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FYI: Insurance Renewal Time (Agreed Value Policies)

Agreed Value Insurance?

I'm looking to move both my 993tt and the E500 to an Agreed Value insurance policy. I read through some of the older threads and only really saw mention of Hagerty and Grundy. I got a quote form Heacock which came recommended from another forum and is dramatically cheaper than Hagerty. Unfortunately, Heacock doesn't consider the E500 a collector car so they won't do Agreed Value on it. Any other recommendations on a reputable insurance co I should get quotes from? I've checked Hagerty, Grundy, and Leland West- all 1.5x-2x Heacock's quote on the Porsche.
 
Re: Agreed Value Insurance?

I've no other recommendations but a quick question: does Heacock have an age standard that excludes the 500E, or is it just arbitrary?

"Arbitrary" wouldn't surprise from and insurance company. But I thought it worth asking.

maw
 
Re: Agreed Value Insurance?

Heacock simply said it wasn't considered a collector car, wasn't a age thing. Seemed arbitrary.
 
Re: Agreed Value Insurance?

I recently inquired about this as well and got the same response from Heacock. I believe Haggerty and Grundy had severe mileage restrictions which wouldn't allow even a trip to Michigan and back (1500 miles). State Farm, my current insurer, does offer agreed value policies. They require pictures and documentation before they can price one. I intend to purchase a policy myself in the future. I have been with them a long time and like the company. They also have a history of my limited use and I enjoy a discount for that.

drew
 
Re: Agreed Value Insurance?

I asked Hagerty about mileage restrictions, and they told me there was no restriction, and that many of their customers drive all over the country for club meets, car shows, etc. They were much more concerned about owning a newer car (max 10 years old) that wouldn't break down, so you wouldn't be daily driving your 'collector' car. Seemed odd to me. Big difference was Hagerty was OK insuring cars that would be raced, but Grundy had a very strict exclusion for competition vehicles. Never heard of Heacock.

I've been through 2 3 4 nearly a dozen renewals with Hagerty and so far, they have not increased my rates substantially. [Update: Over ~10 years, there was one 10% rate hike in summer 2019, otherwise rates have remained stable ±1%.] My daily driver insurers tend to increase ~10% every year because they can. After a few years the premium becomes stupid and I have to switch. Allstate pulled that on me and it was quite a few years before I realized my premiums were becoming ridiculous. Switched to Liberty Mutual for nearly 50% less and sure enough, they did the same annual increase, four years in a row. Switched to MetLife in Jan-2015, again for nearly 50% savings, will be very interesting to see if Snoopy does the same over the next couple of years. Now I track everything in a spreadsheet so I can keep an eye on what they're doing...

Update Feb-2016: Snoopy didn't hose me on renewal, at least not this time. Very minimal increase. Happy so far... will see what happens at next renewal in Jan-2017.

Update Feb-2017: Snoopy hosed me on renewal, +30% auto increase with no claims/tickets/accidents; +17% home increase with no claims. Further research revealed that the Boise area had rates jacked up by almost all insurance companies across the board, as it's becoming a "big city" over the past few years, with the accompanying increase in claims. After extensive shopping we decided to stay with them for now, but will shop rates again in 10 months and determine at that time if we will switch, depending on Snoopy's premiums for 2018.

Update Jan-2018: Snoopy rubbed salt in the wound for the 2018 renewal, another ~10% hike in both home & auto, again with no claims/tickets/accidents. I ended up switching back to Liberty Mootual for a 35-40% reduction in combined premiums. LM is still affiliated with my employer with better group rates than I could find elsewhere, after getting quotes from a half-dozen other companies. Progressive was a close second but I read an awful lot of bad reviews/ratings with them. Esurance had great auto rates but lousy home rates, and did not offer any ATV policies. I expect LM to jack the rates annually but I should get a few years out of 'em.


