sigtauenus
Active Member
As my car gets closer to completion and return to daily driver status, I've been thinking a lot about insurance options.
All the classic companies, Haggerty, etc, have a limitation that states you can't drive your car to work.
I was thinking about the fact that for a daily driver classic, the typical fender bender is not a big deal today as it was even 10 years ago. Ford tooling fenders are available, full quarters are available, heck, even door posts and A-pillars are available depending on how hard you get smacked.
With almost all parts available now for 65-70, there really isn't such a thing as a totalled car. You can smack the crap out of a tree, and assuming you live to rebuild the car, you can replace everything from the firewall forward, even the firewall. You can roll a car and replace the roof and all the support structure.
When my car is back on the road, I'm pretty sure I'll be in the neighborhood of $30-35k. That is not far off the mark of a new 2010 GT. Why should my insurance for my 68 be any different than for a new GT? If I have an appraisal for $30k, and it gets stolen, then I get a check for $30k. If I get hit and need a quarter, I get a quarter replaced and blended paint, no different than what would happen for the new GT.
What I'm proposing is a daily driver insurance co-op for collision and comprehensive. You can use any company for basic liability coverage to protect to state legal liability requirements, and the co-op would cover the car for anything that falls normally under collision and comprehensive.
I was thinking that stated value or agreed value is not entirely fair. You can't buy a $2500 beater off your neighbor, insure it for $40,000, and then wrap it around a tree and expect to have $40,000 in your pocket to rebuild it with. There would need to be an approved appraisal process to determine "total" value, or documented receipts to justify $40,000 coverage for the fully restored car that is appraised at $25,000.
The total value would only really be a factor in theft or severe damage circumstances. Theft equals full payment of total value. Severe damage equals payment for repairs up to and including total value. There would be no such thing as damage exceeding 50 or 75% of value so the car is totalled, hand over the title. You would keep the title and get payment up to the appraised value of the car for repairs.
Repairs would be based on collision center quotes. No book that says you have to replace just a skin or use the cheapest repro available. Coverage would not support NOS parts, but would support Ford tooling if available or the otherwise best available repro parts. If you want NOS parts used, fine, but reimbursement will be for the best repo available and you cover the difference to buy NOS. We could base pricing on a large national vendor such as NPD, M+, MU, etc.
Repairs would only be for damage, ie, no complete repaint of the car because a quarter got hit. No different than if your 2010 gets hit, they only repair and blend the damaged area. If you have a silver or metallic or original paint that is going to be hard to match, that is a risk you have to take with this coverage.
Towing coverage for a lot of us would be to home vice a shop. If within 50 miles or so of home, its your choice if you want the car towed to your house or a shop.
An exact parts list would be mandatory for the car. If you have a SSBC or Granada front discs, or total control R&P, that needs to be on file, and those specific parts will be replaced if damaged.
I was thinking along the lines of USAA where everybody is kind of a joint owner, like a co-op. Whatever is paid in that doesn't get used during the year gets deposited into each members account like a profit sharing deal. A certain amount of that would be held in reserve, but with a vote, some percentage could be released as a check to the member or credit to premium due.
The whole premise here is that there is likely a lot of guys who want to drive their car every day but don't because they are following their insurance rules, or who drive their car anyhow risking their insurance not paying if they are caught.
The primary reason the big companies don't offer this is the more a car is driven, the more risk incurred. I also don't think they've kept up with parts availability the past few years, and as a big company, it is likely problematic to say they have a daily driver program for 67-70 Mustang fastbacks and 69 Camaro's only, etc.
This would not have to be for fully restored cars either. If you have a $10,000 car that you are building yourself while you drive it, at least you can get coverage for what it is worth at the time.
I have no idea how underwriting works, ie, the math or formulas involved. If we have 100 members each paying say $500, that's only $50,000 to work with. A handful of accidents or 1 or 2 totals will burn through that quick. But, if you are daily driving the car, you have to accept the fact that that means more risk and a higher premium than you would pay at other places.
Lots of thoughts here.
Is it feasible? Would anybody be interested in something like this? I don't have the cash personally to back something like this, but concept wise I think it may work, obviously more details hashed out, and then maybe put together a business plan and pitch it to investors.
