Help! more insurance confusion!!!!

[ed1655]

after reading countless insurance threads (ad nauseum!) on this forum, i told my state farm agent that unless i get AGREED VALUE and not "ACTUAL CASH VALUE" am outta there and onto hagerty. their answer was:

"ACTUAL CASH VALUE means you will get what the car is valued at which is $40,000"

that was over an email.

does that mean that i am ok???? are they once again trying to screw me? ad;help

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

This is a good explanation:

http://www.classic-british-cars.com/classic-car-insurance.html

 

[pls4490]

This is a good explanation:

http://www.classic-british-cars.com/classic-car-insurance.html

Very informative - thanks for the link .

 

[6880 Mike]

I suspect your agent might have gotten his/her terms backwards. It's time to stop emailing and make a visit to the agent's office to iron things out and get it in writing.

 

[LVMYVT76]

Or change agents, not insurance companies. I have State Farm insurance hand have a great agent, answers all questions, mails stuff when they say they are, etc. Find another agent or go to their district or state office! Go above their heads when having trouble!

 

[ed1655]

Or change agents, not insurance companies. I have State Farm insurance hand have a great agent, answers all questions, mails stuff when they say they are, etc. Find another agent or go to their district or state office! Go above their heads when having trouble!

damn straight!

 

[glen242]

after reading countless insurance threads (ad nauseum!) on this forum, i told my state farm agent that unless i get AGREED VALUE and not "ACTUAL CASH VALUE" am outta there and onto hagerty. their answer was:

"ACTUAL CASH VALUE means you will get what the car is valued at which is $40,000"

that was over an email.

does that mean that i am ok???? are they once again trying to screw me? ad;help

Unless the POLICY actually says you will receive $40,000 in event of a total loss, your agent is lying to you. Ask to see a copy of YOUR policy before you sign up.

See you at Hagerty!

I can not believe an agent does not know the policy he is trying to sell you. An ACV policy is crap. You want an agreed value policy. He is either a brand new agent or is lying thru his teeth, in order to get a commission.

If he is not brand new, and you have other policies with him/his company, I would drop him/them like a used condom. What else is he screwing you on?

 

[red70vette]

I would not be as harsh on your agent as the previous poster. I doubt that he is lying he may believe that the actual cash value of your car is $40K. Unfortunately there are 4 or 5 guidebooks which will dispute that. You can bet that the claims dept will pull out one of those books when a claim is made. Your Corvette is another 30 year old used car to State Farm. If you want to insure a classic car you need a classic car policy. All of the major carriers(GEICO, State Farm, All State,etc.) insure used cars. Most of them do a good job but they do not understand classic cars. Two classic cars with 100,000 miles on them can be worth $30 or $40K different depending on condition, equipment, desirability, and many other factors. With agreed value you pay a premium based on that value and are paid that value in a claim. With actual cash value you get the depreciated book value of a typical car of that age and milage. In most cases that is significantly less than what you think it is no matter what.

 

[petes74ttop]

"ACTUAL CASH VALUE means you will get what the car is valued at which is $40,000"

ad;help

State Farm does not issue Actual Cash Value Policys!
The statement your agent gave you is a "defination" of what Actual Cash Value is defined as and meens nothing about what you will recieve.

They will offer a Estimated Value Policy, which means they will pay about $5,000, which is book value and then based on the receips that you produce they might pay you more, after a hearing where you must show the improvements that brought up the value.

Then they will say that the "Improvements" are no more than regular maintence and disallow them.

If you want "Agreed Value" get collector car insurance and live by there rules.
PG.

 

[LVMYVT76]

I disagree with you.

 

[entropy454]

Great link. So good I had to bookmark for later use.
thanks

 

[rascal_rascal_99]

Unless things are different other places, State Farm does not give you "book value", they give you "fair market value"...which may or may not be anywhere close to what any book value is. I would imagine that most of the time its somewhere close to the same but doesn't have to be. Fair market value as I understand it is basically what that vehicle has been regularly selling for in your region, then anything that's been done to improve the value of the vehicle can be added to that. This is coming from experience of having a truck totalled a couple of years ago when a girl ran red light and hit me. The base offer was about 2k over blue book value for the truck, plus a few perks that the insurance inspector wrote down about it added a little more to that cost. When I showed that it had recently had a water pump and tires, those costs were added on also with just a slight depreciation value for the time they'd been on.