Update Jan-2021:
Got my insurance renewal offer from Liberty in December 2020, and wasn't happy. I expected LM's rates to increase annually since Jan-2018, and they didn't disappoint. Auto went up 12% for 2019, another 12% for 2020, and the 2021 offer was +7%. Home was +20%, +11%, and +12% respectively. We've had no claims, no tickets, no accidents, nothing. And now we aren't even driving anywhere with COVID.

So, I got a few online quotes from other companies and was seeing numbers 30-40% lower, which was great. On a whim, I went to LM's website for a quote. I assumed it would recognize me as a current customer and not actually give me a quote. Nope! The site did give me a quote! And the auto premium was LESS THAN HALF of my renewal offer, for the same cars, with identical coverage. Got on the phone and told them (politely) hey, either get my rates down, or I'm bailing.

Turns out the website was giving an abnormally low teaser because it thought I had been with another company since 2013 (clearly wrong), but anyway, they were able to re-write both my policies. Identical coverage, nothing different, but auto premium dropped around FORTY PERCENT. Our home premium dropped about 10%. Total savings ±35%, totally worth an hour on the phone.

What's stupid is that I need to track this at all. Hagerty doesn't pull that crap on me (at least, not yet). Been with them 7 10+ years, had one increase of 10% in 2019, next to nothing (±1%) the other years. Why is it so hard to leave my rates alone if I'm not costing them money? Oh, right, I have to pay for everyone else's claims... I keep forgettin
g.



Update Jan-2022: Got my insurance renewal offer from Liberty in December 2021, and once again, I wasn't happy. Auto rates went up 18% for no reason, despite driving hardly at all thanks to COVID. Home rate increased +29%, again for no reason. Since I was moving out of state, I started shopping in Montana. Interestingly, Liberty does not offer coverage in MT for auto+home, so I had to switch carriers. Home insurance in MT is relatively high, AFAICT it seems to be related to severe hail storms that can occur every few years and cause 5-digit damage to roofs and siding. Farmers and State Farm were the only recognizable names with (relatively) reasonable rates, and I ended up going with State Farm for home + auto.


:oldman:
 
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Re: Agreed Value Insurance?

I've had Hagerty for several cars including my current 500E. They state right in the documentation that you can enjoy recreational driving or what used to be called a "Sunday" drive. No mileage restrictions either. I have had one small claim with them which was a little disturbing at first when they sent some guy over to look at the car who knew nothing about bodywork. He was obviously a hired gun and put together an estimate that was woefully short of the mark, but Hagerty ended up agreeing with the repair shop and paid the full amount with no argument.
 
Re: Agreed Value Insurance?

I have had my collection insured with Hagerty for two decades. They are a very good outfit, but they tend to be on the high end of the price scale. Also, their road service is subcontracted out to an outfit called Coachlink, which isn't great. Hagerty have insured later model MBs for me, but they do it as part of a collection of MB cars.

I have had ONE claim with them over many years; I had a Mondial t cabriolet and was driving it home from an outing with it and a tree branch fell and tore the soft top. They replaced it, no questions asked. That car was also rear-ended at a traffic signal and twelve thousand dollars of damage done- but the other person's insurance paid it. Hagerty knew about it, but it did not become a claim with them.

I am in the process of shopping my insurance around. Hagerty are great folks and they do a lot for the collector car hobby, but it's possible that their renewal quote will be twice that of other, and if the others are apple-to-apple and the price is better, they may lose my business. I would offer them an opportunity to match, obviously.
 
Re: Agreed Value Insurance?

All,

Does anyone here have any experience or ever dealt with Condon Skelly (http://www.condonskelly.com/)? I have been talking to Hagerty about a policy for my 500E and when I told my insurance broker to take my SL off my policy and that I was probably going to do the same with the 500E and go with a classic car policy for it she came back with a quote from them that was very competitive. They were about $650 a year compared to Hagerty at $1,100 for equal coverage at a valuation of $49,900 (which apparently is the maximum amount Hagerty will insure a 500E for right now)
 
Re: Agreed Value Insurance?

I just pinged Condon Skelly via chat session. They will not insure cars that will be used for any type of racing. Same problem as Grundy. Hagerty is still the only one I can find that allows racing usage.

