Coupe Value/Insurance

[iconoclast6]

Recently had the misfortune of learning that a buddy's pristine and mechanically well sorted 1988 5 series was in an accident. My buddy is fine, but the car has a broken driveshaft, damaged subframe, bent chassis, etc. He loves his 5 series and considering a total repair, which exceeds the amount of repair provided by his car insurance. ouch!!

This was on my mind when my Haggerty Classic car premium came up for renewal. Turns out, a 72 Coupe in A1 condition will fetch $47k in the event the car is totaled. However, they will consider insuring for more, pending their evaluation.

What are you folks insuring your coupes within the framework of the cost of restoration/repair and what insurers will consider reasonable?

By the way, Haggerty values an A1 CSL at $174k if I remember correctly...

 

[bmwmadman]

One a good condition with some mechanical updates - 30K

 

[dp]

Recently had the misfortune of learning that a buddy's pristine and mechanically well sorted 1988 5 series was in an accident. My buddy is fine, but the car has a broken driveshaft, damaged subframe, bent chassis, etc. He loves his 5 series and considering a total repair, which exceeds the amount of repair provided by his car insurance. ouch!! This was on my mind when my Haggerty Classic car premium came up for renewal. Turns out, a 72 Coupe in A1 condition will fetch $47k in the event the car is totaled. However, they will consider insuring for more, pending their evaluation. What are you folks insuring your coupes within the framework of the cost of restoration/repair and what insurers will consider reasonable? By the way, Haggerty values an A1 CSL at $174k if I remember correctly...

Damn shame about your buddy's E28, even worse than the way those cars are so seriously under-valued by "the market" even a well-sorted E28 is still "only" a 4-5k car according to practically all pricing schemes, M5's excepted.

A point of clarification, Haggerty does not assign value, all of their policies are "agreed value." This means that the applicant declares a value when applying for insurance coverage. The underwriters review the application, and may or may not ask questions, do research, or whatever before making their decision whether or not to provide coverage. Grossly-overstated values are a red flag, there are reasons most states of the Union now have "Insurance Commissioners" (even though they may/may not be any more/less honest/dishonest than the industry OR especially its "customers.")

The shunt I took with 2270011 a few years ago hurt, a lot. When I bought that car I insured it with Haggerty for 12,500 (circa 1993.) Ten years later, I had not re-stated a new value (actually requested additional coverage) ... and the cost to repair would have far exceeded the policies standing agreed-value. They did let me take salvage on the car though, but I could not afford to fix it then with what the payout was. (As if it'd be any cheaper today, 7 years later!)

Most reasonably-stated value guides, like Krause publications "Old Cars Price Guide" are much more discriminating in describing condition than nebulous terms like "A-1" ... Old Cars for example has ranges from 6 (parts car) to 1 (highest possible level of restoration or preservation), and even states for condition 2 that "most cars seen at shows are condition 2"

IMO, today it is ludicrous to have 47k of insured value on even a far-above-average coupe, but if you can get your insurer to agree to provide that level of coverage, and you are willing to pay the premium, I guess it's your call.

 

[NewSixCoupe]

Chuck,

Knowing your coupe and the time, effort, and dollars you have in it, I wouldn't hesitate to get the best agreed value, provided you're OK with the premium. If, God forbid, something happened, I'm sure you'd want your money back, or at least a good portion of it. My coupe is insured for $27.5K, but I've been meaning to raise that significantly for some time now.

 

[iconoclast6]

Exactly, what I'm thinking Len...., so I'm waiting to see what their valuation is, and how much more premium I want to pay...

 

[Mario L.]

Values and Insurance

Friends,

As you all mostly know my shop does an extensive amount of restorations on older and newer BMWs. Likely, most of these are completed with investments greater than present fair market value as established by Haggerty, etc.

I also had an accident last year with my own E30 M3, a car that I have owned for 12 years and 165K miles . . the first offer from the insurance company was $3300.00 , the final agreed upon value was for $25K, sadly the final settlement a bit less after the storm settled.

This can be done without the loss with a bit of planning ahead to secure your investment, and will avoid the long drawn out costs and hassle I had to recover my less than $25K.

Establish the value of your car now, hire a recognized auto appraisal company to document the value of your car every two years. Take pictures, show the car in events, even on track, and in shows, and keep records of your service work and parts. Digital pictures are an asset!
as an example, I had no pictures of my M3, and it's been in a magazine feature article, and several shows . . . I just blew this all off . . .
I needed to recover all of this, and show what was invested in parts over the years, difficult, as I did all the work in the shop myself, and didn't invoice myself!

I retained AAG, Auto Appraisal Group to establish the value of my M3 after the accident . . which cost extra, then I needed to find exact sales records with serial numbers and images of comparable cars nation wide that were less than 2-3 months old . .. . . easy to do if I had a mass produced car, unlike the M3 or a CS Coupe!

The report I rec'd from AAG is an accepted statement of value by most insurance companies . . . done after an accident, it is more complex. The insurance company hired their own neutral appraisor, and I hired AAG to represent me to establish the agreed upon value of the car, and it became a 3 way conversation amongst them, I had to accept the outcome.

Do anything you can to avoid this outcome. The costs and the difference between the agreed value and the settlement was several times what an appraisal beforehand would have cost me.


http://www.autoappraisal.com/

Good luck . . .

 

[NewSixCoupe]

Great insight. Thanks, Mario.

 

[duane_sword]

After the restoration of my coupe (at Mario Langsten's shop, Vintage Sports & Racing for full disclosure) I definitely wanted to secure insurance... Mario is good, very good, and you get what you pay for... so let's just say I had quite a decent investment into the restoration on parts, particular features, and talented labor of Mario and his team.

I used AAG, they have people that "get" classics and the investment on restorations and the niche for those who are prepared to go the extra mile for their passion in classic cars.

My coupe was 90% complete when the appraisal was done and I was very pleased with the value, I would never sell, but for the appraised value it was definitely piece of mind.

http://www.boston-bmwcca.org/cars/displaycar.aspx?seq=117

 

[Stan]

I have an agreed value of $28,000 with Hagerty for my 1973 CS in good condition.