All the classic companies, Haggerty, etc, have a limitation that states you can't drive your car to work.
I was thinking about the fact that for a daily driver classic, the typical fender bender is not a big deal today as it was even 10 years ago. Ford tooling fenders are available, full quarters are available, heck, even door posts and A-pillars are available depending on how hard you get smacked.
With almost all parts available now for 65-70, there really isn't such a thing as a totalled car. You can smack the crap out of a tree, and assuming you live to rebuild the car, you can replace everything from the firewall forward, even the firewall. You can roll a car and replace the roof and all the support structure.
When my car is back on the road, I'm pretty sure I'll be in the neighborhood of $30-35k. That is not far off the mark of a new 2010 GT. Why should my insurance for my 68 be any different than for a new GT? If I have an appraisal for $30k, and it gets stolen, then I get a check for $30k. If I get hit and need a quarter, I get a quarter replaced and blended paint, no different than what would happen for the new GT.
What I'm proposing is a daily driver insurance co-op for collision and comprehensive. You can use any company for basic liability coverage to protect to state legal liability requirements, and the co-op would cover the car for anything that falls normally under collision and comprehensive.
I was thinking that stated value or agreed value is not entirely fair. You can't buy a $2500 beater off your neighbor, insure it for $40,000, and then wrap it around a tree and expect to have $40,000 in your pocket to rebuild it with. There would need to be an approved appraisal process to determine "total" value, or documented receipts to justify $40,000 coverage for the fully restored car that is appraised at $25,000.
The total value would only really be a factor in theft or severe damage circumstances. Theft equals full payment of total value. Severe damage equals payment for repairs up to and including total value. There would be no such thing as damage exceeding 50 or 75% of value so the car is totalled, hand over the title. You would keep the title and get payment up to the appraised value of the car for repairs.
Repairs would be based on collision center quotes. No book that says you have to replace just a skin or use the cheapest repro available. Coverage would not support NOS parts, but would support Ford tooling if available or the otherwise best available repro parts. If you want NOS parts used, fine, but reimbursement will be for the best repo available and you cover the difference to buy NOS. We could base pricing on a large national vendor such as NPD, M+, MU, etc.
Repairs would only be for damage, ie, no complete repaint of the car because a quarter got hit. No different than if your 2010 gets hit, they only repair and blend the damaged area. If you have a silver or metallic or original paint that is going to be hard to match, that is a risk you have to take with this coverage.
Towing coverage for a lot of us would be to home vice a shop. If within 50 miles or so of home, its your choice if you want the car towed to your house or a shop.
An exact parts list would be mandatory for the car. If you have a SSBC or Granada front discs, or total control R&P, that needs to be on file, and those specific parts will be replaced if damaged.
I was thinking along the lines of USAA where everybody is kind of a joint owner, like a co-op. Whatever is paid in that doesn't get used during the year gets deposited into each members account like a profit sharing deal. A certain amount of that would be held in reserve, but with a vote, some percentage could be released as a check to the member or credit to premium due.
The whole premise here is that there is likely a lot of guys who want to drive their car every day but don't because they are following their insurance rules, or who drive their car anyhow risking their insurance not paying if they are caught.
The primary reason the big companies don't offer this is the more a car is driven, the more risk incurred. I also don't think they've kept up with parts availability the past few years, and as a big company, it is likely problematic to say they have a daily driver program for 67-70 Mustang fastbacks and 69 Camaro's only, etc.
This would not have to be for fully restored cars either. If you have a $10,000 car that you are building yourself while you drive it, at least you can get coverage for what it is worth at the time.
I have no idea how underwriting works, ie, the math or formulas involved. If we have 100 members each paying say $500, that's only $50,000 to work with. A handful of accidents or 1 or 2 totals will burn through that quick. But, if you are daily driving the car, you have to accept the fact that that means more risk and a higher premium than you would pay at other places.
Lots of thoughts here.
Is it feasible? Would anybody be interested in something like this? I don't have the cash personally to back something like this, but concept wise I think it may work, obviously more details hashed out, and then maybe put together a business plan and pitch it to investors.
