Camaro to get some parts off of". The woman looked at the car and asked who I could take it to, to get an estimate. I promptly replied that this particular Camaro convertible had been written up in 9 hardbound books on Camaros with color plates and was featured on the front covers of Automobile Quartely's magazine and Muscle Car Review magazine as well as center spread. It also was featured in its own musclecar trading card. I told them this was the most famous "69 SS 396/375hp convertible in the United States and documented with original broadcast copy off the fuel tank (VanNuys built) and original Dealers Sales Invoice/Contract from original owner.

I also told them that this car would not be able to be moved once it was torn down completely to do a restoration. They replied that they would only repair the damaged areas, I said no problem as the car needed a total restoration from fire and water damage caused by the fire department. I also told them that there was only 5 shops in the country that I would accept to work on this car. Larry Christenson, CO. Greg Donohue, MI. Roger Gibson, MO. Frank Serafin, FL. or Bob Harris, NY.

As it turned out, Camaro Specialties (Bob Harris) in East Aurora, NY had only a 6 month waiting schedule at that time (car sat in my garage until his time slot opened). The woman (claims estimater) said that they would not pay to transport the car to any of these shops. I said no problem I would take care of transporting them. I called around and found a transporter from Redding, CA who would come down and pick the car up (since it wouldn't run). The price was $1,400 and off the car went. When it arrived at NY, Bob called and said that the car was an incredible example and the nicest he's ever seen or worked on, and this was in its current state of condition!

Camaro Specialties proceeded to dismantle the car completely and write up and estimate of just the damage and also an estimate of total restoration. The bill to submit to Hagerty Insurance was $17,550 and the total including this portion was $58,000. I submitted the faxed bill for the damage amount to Hagerty and they wrote me a check for that amount. I then sent a check to Bob Harris for $58K and received an absolutely beautiful restored car which I later sold for a world record (at that time- 2001) amount of $85K.

So there is my story on the only claim I have ever had, which happened to be with Hagerty Classic Insurance Co.

[Rick S.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

Put me in with the happy group of Hagerty customers. A few years back during the Ryder Cup, traffic within several miles of the event was very heavy. The women in front of me thought she was in the intersection when the traffic light turned red. I was about 8-10ft behind her. She is in a Chev Suburban and proceeds to back up, not seeing me because of the size of our cars. By the time I am on the horn, she backs into me. The estimate is 12k and Hagerty sends a claims adjuster out to go over the estimate with me and the restoration shop owner. A week later, I have a check for 12k. For a rotten initial experience, the final outcome was great.

Rick

[Jeff A.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

Hi Jeff, sorry for your loss. I am with hagerty, I sometimes wonder if my cars are insured enough for a total loss.
Once they decided to pay the full amount were you given the option of keeping the car or did they want you to surrender it to then?

William,
The car was not totaled. My body shop has been dealing with Vettes for 35 years and they understood that a salvage title was not an option (hence, the 'negotiations' noted earlier). They came to an agreement with Hagerty to repair the car for the full value of my policy - less the $2K that would have been salvage value. All of the body work is now complete and we fired up the engine a couple of weeks ago. We're currently working out the inevitable bugs (an oil leak here, a gas leak there, cigarette lighter with a mind of its own, sleepy headlight buckets, etc...). I hope to have it on the road in a few weeks. As an aside, I got a call today from the law firm that represents Hagerty (actually, Encompass, who was their underwriter at the time), advising me that opposing counsel wants a deposition from me. Obviously, Encompass is seeking reimbursement from the responsible party, which happened to be a mouse that ate through some wires at a junction box at the shop. Apparently Mighty Mouse survived the fire and hired a lawyer .
Jeff
PS - If in doubt about how much insurance you should carry on your Vette, err on the side of safety. Classic car insurance is cheap insurance!

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: Collector Car Insurance

Several years ago I was replacing the upper window frame and corners on my '69 coupe. I had the seats and much of the trim removed and was welding in the last piece-the center piece that attaches to the upper windshield frame. I stepped back to admire my work and I removed my welding helmet only to see flames shooting through the space where the back window should have been. I had my fire extinguisher next to me so I quickly out out the fire but not before the paint on the back deck (right over a full gas tank) and some interior trim including a door panel and carpet was damaged. This was on a Sunday so Monday morning I called Haggerty and told them what happened. They said not to worry that all they wanted to do was to get the car repaired to my satisfaction. I brought the car to a body shop that does a lot of Corvette painting and got an estimate for $3000 for just the paint. I was going to do the carpet and all interior trim myself. I told Haggerty that the door panels and trim damaged were all original pieces and that I was not going to get reproduction replacements but I was going top search for NOS pieces. First they sent me a check for the full amount of the paint work without even an adjuster looking at the car. I had the check within a week. Then, as I purchased the replacemnt pieces over the next year, I was paid for them immediatly on sending them a bill. Some pieces I purchased at swap meets and on the internet and I didn't even have receipt! Never a question about price or even proof that I bouight the parts. I still can't believe the level of service I was given.
Jeff