Collector Insurance

[4thTBird]

I am considering changing my insurance on the T-Bird to collectors insurance. Has anyone done this? Any recomendations of collector insurance companies?
Thanks.

[2Redbirds57/02]

Re: Collector Insurance

I have my 57 T-bird insured with Grundy. Have never had a claim, so I can not say how good their service is. Not sure they insure newer cars.

[V8 Cat]

Re: Collector Insurance

I've looked at at several of these companies (have not made this a full-fledged project yet), but there are several problems I have seen. You want an "agreed value" policy. What value/range would most of you choose? Some companies have a mininum amount that might be a lot more than it would cost to replace our cars. Some have mileage limits that are really restrictive. Most won't insure a car as new as the retro birds. Some are not as financially solvent as you would want. Also some won't write large enough liability limits to meet the underlying limit requirements of companies insuring people with personal "umbrella/excess" policies. Just seems like it was more trouble than it is worth. I would be interested if anybody has an experience with this.

[Carmino]

Re: Collector Insurance

Andy, we're insured with Metropolitan and pay $392 annually for the bird for full coverage. We can drop during the winter months without penalty and get a refund for the months Dec/Jan/Feb and reup in March and the car is still covered as long as it kept unused at the insured home/garage. Check with Met; we found a substantial saving for our home/car coverage. Of course a good driving record and other discounts come into play for the final price.

No mileage restrictions either,And a $500.D

[DavidA]

Re: Collector Insurance

I have Grundy with agreed value. No mileage restrictions either. Very reasonable rates. I've had them now for 2 years and it includes towing if necessary.

[Leroy]

Re: Collector Insurance

A few years back before I bought my Bird I had a 1970 Corvette Roadster and I looked into the collectors insurance. I found out that it was cheap becuase they only covered you if you where going to or from an event. If I took the car to go out to diner I wasn't covered. My main Insurance coverer, AIG at that time, wouldn't even qoat me full coverage only PL/PD. I also have a 1948 Willys CJ2-A with 289 V-8 in it that AIG wouldn't even touch so I had to go to Progressive to get PL/PD on it. My main insurance Co. now is Hartford through the AARP, they saved me about $500.00 a year for full coverage on my 04 TBird, 04 GMC Z-71 and the Wifes 08 Malibu LTZ. Leroy

[Lonestar]

Re: Collector Insurance

Recently I moved my auto insurance from Nationwide to Hartford via AARP. My rates literally dropped 50% by this action. As was the case with Nationwide, the Thunderbird is considered as pleasure with my Enclave and Rainier being primary. The Rate for my Thunderbird with full coverage with $0. deductable comprehensive, $250. deductable collision and the max coverage offered for the other stuff is approx $240. per year (not per 6 months). This is half what Nationwide was charging me for 6 months of coverage. There are no restrictions.

I have my 69 GTO covered by JC Taylor. I have never had a claim, there are no restrictions, and I have a stated value. This coverage is less then $200. a year. Naturally, insurance rates not only vary from state to state but between counties within a state.

I am still surprised at the rate offered by Hartford via AARP.

[Ediron]

Re: Collector Insurance

I'm with Travelers originally thru Ford.I was changing to Hartford thru AARP as there rate was saving me about $350-400 per yr. When I called Travelers to cancel they met Hartford by $50 with a new policy same coverage.Never hurts to inquire with you company with a threat of cancelling.

[SixPac]

Re: Collector Insurance

AARP/Hartford will give you low rates, but watch out when you have a claim. They tried to put re-conditions parts on our claim for the '04 and then increased the premium the next year. We then went with AIG with a lower rate.

[BirdsAndBugs]

Re: Collector Insurance

Since my wife is 50+, we have our 4 cars with the Hartford through AARP as well as our home insurance.

I used to have Hagerty Insurance on my classic vehicles as they cover both classics and exotics. Never really checked into it on the Thunderbirds though as I felt I was getting a good price through Hartford but without all the restrictions. They're modern cars so I want to be able to drive them when I want to.

[itza65]

Re: Collector Insurance

I have Grundy with agreed value. No mileage restrictions either. Very reasonable rates. I've had them now for 2 years and it includes towing if necessary.

I have Grundy for my 70 Mustang vert. It is agreed value which is important to me. It is insured for $75,000 because of it's modifications. They say they do not cover daily driving, like going to and from work, or running errands sort of thing. They do not have any mileage limitation. If you are using your Bird for fair weather outings, cruises and such, I think this is pretty good, economical coverage. I have never had a claim so I can't speak that, however, if your Bird is a garage queen, I think this is a pretty good way to go. While agreed coverage is important if your car is valued above "book value", I'm not so certain that this an important consideration for retrobirds. It is, however, considerably less expensive. You do have to verify that you have another car for daily transportation.

[AntarcticDave]

Re: Collector Insurance

My bird is my daily driver, but I do use Grundy for my 1947 Cadillac.

[3rd Brd]

Re: Collector Insurance

I was able to put my silver '04 on a policy with American Collectors Insurance - http://www.americancollectors.com/. They insure cars 15 years and older but make exceptions for those under. All I had to do was provide pictures and documentation that it was a limited production run. Restrictions are 3000 miles per year and they go by declared/agreed valued. You need to have another car thats used daily on a non-collectors policy. The premium is less than half of what I was paying and the coverage is better.

John