 

[LVMYVT76]

I called my agent, she says it depends on how you insure your car. If it is insured as a classic, you can get a STATED VALUE and insure it for that, now sometimes if the value seems high it will need to appraided, and then the premium will be according to the value assesed. Now don't think that you will be given $100,000.00 for a $1000.00 car, that is why it is appraised. Check with your agent, if you don't like how or what they tell you, go to another agent or company.

 

[HER-82]

Classic Car Ins.

Why split hairs? I wouldn't accept any policy that didn't specificly indicate and agreed value on the car. Period. If you like State Farm, and they can do that then great. If they can't I would move on. The are lots of companies that will. If anything ever happened to my baby, I don't want to find out after the fact that I saved $100/yr on insurance to get screwed in the end. (no pun intended).

But that's just me.

 

[JohnZ]

I called my agent, she says it depends on how you insure your car. If it is insured as a classic, you can get a STATED VALUE

Nope. Your agent doesn't understand it either. "Stated Value" coverage does nothing for the policyholder - it just "caps" the amount the insurer is obligated to pay in the event of a total loss, and they will determine what the payout is, not you - exactly the same as a standard auto policy on a daily driver.

"Agreed Value" is shown right on the declarations page of the policy, usually accompanied by an endorsement, and is the amount of the check you'll get in the event of a total loss. Period. No depreciation, no negotiating, no market estimates, no nothing - the amount on the policy is what you get.

Most "regular" insurance companies don't write "Agreed Value" coverage, and their agents don't deal with it.

 

[glen242]

ed1655:

Let us know what you finally did, with which company, for insurance.

 

[Curby]

I have the agreed value on my 73. I set it at $26,000.00

I had some major paint damage, and have to re-spray the whole car. I got 2 estimates ($5,500 and $8,000). The insurance company gave me a check for $1,900, and did not want to let my preferred shop do the work. I picked the best of their shops.

Even though it is agreed value insurance, they still want some in and out insurance shop to spray the car and get it out. They don't understand that one of those jobs would destroy the value of the car.

Fortunately, the owner of theshop I picked has one of, if not the largest Corvette collection in the state, so he will do it right.

When it is finished, I am switching to Grundy or Haggerty.

 

[IrishJoker]

Nope. Your agent doesn't understand it either. "Stated Value" coverage does nothing for the policyholder - it just "caps" the amount the insurer is obligated to pay in the event of a total loss, and they will determine what the payout is, not you - exactly the same as a standard auto policy on a daily driver.

"Agreed Value" is shown right on the declarations page of the policy, usually accompanied by an endorsement, and is the amount of the check you'll get in the event of a total loss. Period. No depreciation, no negotiating, no market estimates, no nothing - the amount on the policy is what you get.

Most "regular" insurance companies don't write "Agreed Value" coverage, and their agents don't deal with it.

Since each insurer is regulated and authorized to insure in each state the regulations may vary a bit from state to state. Therefore the following statement in my case only applies to the state of Maryland.

I have State Farm, they do write "Agreed Value" policies on classic cars with no restrictions on use of the vehicle. I had to fill out a form and send in pictures of my car. The form asks all the pertinent questions and what you believe the value of the car is. I had just restored my 1981 Coupe at the time. I requested a $25,000.00 Agreed Value policy. I got a $38,000.00 Agreed Value policy. I'm not saying this is normal, but then again I am not complaining, I figured they would come back with an $18,000 to $20,000.00 value.
I read the policy then called my agent and asked what the restrictions were. There are none, I can drive the car anytime I want, to anywhere and not have to worry about coverage.
Call your agent again and if that doesn't work - ask for the number to the regional office.
All my cars and my house are insured with State Farm and I really did not want to deal with a secondary insurance company, so this worked out great for me and it should with you as well.

 

[Bob Chadwick]

ACV today is not necesarily ACV tomorrow. The typical policy written in the standard market basically agrees to pay you market value for your car. While market value today could be $40K that is no guarantee that it will be $40,000 tomorrow. Depends on what the market for cars does. It could be more or it could be less.

The specialty companies can write the type of policy you're looking for.

 

[LVMYVT76]

IRISHJOKER, I did the same in Missouri with State Farm on all my vehicles and house. I also had to supplu pictures, or let them take them, an dfill the same form stating value of the car, the premium then was based on agreed value. I can increase the value to a certain amount, then I have to get it appraised to go higher.