1964-1974 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
The 'collector' companies offer great rates, but the tradeoff is that most of them put restrictions on how, where, how often, and how much you can drive the car (that's HOW they get those great rates: the restrictions limit their risk exposure.)
That's no problem if you treat your car as a genuine show car -- i.e., most of the driving it gets is to or from car shows, parades, collector/hobby gatherings, etc.
But most of us like to drive our vintage SAABs at least occasionally as "regular cars," which is part of the fun of owning them but which may not be covered by collector-car insurance.
When I was researching this, I wasn't able to get much in the way of specifics from Hagerty and Grundy, but did have a long talk with a nice lady from American Collectors who said their coverage is typical. She said they ONLY cover the car for collecting/show/hobby usage. As a specific example, she said, if I got in an accident and could demonstrate that I was driving on the way to a weekend car show, no problem. But, she said, if the car got hit on a weekday in a shopping-mall parking lot, they would assume that I was using it as "daily transportation" and my coverage would be void.
You may hear otherwise from various companies, but always remember the Iron Law of Insurance Coverage: the ONLY thing that counts is the exact wording that's printed on the policy's declarations page. What the salesman told you, or what you read on the Internet, or what seems fair to you DOES NOT count. Most policies include language that specifically invalidates any representations that the company's representatives may have made to you, except what's on the declarations page or approved amendments.
And if you plan to use your car for everyday driving at all, don't forget to give regular insurance agents/companies a crack. I researched the collector-car companies, but found out that considering both cost and coverage, my best deal was to add my two VSAABs to the insurance on my regular car. The three-car discount put the overall cost pretty close to the rates I'd have gotten with collector-only insurance, and I can drive my VSAAB to work, on errands, etc. whenever I want with no worries.
One last note: When you're talking to insurance companies on the phone, take good notes including the names of the people with whom you spoke. I got into a weird situation with the company through which I originally had my regular-car coverage; they're affiliated with American Collectors and when I asked them whether they offered collector-type insurance, they transferred me to an American Collectors underwriter.
Before they did that, though, the regular-car guy asked me whether my collector car was regularly driven or just used for shows, etc.; I told him it was NOT used for shows, but apparently he misunderstood me and thought I had said it WAS. The upshot was that about a month later I got a letter from the company saying they wanted to drop coverage on my Sonett because it was "used in car shows" and they didn't cover that kind of usage.
As it happened, I already had gotten a better combined rate quote from another company and had decided to switch -- but if I had had to go back to my original company and explain that they had made a mistake, I would have needed all the documentation about my conversation with the guy who misunderstood me. So, take notes!
posted by 24.252.59...
, Thu, 17 May 2007 06:21:24, Thu, 17 May 2007 16:05:14
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