:tree:
 
Re: Agreed Value Insurance?

But Hagerty excludes damage incurred while racing from their coverage, don't they?
Correct: "Everywhere but on the track or while racing: In the trailer, in the paddock, in storage, even for a parade lap or two — just not when it’s racing on the track. We can even cover you on the street if it’s a street legal race car."
https://www.hagerty.com/Insurance/Motorsports-Insurance


Grundy and Condon Skelly can't run away fast enough if you mention the word "racing".

:runexe:
 
Re: FS: 1993 500E, Pearl Black / Black, 33kmi, $60k (Miami, FL)

Funny I have been told by two Hagerty reps that the 500E is not a car they will insure. Go figure!

Boxersix
 
Re: FS: 1993 500E, 32kmi, Pearl Black/Black, $90k, Canepa (Scotts Valley, CA)

My e500
Just renewed by hagerty
 
Re: FS: 1993 500E, Pearl Black / Black, 33kmi, $60k (Miami, FL)

Funny I have been told by two Hagerty reps that the 500E is not a car they will insure. Go figure!

Boxersix
Whaaa...? Hagerty is insuring mine. Maybe it's specific to where you live? Have you asked them for details and mentioned that you know multiple people who have their 500's insured by Hagerty?

Note: Merged 3 separate threads on same topic so it's all in one place; also moved the most recent 3 posts to the combined thread.

:blink:
 
Re: FS: 1993 500E, Pearl Black / Black, 33kmi, $60k (Miami, FL)

Whaaa...? Hagerty is insuring mine. Maybe it's specific to where you live? Have you asked them for details and mentioned that you know multiple people who have their 500's insured by Hagerty?

:blink:
Yep have mine insured with them too.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 
Re: FS: 1993 500E, 32kmi, Pearl Black/Black, $90k, Canepa (Scotts Valley, CA)

What kind of coverage and what is the yearly cost? I need to reduce my insurance costs...paying too much for plain vanilla coverage.

My e500
Just renewed by hagerty
 
Agreed value and its 800+ annually, and includes all my agreed value on shop parts and tools etc
 
Re: FS: 1993 500E, 32kmi, Pearl Black/Black, $90k, Canepa (Scotts Valley, CA)

What kind of coverage and what is the yearly cost? I need to reduce my insurance costs...paying too much for plain vanilla coverage.
If you read the whole thread, a few people posted their coverage limits and premium costs.

Keep in mind that most agreed-value policies for the E500E will not allow daily-driver usage.

:mushroom1:
 
Dave is right. I have 4 drivers and 5 cars and [Hagerty] would not consider the coverage without the declaration pages of other coverages naming the cars and the insured motorists.
 
Hagerty - Guaranteed Value

[mods -- I recall there has been a discussion about this topic but I couldn't find it in searches. If someone finds it, this post could be added to it.]

About a year ago I tried to get Hagerty coverage for my 500E. At the time I was denied because we have two licensed drivers in my household but just one car in addition to the 500E. Even though I explained that my wife and I commute to work together so we don't use the 500E for regular car duties, they said they didn't have flexibility with that policy.

I just got off the phone with Hagerty today and they told me they have since changed their policy to allow some flexibility. It will be a fact-specific analysis on their part and it's still possible they might say there must be, in addition to the classic, a separate car for each licensed driver. But at least now it's not a hard and fast rule.
 
Re: Hagerty - Guaranteed Value

Yes I think this is true, as they called me and asked if I wanted to add my C126 to my E500 policy for agreed value. My liability for the car is about equal to an agreed value of tools and car at 20k and the TX liability limits.
 
Quote from Hagerty for $36k agreed value came in over $1100 per year. More than what Im paying now through Travellers and with lower limits but of course is an agreed value. Not sure its worth the switch for me
 
Did Hagerty put limitations on the mileage/usage, for that price? My experience with collector car insurance in the past was that it was VERY low cost, but entailed limitations. For $1,100 a year, that's just a plain rip-off, agreed value or no.
 
