Thread: Bad deal for my Cousin on 5/6

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Not trying to hijack this thread but had a thought to share concerning the loss of our cars:

Good reminder for all of us to make sure our rides are well insured (no matter what state their in). I have full replacement for my 1963 Nova SS and the '71 Chevy truck. My insurance guy needed a lot of pictures and a complete inventory of all that had gone into the build(s) and issued insurance that valued the Nova at $50K and the truck at $40K. This is in addition to my homeowner's policy as my vehicles are in the garage attached to the house.

Could I duplicate for those numbers? Probably not, but I could certainly purchase another vehicle of similar value. There is no way to ever replace the blood, sweat, and tears nor the emotional attachment, but good insurance does allow us to recover and move on.

Again, I'm glad that no one was hurt and know that your cousin will come out of this okay. It is true that those thing that don't kill us make us stronger (except bears - they'll kill ya!).

scary having an attached garage. i had several. had a friend lose it all over a damn gas water heater in the garage . gas fumes go boom . now we have all the battery powered stuff in there with batteries just waiting to light off . if your garage is attached take extra precautions .

As Glenn said, not trying to hijack the thread but when I was first starting on my coupe I talked to my insurance agent about a policy, and he got approval from the home office to write a "special policy" on the "car" when it was the roller package, just to be sure it was covered when it was being trailered home, and in the barn under construction, not yet registered. After I trailered it to get it inspected & registered, I talked to him about an "agreed value" policy, and he sent me the contract language which stated clearly that in the event of a loss the company would look at market value of comparable vehicles, including "book value" for vehicles of that age. We discussed it, and I pointed out that it sounded to me like we'd be in a knock down, drag out fight over the value of the vehicle at the time of loss, and after a bit he agreed that it was best for me to insure my "collector car" with a specialty (stated value) insurance company. Just sayin', it easy to "agree" when you're paying them, but may be difficult to "agree" when it's time for them to pay you. When you negotiate a value that differs from "book" all it does is boost your premium, and with a loss they will go back to the contract wording and fall back to "book" and "market" for value. Let the buyer beware....

Ryan, I hope your cousin had good insurance!

stated value is the only way to go .

I totally agree with you all on having good insurance. I really need to get insurance back on the 40. It has nothing on it and hasn't since a year after I ripped it apart. I do have an agreed policy on my Camaro with my local insurance guy. Hopefully it isn't an argue fest if anything were to happen. I can't insure it through Grundy. You can't drive it to work or any school through them. I drive it daily and if I need to drop kids off at school, I will. Hagerty wanted $1250/yr knowing I drive it a lot so I inquired locally and for $25k agreed value it is only $70/month.

Just last Saturday I was coming home from work and I saw a fire truck refilling with water at my old high school. Then a 1/4 mile later I saw several fire trucks at a residence on a side street. I found out later from my wife that a garage started on fire and it was attached and took the entire house. No one was home and the cause was still unknown last time she looked. Just a harsh reminder.....

Back to Josh's situation. I spoke with him and his insurance was through a local company in his town. He didn't remember what he had on it after the agent started going in circles. But the agent was able to dig up a policy agreement from 2019 when Josh told them the car was worth $8k. He said that was before he dumped a lot of money in it but he swore he signed another form for $20k last spring but those papers are no where to be found. So he got $8k for it and a very hard learned lesson. I went and looked at another 71 Chevelle for him. Now to try to get it on the cheap so he can try to build another one.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

I totally agree with you all on having good insurance. I really need to get insurance back on the 40. It has nothing on it and hasn't since a year after I ripped it apart. I do have an agreed policy on my Camaro with my local insurance guy. Hopefully it isn't an argue fest if anything were to happen. I can't insure it through Grundy. You can't drive it to work or any school through them. I drive it daily and if I need to drop kids off at school, I will. Hagerty wanted $1250/yr knowing I drive it a lot so I inquired locally and for $25k agreed value it is only $70/month....

Ryan, I would recommend you pull out your policy on the Camaro and read through it to find the section about claims, and especially about how they handle determining value for a total loss. At the time I was with American Family, and their policy stated clearly that my "stated value" meant nothing. I'm now with Farm Bureau, and my agent agreed that it was best for me to stay with Hagerty for the two hot rods. I understand that having a vintage car as your daily driver creates a problem with the specialty guys, and you may very well have your bases covered as best they can be, but it wouldn't hurt to read the words in the contract, which is what the policy is - a contract between you & them.

Off my soap box now. Hope you can help your cousin find a new start for his dream.