1981 AVANTI II

[jmur4424]

HAVING PURCHASED AN 1981 AVANTI II TO BASICALLY DRIVE AS AN EVERYDAY VEHICLE, I HAVE RUN INTO A SLIGHT PROBLEM WITH INSURANCE COVERAGE. HAS ANYONE FOUND A SOURCE FOR INSURANCE THAT WOULD ADMIT TO THE VALUE OF THE CAR AND NOT JUST THE AGE WHEN DETERMINING VALUE FOR ACCIDENT COVERAGE.

[Charlie Kile]

HAVING PURCHASED AN 1981 AVANTI II TO BASICALLY DRIVE AS AN EVERYDAY VEHICLE, I HAVE RUN INTO A SLIGHT PROBLEM WITH INSURANCE COVERAGE.  HAS ANYONE FOUND A SOURCE FOR INSURANCE THAT WOULD ADMIT TO THE VALUE OF THE CAR AND NOT JUST THE AGE WHEN DETERMINING VALUE FOR ACCIDENT COVERAGE.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try Hagertys Classic & Collector car Insurance.

cbk RQB3921

[SBCA96]

HAS ANYONE FOUND A SOURCE FOR INSURANCE THAT WOULD ADMIT TO THE VALUE OF THE CAR AND NOT JUST THE AGE WHEN DETERMINING VALUE FOR ACCIDENT COVERAGE.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It comes down to how much you want to PAY for your insurance, you can do an

actual cash value amount with most insurance companies. I have my 63 insured

as however they classify it. To insure it was a collectible would double the bill

monthly. If you document the condition well, then if something happens to it, you

then have to prove the value. I did this on my 1960 Studebaker Hawk. At first

they were going to give me 1500 bucks, I told them to find me a comparible car

for that money, they raised it to 2500, I laughed. We finally settled for 5000 and

I got the car back. I had about 10k into the car at the time, but the it was all in

the undamaged drivetrain, which I recovered and gave the rest away.

Even if you insure it as a collectible, the insurance company will "forget" how much

its worth when the time comes to pay up on it, either way you will have to prove

the value, and fight to get the money back. Definition : Insurance Company.

I have been fairly happy with Allstate.

Tom

[theGman]

I've had 3 Avantis at different times on with Geico and never had any problems; of course, I never had a bad crash either.

[WayneC]

HAVING PURCHASED AN 1981 AVANTI II TO BASICALLY DRIVE AS AN EVERYDAY VEHICLE, I HAVE RUN INTO A SLIGHT PROBLEM WITH INSURANCE COVERAGE.  HAS ANYONE FOUND A SOURCE FOR INSURANCE THAT WOULD ADMIT TO THE VALUE OF THE CAR AND NOT JUST THE AGE WHEN DETERMINING VALUE FOR ACCIDENT COVERAGE.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try these insurers, and ask for an "agreed value" policy (as opposed to "actual cash value or "stated value"); note that most of these will have some restrictions, such as minimum age of the car, your driving experience, how the car is garaged, annual mileage, limit you to collector car activities/events; all will require pictures and/or appraisals to certify value:

Hagerty (800) 922-4050 (said to be attractive when you own multiple collector cars)

American Collectors Insurance (800) 360-2277

Great American "Classic" (not collector insurance; will do "agreed value", but no driving to work/school daily)

Grundy (800) 338-4005

JC Taylor (800) 345-8290

Frankly, I've been too lazy to check them out myself, so I can't personally recommend any of them, but Hagerty and American Collectors seem to come up often as insurers of choice for collector cars. Great American will write "agreed value" policy for non-collector cars if the car is not regularly driven to work or school, but the price will be higher than for a more-restricted collector car.

[jmenacker]

I drive my '82 on a regular basis. Classic insurance policies specifically prohibit use of the cars for anything other than show purposes.

There are surely many others but both GEICO and Nationwide will offer regular policies on classic cars. Normally they will want to have one of their agents inspect the car before offering comprehensive/collision, just to make sure the car is not already damaged.

Federal law requires that settlement offers must be based on a comparable vehicle for sale within close proximity to your home address. This spring I lost my early '60's daily driver (not an Avanti) to a drunk driver. We had about $12K invested in the restoration but were offered $3K for the car. A good friend notified us of a car similar to ours in Hemmings Motor News on a beautiful original condition car. After submitting all receipts for the restoration and the for-sale ad, we settled for $9K on property damage alone.

The keys are keeping good records of expenditures and requesting written substantiation for the basis of the insurance company settlement offer. The first offer on my settlement was apparently based on a beater car because no other model of my vintage was known available for comparison.

Yes, the insurance rates are much higher than classic insurance but that is the price for being crazy enough to drive a museum piece to pick up groceries.

Hope this helps,

Joe M