Insurance companies

[DMCMW Dave]

Unfortunately the real proof is how they behave when you put in a claim. You can have an insurance company for 20 years and be "happy" but if you have never dealt with a claim, had them send you to a bad body shop, pay off the bare minimum of what your car may be worth, you'll never really know how good they are.

A good way to find out if you really want to go through the effort is to visit several good local body shops, talk to the manager, and see what insurance companies they do or don't like to deal with. That's where you may find out why the cheap ones are cheap.

[Mike Griese]

Unfortunately the real proof is how they behave when you put in a claim. You can have an insurance company for 20 years and be "happy" but if you have never dealt with a claim, had them send you to a bad body shop, pay off the bare minimum of what your car may be worth, you'll never really know how good they are.

A good way to find out if you really want to go through the effort is to visit several good local body shops, talk to the manager, and see what insurance companies they do or don't like to deal with. That's where you may find out why the cheap ones are cheap.

Exactly.

All insurance companies are happy to collect your check every 6 months or year - it's how they behave when they have to send YOU a check that matters. Run of the mill daily drivers are one thing for a company to insure because there are enough of them out there that there are no surprises when getting a car fixed and there are enough body shops around that can/will do the work. Getting something like a DeLorean repaired isn't routine. Most discount insurance companies won't have assessors who know how a DeLorean should be repaired, so their first inclination will be to total the car, regardless of the actual damage. Selecting a repair center out of state will make their heads explode. I found it helpful to have a discussion with an agent about how the process would work should the worst happen. The car is damaged enough it has to be trailered, no local shop will do the work, and the best place to get it repaired is several states away - what will they do? Make sure the agent realizes what it takes to put one of these back together properly and see what they come back with.

[leepoffaith]

Just insured my my newly bought Delorean through Heacock. I'm a married 35 year old male with a perfect driving record. $324 per year with an Agreed Value of $35,000 and a 3,000 mile limit per year. You could get 7,500 miles for 50 bucks more but I didn't need it right now. 100/300 liability with same coverage for uninsured motorist. Insured as a collector car so I have to have two other cars since there are two drivers and it must be garaged. Had to send pictures of front, back and both sides of the car as well as the inside. Keep in mind I live in Tampa, FL and our normal car insurance rates are sky high. Also, I bought the car for $20,000 and was upfront with them on that. I asked them if my agreed value of $35,000 was going to be a problem and they stated it was no problem since it falls in their value range. My suggestion would be to shoot high on the value and then adjust down if they need you to. I saw a post that stated they valued theirs at 27k. Good luck finding a decent running good shape Delorean for 27k if yours is totaled. I also have $200 per incident towing, coverage for up to $2,000 worth of spare parts in the car and an automatic rider that increases the agreed value 3% each year.

Problem is my lease is up on my daily driver later this month so I'll need to find a regular insurance company to insure it or buy another daily driver.

[Rich]

As a (retired) vendor, I've dealt with most of the major insurance companies on DMC repairs. The only one that gave me anything close to a hard time was Geico, and with a bit of negotiation they worked out OK. State Farm and Hagerty were very easy. I don't recall dealing with Progressive.

This is excellent info, Dave. Thanks for sharing.

Do any other DeLorean shop pros care to weigh in on how any of the majors treat you and the owners who bring you their broken DeLoreans?

[SKnight]

I was in an accident in my D last summer (got rear ended), mine is insured through State Farm as a secondary vehicle. The claims process took longer than normal since the adjuster wasn't familiar with a DeLorean and what it would take to repair it, they also had to go through a couple more approvals due to the higher costs. But ultimately they cut a check for the amount I needed and my car is back on the road. After all this though I've decided to look at getting insurance for agreed value, my current plan doesn't have that which makes me nervous.

All in all though I can't complain too much about State Farm.

[Jason]

Does anyone have an agreed value policy without any driving restrictions, and if so with which insurance company?

[CFI]

I have used State Farm for about 35 years on all manner of cars - from daily drivers to DeLoreans and Lotuses. They have always been very easy to deal with in terms of claims. I get the work done where I want, how I want. I have no limitations on how I may use the cars as well, and I can suspend coverage for the specialty cars during the winter.

Good stuff. Thank you.

[CFI]

As a (retired) vendor, I've dealt with most of the major insurance companies on DMC repairs. The only one that gave me anything close to a hard time was Geico, and with a bit of negotiation they worked out OK. State Farm and Hagerty were very easy. I don't recall dealing with Progressive.

Excellent info. Thanks.

[CFI]

I tacked on their Hagerty Plus Roadside Assistance for this car (approved flatbed tow for up to 150 miles) plus emergency lockout/fuel/battery jump for the D plus 2 daily drivers. Great peace of mind; so far have not had to use them.

Be very, very careful with roadside assistance offered by insurance companies.

A friend of mine recently received a letter from his insurance company informing him that they were dropping him as a customer due to his having too many claims. Since he hadn’t filed a claim in years he called his local agent to see what the issue was. Apparently his wife had used the insurance companies roadside assistance plan 4 times within the last year (flat tire, keys locked in car, etc). Each time she used the roadside assistance it was counted as a claim on their policy. He had a heck of a time finding another insurer (he’s been marked as high risk now) and his premiums are ridiculous.

Your best bet is a company like AAA, who is not affiliated with your car insurance company and whose services can not be used against you as insurance claims.

[spikeygg]

I'm looking for better insurance for my D and reading this thread there are a lot of suggestions. My car is currently insured via Allstate with my other cars and I know that the insurance is not ideal (for collector cars), so I want to swap it to something else with an agreed value.

I went to the following websites and got quotes with a $25,000 agreed value and this is where they each landed:
Hagerty == $482
Heacock == $556
Grundy == $193

I tried to line up the specs as closely as possible with each quote. All of them have liability, collision, and comprehensive and it seems that the comprehensive and collision coverages are where much of the cost differences are and all of them has a $0 deductible!

Anyone have other insurance options I can quote through the internet? I have no military service so USAA is out. I'm not sure why Grundy comes up so cheap compared to the other two but I'm not really keen on spending over $500 annually to drive the car 1000 miles or less during the year.