Declared value insurance policy

[Tallenhouston]

Hey, all. There have been far too many sad stories of people losing their cruisers to an accident and getting royally screwed by their or the other driver's insurance company. Now that I have spent a significant amount of time and $$$ with modifications, I tried to get a declared value insurance policy from USAA. That was a no-go. The best they could do was a 20% uplift on the book value for a "full replacement" policy. It's a 2002, so it isn't considered antique (1985 or earlier for USAA's affiliate insurer).

Does anyone have a recommended insurance company that will issue a policy closer to the value of my rig? Or should I use a certified valuation company to get an official document to use in case of an accident where the other party is at fault? A shop owner here in Salt Lake City who does a lot of work on cruisers said a fair market value if I sold it today is in the $22-25k range.

Interested to hear from you all on a possible solution.

 

[dstewart3ss]

+1

 

[mitchjohnson000]

Agreed Value insurance on a 100 series

forum.ih8mud.com

I spent a lot of time researching this. Safeco is the only provider that will do agreed value on a 100 series.

 

[Tallenhouston]

Agreed Value insurance on a 100 series

forum.ih8mud.com

I spent a lot of time researching this. Safeco is the only provider that will do agreed value on a 100 series.

Thanks for the feedback! They will get a call from me today. Maybe I'll get a break since my homeowners policy is with them. I'll report back.

 

[Live to Ski]

Why did u contact usaa vs first approaching your homeowners insurer?

Reason: usaa currently insures me for everything.

 

[AlpineAccess]

I use USAA and just did the +20% thing. It's cheap IMO.

Say you don't wreck your vehicle right away and save a few hundred a year by not getting a pricy declared value policy, while piling miles onto the vehicle...you'll come out ahead in the long run.

 

[Tallenhouston]

Why did u contact usaa vs first approaching your homeowners insurer?

Reason: usaa currently insures me for everything.

I had everything with USAA until I refinanced my home last year. Their homeowner's premiums were double what other insurers were and I've filed one small claim in 25 years. Safeco won that business. I haven't shopped them for auto yet, but this might be the catalyst.

 

[bozncsurf]

I have everything with usaa as well. I have the +20% add on and agree with @AlpineAccess its cheap peace of mind.

Someone tapped me (literally tapped) at a stop light and usaa went above and beyond - called after market vendors etc and I came out well ahead.

I’m not worried about my insurance, I’m worried about theirs.

 

[AlpineAccess]

I had everything with USAA until I refinanced my home last year. Their homeowner's premiums were double what other insurers were and I've filed one small claim in 25 years. Safeco won that business. I haven't shopped them for auto yet, but this might be the catalyst.

That's interesting to hear. We had liberty mutual for a number of years and the premiums just kept arbitrarily going up. We'd always heard USAA was a bit more expensive, and their quotes for car insurance were always a bit higher than I was getting with Geico. Then last year I did my annual insurance re-shop and USAA was our best quote overall with a substantive increase in coverage to boot. We were wanting to add umbrella/life and they blew everyone else out of the water. I'm sure there is a lot of data points taken into consideration which results in insurance never being a one-size fits all kind of deal for anyone here.

Lot of money to be saved shopping every year. In my case it results in better coverage overall because I have to review what I have regularly.

 

[bridgeburner]

If the truck isn’t a daily driver I’d suggest looking at Hagerty. Way back when I had foolishly dumped about 20-25k into a VW cabrio. It got stripped and put on blocks one weekend and Hagerty cut me a check a few weeks later.

 

[Bigsky80]

For older classic cars I have been very happy with Hagerty. We had USAA for 17 years but that ended after they failed to pay a shop for a windshield replacement done by someone other than Safelite. After months of phone calls and party calls they failed to reimburse so we started shopping around. Turns out we should have shopped around more often as we are now paying $1200 less per year for the same coverage. However, I will be calling Safeco to see about a declared value rate as All State will only add the value of the cost of my bumper and sliders
Cheers,
Scot

 

[bridgeburner]

For older classic cars I have been very happy with Hagerty. We had USAA for 17 years but that ended after they failed to pay a shop for a windshield replacement done by someone other than Safelite. After months of phone calls and party calls they failed to reimburse so we started shopping around. Turns out we should have shopped around more often as we are now paying $1200 less per year for the same coverage. However, I will be calling Safeco to see about a declared value rate as All State will only add the value of the cost of my bumper and sliders
Cheers,
Scot

With my Hagerty experience above I was insuring a 1996 VW Cabrio between 2001-2004. It fell under their custom/street rod category. Additionally I got it covered because of the low volume of those cars produced for North America.

 

[vipergrhd]

I need this once i get back the 60 on the road, i would hate to see someone total my ride and find out they don't even have insurance.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Check out Grundy. I use them on my Supra. $220/year. The collector policy has stipulations that might not apply to a typical 100, but they had an MVP program which I recall being agreed value with little in the way of limitations. The key being you had to have at least $75k insured by them.

Agreed value isn't necessarily more expensive, but it often carries tough limits on use type and mileage. Agreed value on a commuter is tough and rare. From the insurance company's side either your car is valuable and the market reflects it and they will pay you accordingly - or - if your car is "undervalued" in the market, then it isn't really that valuable, is it? Agreed value is great if you have an exceedingly good example or one with extensive mods, but not if you have a normal example with normal miles and no extensive (value adding, IE not a snorkel, exhaust, weird paint, colorful interior, etc...) mods.

IMO, if you have a typical 100, forget agreed value. Carry normal full coverage and if you get in a wreck, then show them why the value is XYZ. They will pay out fair value. It's a situation where you really only get screwed if you decide you're ok with that or if you think you should have been paid back 110% of all your mods/maintenance. You can decline their payout indefinitely and push for more $$ and you will generally win in the end if you have a legitimate price point.

Agreed value is great when the valuations on your car range from $750 up to $30,000 with an average of maybe $5k and you something on the upper end of that scale. The 100 isn't there. The 100 is doing really well right now. I think you'll be fine convincing an insurer it's worth what it is if the time comes.

 

[kwon-offroad]

How much do you spend on insurance with one carrier? In my best Flo voice “do you bundle?”

I had all insurance going through State Farm. Home, personal property, auto(5), boat(2), etc. and they allowed me declared value on the 3 cars on my policy which book value was lower than replacement. I recently left them and went Prudential and they didn’t flinch when I asked them about declared value as well. When it comes to insurance though, I’m strictly a face-to-face technique method versus online. One tends to get more out of a rep that way. Maybe it’s a factor when they know you’re spending all your needs through them versus divvying it out.