When I talked to the Hagerty rep a few years ago, there were no mileage limits, and the only usage restriction is that it couldn't be used as a primary vehicle / daily driver.

$1100 sounds high for $36k but the zipcode probably has a significant affect on premiums. I'd get quotes from the other 2-3 collector insurers.

:scratchchin:
 
Quote from Hagerty for $36k agreed value came in over $1100 per year. More than what Im paying now through Travellers and with lower limits but of course is an agreed value. Not sure its worth the switch for me

I insured the 500E (I also live in VA) through Hagerty for years, but dropped them last year when they tried to increase my premium over 75%. It was a $20k stated value policy with no restrictions, I have 5 cars and only 2 drivers. When I questioned their proposed increase, my underwriter said that they had undercharged me for years due to a "mistake" and that I should be happy that I had been undercharged for as long as I was. I might have agreed with him if I had made claims with them during all those years. However, that attitude, combined with the almost doubled premium (no change in coverage), caused me to decline (politely) to renew my Hagerty policy.

I ended up insuring the car with my "regular" auto carrier for about 50% of what Hagerty wanted, but there is no stated value, so if anything happens to the car I know that I'll be in for a fight. I'm ok with that since my car has over 187,000 miles, is a driver and no where near as valuable as others on this site. Ironically, about 6 weeks after I declined the renewal, but before the existing policy terminated, I ended up making a claim when a tree fell on my '94 E420 that Hagerty also insured. Stated value was $7500, so I definitely made out. At the end of the day its a bit of a crapshoot.
 
Hagerty is really quite pricey. I have considered them over the years but always found them to be too pricey. Have you guys tried Grundy yet?
I insure two pleasure cars with Grundy. My usage limit is that I cannot drive the car to work -- which is fine for me.

For an expensive zip code (inside the city of San Francisco) I pay $1036 per year to insure two cars - the 500E, with an AGV of USD45K, and another vehicle with an AGV of USD65K. I had to show Grundy that I have two more vehicles that my wife and I can use as daily drivers that are insured through a "normal" carrier - i.e. State Farm.
 
That’s (Grundy) who I used in the past for agreed-value collector-car insurance for the 300SEL 6.3 that I owned many moons ago. I think I paid something like $200-250 a year for $20K value (at the time) with restrictions on mileage and non use as a daily driver (they required proof that I owned at least two other cars).

I would not insure my E500 with agreed value as it is not a condition 2+ or better car that warrants it. Just my two cents.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
How are you all determining your agreed value figure with the insurers such as Hegarty etc? Ie; do you send them detailed pictures or do they inspect the car / have you get a specialist to inspect it?

The only way to get such a policy here is to have an independent specialist inspect & value the car and provide a certificate to the insurer stating the value. In my case it was the MB club UK’s valuer who I paid to examine my 500E
 
How are you all determining your agreed value figure with the insurers such as Hegarty etc? Ie; do you send them detailed pictures or do they inspect the car / have you get a specialist to inspect it?

The only way to get such a policy here is to have an independent specialist inspect & value the car and provide a certificate to the insurer stating the value. In my case it was the MB club UK’s valuer who I paid to examine my 500E

All I do is I speak to them on the phone. We come to an agreement on the dollar value I wish for them to underwrite. Then they speak to the underwriters and give me a price .... if the AGV is too high then they will decline to underwrite. If I agree to the price, then I have to send in a passel of photos documenting the condition at their request. No separate inspections.
 
All I do is I speak to them on the phone. We come to an agreement on the dollar value I wish for them to underwrite. Then they speak to the underwriters and give me a price .... if the AGV is too high then they will decline to underwrite. If I agree to the price, then I have to send in a passel of photos documenting the condition at their request. No separate inspections.
I had the same thing with my 300SEL 6.3.
 
Did Hagerty put limitations on the mileage/usage, for that price? My experience with collector car insurance in the past was that it was VERY low cost, but entailed limitations. For $1,100 a year, that's just a plain rip-off, agreed value or no.

