Antique Classic Car Insurance

You probably know by now that an antique classic car insurance is totally different from the policy we pay for our regular cars. The reason behind this situation is that these cars are not on the road every day (some of them are not even driven at all), and owners only use them for the pleasure of driving, not to get from point A to B, like most of us do.

The designation of classic, antique or classic/antique cars varies from one organization to the other as well as among car insurance companies. For example, the Classic Car Club of America defines classic cars the ones built not only in America, but in the rest of the world, between 1925 and 1948. Most of them were manufactured in a limited series and were very expensive at the moment of the market launch. III defines antique and classic cars as those vehicles made 30 or more years ago.

The definite has been expanded further by Heacock Classic Cars, which is a division of Sebring, Fla-based Heacock Insurance Group Inc. that started its business back in 1922. They define an “antique” car a model made more than 25 years ago, while a “classic” car is a vehicle manufactured 15-25 years ago. The car that is less than 25 years old is usually an “exotic” or a “late model”, according to Stacey Heacock, who is the national sales manager of the company.

She added that a classic car insurance policy is different from a standard policy when it comes down to how a loss is settled after an accident or a theft. These car insurance companies value regular cars on “actual cash value”, which takes depreciation into consideration. However, most of the antique classic car insurance policies are written on an “agreed value” basis, which means that the owner of the vehicle will be paid the full value of the car if it is wrecked or stolen, according to Heacock. The “agreed value” applies to physical damage caused by collision, theft, vandalism, fire or any other type of damage, she added.

These insurance quotes for classic cars vary somewhat, depending upon the type, value, age and use of the vehicle. The usual savings for collector car insurance rates can be anywhere from one-third to half of the insurance rate for the family auto. Although such a classic car insurance can cost less to insurance in comparison to a regular vehicle, it will probably come with a couple of restrictions. Here are a few of them:

a)      Restrictions on who may drive the vehicle;

b)      Mandates on how the car is stored, usually in a secured garage;

c)       Limits on the number of miles that you can drive the car annually.

For the last part of the article we’ve figured that some examples of antique classic car insurance rates might come in handy:

1. 1970 MG B stock – ($5,000 agreed value policy), annual premium: $112;
2. 1995 Lotus Esprit stock – ($32,000 agreed value), annual premium: $487;
3. 1978 Chevrolet Corvette stock – ($18,500 agreed value policy), annual premium: $211.

Source: insure.com

Post tags: Tags: antique car insurance, automotive articles, classic car insurance