Insurance

[VeryTangled]

Tangled...what do you mean that your car is a C or D?

I mean my car is not what a collector would rate as in A or B condition.

It would take a lot of work to make it a show car, but it's a fantastic driver.

Edit: Kirk, You can choose to not pay attention to what your car is worth. But ask yourself what would it take to put an acceptable replacement in the driveway? That is what I would need for a total loss, knock wood!

 

[Capt Kirk]

Tangled...I had no idea these cars were rated A, B ,C, D...etc. Makes me curious what my car would rate.
If I got into a wreck with the car and it was a total loss...I wouldn't be thinking about money, I'd be thinking that I let my dad down. I'd be thinking that he managed to keep car intact for 80 years and it ends right now with me at the wheel. I spent about $12K to restore the car and when I got it, it was fairly complete. I'm jealous of everybody that can jump into these cars and drive the hell out of them...I've got a burden. I wouldn't have it any other way but none the less...it's a burden. I have a 56 Chevy truck that I put $10k in to restore...no family...no emotion. It could go over a cliff tomorrow and I'd move on. If the 35 was in a total loss accident...there's no amount of money that would make me feel better and, no...I wouldn't buy another cabriolet to replace it. When I get this insurance, I'm gong to throw a number at it just because I have to. No idea what it's worth but have seen a couple on ebay over the years and $50k seems to be the number.

 

[tubman]

An interesting thing is if you have been with one on the major insurers (Hagerty, Grundy, Condon-Skelly) for a while, they give you a lot of breaks. I had my '67 Corvette (matching numbers BS) insured with them for $25K. I thought it was a little light, so I called them to see what I should insure it for. Their rep said I should check their website valuation app. I did, and it gave me a low of $65K and a high of 122.5K. I will tell you that if anybody would show up on my doorstep with 65K in 100 dollar bills, that car would be gone. I think that if they know you are a serious "collector", they will let you insure a car for up to 2 times it's actual value for the increase in their revenue; they know that you will take care of it and nothing will go wrong.

 

[LBs 37V8]

I agree with Tubman and others. I have a similar situation to Capt Kirk. I have Hagerty ins for other cars, and when the '37 was done Hagerty wanted to insure it as valued from their app/value resources. They had no problem when I wanted a much higher "agreed upon" insured value. I suspect the other collector insurance companies would do the same thing. The shop that restored my truck had good experiences with Grundy as well, but I was already using Hagerty anyway, and haven't seen a need to change.
Bryan

 

[BlueSunoco]

I can fully understand Capn Kirk's feelings. That car has a tremendous amount of personal attachment that money can't replace. It is more than an antique car it is an honor to his father and his memory.

If it were me, and the car had that kind of family history, I'd probably leave it home tucked in the garage and get another old car of your choosing to drive.

And yes, $50K for a '35 Cabriolet in the condition your's is in, is not out of line I sure wouldn't insure it for any less

 

[VeryTangled]

Tangled...I had no idea these cars were rated A, B ,C, D...etc. Makes me curious what my car would rate.

Hi Everyone, Cap'n, there is no formal rating system, it's all opinion.

Ever watch 'What's My Car Worth?" Those guys have a scale from 1 to 6 for both condition and collectability. With condition, 1 is perfect in every way, and 6 being a parts car. Many of the cars they select for the show are 2's because of small imperfections.

On that kind of a scale my car is a 4, in my opinion. Plenty of stone chips, dingy chrome, dull to awful paint in places, vinyl instead of leather interior.

The way I fix that is to look at it from at least 30 feet away, then she's a beauty!