No restrictions or limitations. No tickets. Im only driver and theres way beyond more than enough other cars in my home to remove concern I will use this as other than collectible. The actual quote for their default limits is $1154.
 
ADMIN EDIT: Copied the post below from this thread to keep everything in one place.

Hagerty
Policies through Hagerty allow the collector vehicle to be used for club functions, exhibitions, organized meets, tours and even occasional pleasure driving — it just can't be a daily driver. Regular driving to work and/or for errands up to 5 months a year as a Seasonal Driver may be considered.
Qualification for our classic car insurance program depends on vehicle and owner guidelines.
Usage and mileage requirements may differ based on the vehicle that is being insured, such as collector trucks or vehicles that are 1980 and newer. Please review specific vehicle guidelines for this information.
Mileage of 3,500 or less is generally consistent with operating vehicles that have collectible value. Mileage up to 7,500 may be considered.



Grundy
Grundy wants you to enjoy your car, not keep track of mileage like some programs with limitations. Therefore, we give you unlimited miles for pleasure driving and in collector car-oriented activities. It is even OK if occasionally you drive your collector car to work to show it off to friends. However, your collector car must not be used as a daily driver. We require you and all licensed drivers in your household to have a modern car for everyday use.

When you have your car at home, it must be kept in an enclosed, secure garage when not in use. If you are away from home on extended outings your car is fully protected if you must park it outside, for example in a hotel parking lot. Grundy coverage includes Trip Interruption that reimburses you for hotel and repair costs in the event of a breakdown, and we also reimburse you for towing and labor charges up to $250. You can count on Grundy as you cruise.


Heacock
The vehicle is kept in a fully enclosed, locked, and private garage whenever the vehicle is not being driven.
The vehicle is primarily used for car shows and hobbyist activities with occasional pleasure use. The vehicle should never be used for back-up transportation or errand running.
The vehicle is only driven a limited number of miles per year.
The vehicle is only driven by experienced drivers.


American Modern
Agreed value total loss settlement
Usage for car shows, parages, car club exhibitions, occasional pleasure drives, driving to work (optional coverage)
1,000, 3,000, 6,000, or Freedom mileage plans
 
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Going through the insurance shopping chore again, Hagerty just quoted a very similar cost to "conventional" insurance 8X cost of Grundy? Anybody expierenced the same with 500E rates?
 
All I know is that I got an agreed-value quote from Hagerty about 1.5 years ago (and it wasn't even that high of a value, I think like $40K for my car) and it was so astrnomically high that I actually laughed at the agent over email. He shrugged via email and we moved on.

I'm happy to keep my E500 fully insured through Erie Insurance and drive it whenever I want to. It won't be too difficult to prove, if anything ever happened, that the value of my car is more than double what I paid for it. And BTW, I have agreed-value insurance (again very reasonably priced) through Erie Insurance on my G-wagen, because it is a gray-market vehicle. I should probably talk to my agent about doing same for my E500, actually.
 
All I know is that I got an agreed-value quote from Hagerty about 1.5 years ago (and it wasnt even that high of a value, I think like $40K for my car) and it was so astrnomically high that I actually laughed at the agent over email. He shrugged via email and we moved on.

Im happy to keep my E500 fully insured through Erie Insurance and drive it whenever I want to. It wont be too difficult to prove, if anything ever happened, that the value of my car is more than double what I paid for it. And BTW, I have agreed-value insurance (again very reasonably priced) through Erie Insurance on my G-wagen, because it is a gray-market vehicle. I should probably talk to my agent about doing same for my E500, actually.
Insurance is a commodity business. It takes a lot of innovation to really differentiate, to the consumer, one auto insurance company from another….. if not competing on cost.

HGTY is spending so much shareholder treasure to become a lifestyle brand for classic cars …. but aside from HGTY being a lifestyle brand, there’s not that much product differentiation for the consumer, post sales, in the insurance part of the biz relative to Erie, American, Grundy, etc. It is possible that HGTY spending so much shareholder treasure on presales advertising (ie lifestyle brand) will result in increased sales for their competition with no additional marketing expense incurred. Classic car owners shop around - they are not dumb and they typically have choices when it comes to insurance.
 
