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insurance help for kit cars

letterman7

Honorary Admin
Interesting, Jim. They may have modified their policies. When I tried to get them to quote the car they said essentially 'no way'. How is your car registered - as a VW or special construction?
 

Unofun

Member
Insurance

Progresive and allied have always covered my kits of all types with good results. Allied is currently covering my orange sterling for about 200. A year, with a stated value of 7500. With 3 other cars covered, seperately.
Hope this helps.... Greg
 

Jim Sanker

New member
Interesting, Jim. They may have modified their policies. When I tried to get them to quote the car they said essentially 'no way'. How is your car registered - as a VW or special construction?

Registered in Ohio.
Year=1976
Make=ASVE
Make Discription=VW
Body Type=2 D
Model=STE
Model Discription=Sterling

I don't know what ASVE means and I guess that they don't have a body type "No Door" option, also I don't know what a model "STE" is.
 

Hogwit

New member
This made me wonder something. So I'm 14, and I will hopefully have the car completed by the time I'm 16. So how much would it cost me to insure it when I'm 16, and lets say at $7,500?
 

letterman7

Honorary Admin
Every state is different. You'll need to call to get a quote... just like Geico! Depending on how it's registered, and if you insure it as a daily driver, I'd imagine it would range from $500 to $1500 a year dependant on coverages. Only your insurance agent would know. Have your father to to his company to get some ideas. Usually, having it in your parent's name with you called as a driver on the policy will lower it a little bit.
 

farfegnubbin

Site Owner
Staff member
American Collectors Insurance is excellent for kit cars

Hi everybody.

Please let me be the third person thus far in the discussion to recommend:

American Collectors Insurance


I used to have my Sterling through State Farm. Interestingly, when I went to insure my Cimbria, they told me they can't insure "that type of car." I told them that I thought this was kind of curious seeing as how they were already insuring and almost identical sister car to this for me.

They agree. And they dropped the Sterling. *explitive rant*

Anway, after a few minutes of panic and a few more minutes of research, I found a link on Geiko's site that led me to American Collectors Insurance. And the rest is history.

So far, there is nothing at all that I don't like about this insurance. They gave me a quote via email within a few hours. They used "agreed value" just like we need. They weren't expensive. And best of all, they didn't look at me like I had three heads when I told them I had a kit car. Instead they said, "Cool! What kind?" And for that alone I will probably use them for every project I ever need to insure. (I knew that things were good when they had choices like "Kit Car" and "Street Rod" and "Specially Constructed" in their pull-down menus. Yes!!)

They seem to have a few different policy choices, but I did notice two quirks to their underwriting. First, they do prefer to write the policy as a show car that is only driven a certain number of miles per year. Initially that made me nervous. But when it came down to it, they asked me how many miles per years I wanted and adjusted the policy accordingly. One of their defaults was for 5000 miles per year, which will be MORE than adequate for me. (Plus, I figure that if I somehow freakishly get to my limit, heck, I'll just switch to the other car, right?) :D

The other quirk was that they were much more focused on where I was garaging the car than what type of car it was. They asked me several times about whether it was in a locked garage, whether the garage was shared, whether there were security guards (seriously), etc. But again, when it came down to it, they merely tagged on a little to the premium because my cars are not guarded by a swat team. (In other words, it is more a case of them providing a discount to those who have unusually secure locations, if I'm understanding it correctly.)

Anyway, I can strongly endorse this company. They immediately had a product for me -- for all of us -- and plus, they seem like a smaller, specialized company and have competently, quickly answered every email and phone call. I give them two thumbs up. *thumbs up**thumbs up*

Here is a copy of my general policy (with some info blocked out). Feel free to use it for comparison. Insurance isn't always about finding the one that's the very cheapest. These guys were among the least expensive. But more importantly, they seem to "get it" regarding our cars. You don't have to beg them for coverage. I'll gladly pay a tad more per year for that attitude.

Below is my coverage. It would be even less expensive if I just hired an armed guard! (Note that the total at the bottom is for BOTH of my insured kits.)

american_collectors_insurance.jpg

Please note that I have no financial gain in this endorsement. When a company does something right for our hobby, I simply want to scream it from the rooftops.
 

letterman7

Honorary Admin
Insurance covers the entire car, so yes, the windshield would be covered. A member on Long Island replaced his windshield twice when his hood let loose, each time covered by insurance (if memory serves).
 

Unofun

Member
Yes, I even had one that I bought and bringing it home was run off the road by an oncoming sleeping driver. My new enclosed trailer flipped on its side with the sterling inside breaking the V-5 engine loose. As I had bought the sterling that day I didn't even THINK I had insurance on it! The trailer was taken to COPARTs to be inspected the trailer for my coverage. Progress Insurance mentioned it and appraised it and told me it was covered as I had sold a differant kit car less than 45 days before so it was covered. I sent a receipt of the 3500. But they decided to payoff 15.5k as totaled.. a few weeks later and asked if I would like to purchase it back for 1500. Of course I did! Bought it home, and sold it, and then sold the motor to a hot rodder.. and again tripling what I paid.. later I bought the body back from the owner and later sold it to sterlingsportscars.com and shipped to Delaware.
 

Unofun

Member
The 3 sterlings I have insured now costs me 174.00 total for all 3 cars every 6 months.. coverage covers 300k liability.
Since they are VW bug based the differant company's always give a bugs rates... however if you want comprehensive in case you damage it then request your stated value to be sure what insurance will pay if you wreck it..
 

aliusa

Member
Thanks for the info. I was mostly concerned about the windshield cracking. Cause that's something that always happens to every car I've owned. Since a Sterling windshield isn't very standard just wondering if insurance company give any trouble or worse "total" the car.

But like the advice earlier in the thread about stated value. 👍
 

ratrog64

Well-known member
Mine was also insured with Hagerty's valued at 20k. I think it was $358 for the year.
Insured as a Kit Car.
 

nbb350

Member
Usually, having it in your parent's name with you called as a driver on the policy will lower it a little bit.

This good advice applies to ANY car when you're a teenage boy! I was insured as the Main Driver (liability only) on an old parts car ('67 Chevy Impala) that had no engine or wheels; it sat in a farm field outside of town. BUT, it was still cheaper to keep the registration on that "car" current and insure me on it than it was to insure me on any of our family's newer running cars! Teenage boys are EXPENSIVE to insure...for valid reasons (I'd totalled out 2 cars by age 19!)
 
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