Just got my renewal for Hagerty on my 77 240D (17k agreed value) and 95 E420 (15k agreed value) and it was $850 per year. No mileage restrictions but I do need to keep them in the garage and have another daily. Might shop around but that seems like a reasonable price for the agreed value on these cars.
 
Just to followup here I switched from Hagerty to Grundy. $60k agreed value on the '94 500E and $125k agreed value on the '96 turbo. $1300 vs Hagerty's renewal quote of $3100. everything mostly the same as far as I can tell.
Was Hagerty increasing your premiums at renewal every year? Or had it been ~$3k for a number of years?

Cutting the premium in half is pretty amazing for the same coverage.

:wahoo:
 
I only had hagerty for 3 years, i think it started at $2500

I recall that when I initially quoted Hagerty against Grundy and others it was still like 2x. Got convinced that maybe Hagerty would handle claims better. But when I looked at the renewal cost on 2 cars that barely get driven, it just wasn't worth it.
 
Just to followup here I switched from Hagerty to Grundy. $60k agreed value on the '94 500E and $125k agreed value on the '96 turbo. $1300 vs Hagerty's renewal quote of $3100. everything mostly the same as far as I can tell.
Wow, very cool! I have to renew in September and am not sure if I will stay with Hagerty. I have an agreed value of $65k and am paying 3k a year, so I will definitely check out Grundy before Sept......
 
Wow, very cool! I have to renew in September and am not sure if I will stay with Hagerty. I have an agreed value of $65k and am paying 3k a year, so I will definitely check out Grundy before Sept......
Hagerty ---- I put this somewhere else on the board, but after combing through their 10K / 10Q (they got SPACed @maw1124) - my observation is that they are trying to be a Driver's Club / Media / Publication / Big Auto Events / Auto Lifestyle company (basically slick marketing) and those efforts don't come cheap. They use their underwriting business to fund this expansion.

Anyways, @TimL, @tanger, I use Grundy. For 2023, for the entire year, I paid $923. For that price, I insured TWO cars:
  • 500E w/ agreed value of 70K
  • SportBeetle 993 w/ agreed value of 90K
Insurance is a fungible product. I am not so sure that people are willing to pay Hagerty prices which are geometric-multiples of competitors' prices just because Hagerty has good marketing.
 
It would be interesting to see what Hagerty says if you got a quote from the competition for substantially less, and asked if they could match it or not. I expect they would say "that's a great deal, thanks for being our customers, TTFN". But I'm curious if they'd be willing to attempt a price match.

:apl:
 
It would be interesting to see what Hagerty says if you got a quote from the competition for substantially less, and asked if they could match it or not. I expect they would say "that's a great deal, thanks for being our customers, TTFN". But I'm curious if they'd be willing to attempt a price match.
I will try exactly that in Sept. Got to give the incumbent a chance.
 
Getting a quote from Grundy now for the whole fleet with agreed values. We'll see what they say. One collector (500E), one Daily (Allroad), two Other (S55, M3). I don't know what they have in mind by "Other" but the use is certainly not Daily and they're not old enough to be Collectors. I'm also interested to see how they set the agreed value but @Jlaa seems to have well primed the pump.

;)

I also need to see if adding another "new" daily helps or hurts.

maw

EDIT ... FL coverages are statutory so I don't know if or how they handle that. I would expect they're prepared to handle that, FL being FL for collector cars.
 
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Are you guys rolling with double digit negative points on your DLs???

I honestly cannot fathom the numbers being posted in this thread. I posted my current cost per dollar of coverage with Hagerty in the other thread. You guys are multiples of what I pay. And my 2023 renewal was lower than 2022.
 
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Interesting. My DL is clean, so that shouldn't be the issue. Been meaning to ask before I renew if the coverage I picked is too much/little. Be curious as to what peeps here think:

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