Project cars and insurance

carl

carl

True Classic
Just got through with the nice insurance lady from USAA who came to look at my two wrecked X1/9s. Understand I bought both cars as non-runners that had sat for untold years. I spent about a year on each one getting them back on the road and spent a ton of money getting new parts from MWB and buying parts from you guys. I do not have agreed value collector car insurance.

The lesson I learned today is KEEP RECIEPTS FOR STUFF YOU BOUGHT. IF YOU BUY PARTS FROM FRIENDS OR OTHER NON-PROFESSIONAL PARTS HOUSES THEN GET A WRITTEN BILL OF SALE.

I had none of that. I could give her a list of parts I bought but I kept no receipts. The poor girl frowned when I said that but she said she plans to list them both as being in very good condition.

I'll get the insurance proposal in a few days. I did tell her I wanted to buy them back and she indicated that should be no problem at all.

If you "build" your X from sorry state then keep receipts and get bill of sales for used part from other sources....lesson learned, now you have no excuse.
 
When MWB migrated the store to their new software, I created an MWB account. If I log in I can see purchases back to 2015, which I believe is when they migrated the store. I can click on the order number and see the invoice. MWB may be able to provide with with your purchase history based on your name or address. Perhaps it will prove unnecessary if you are happy with the deal they offer, but I thought I would mention it.

Oh.... and do let me know if you need a bill of sale for all those parts I sold you!! :p:cool::D
 
When my spider got hit I listed all the damage parts and found sources for the parts to show the insurance company. I used Chris, Vick's and IAP (it was a while ago) online quotes. My car was not totaled and they paid for all the parts plus some bodywork for a signed release.
 
I have a total loss valuation of 20k on my VW thru Progressive. This is about 10k less than what I've got in it but enough to at least start a new project. 57.00 bucks a month is my cost. Basically it's just a total loss policy plus liability in case I bounce off someone else. If the car gets minor to moderate damage and doesn't total, I'm **** out of luck.

Come to think of it, they way I drive? Trust me... There wouldn't be but a poo stain left of it anyway.

No worries!
 
Great bit of advice Carl. I just recently picked up a nice binder for my X. Printed out a couple of the troubleshooting manuals and other odds and ends from the wiki and attached them nicely inside. I will now include receipts.

Slightly off topic a little, but were you pleased with USAA insurance on your classics? I'm currently shopping as I switch my title back to classic for PA.

Real bummer to hear about your two cars, but I hope you're doing well. Can't thank you enough for those waters on a hot day, still owe you a big favor.
 
In moving forward I would suggest to you and everyone to get collector car insurance with a substantial over estimate in your cars value. This does several pros for you. Firstly in the even of a "totaled" condition, your not going to be the one who's getting bent over a dry fuct. You will actually make money which will allow you to move on and the wreck won't "hurt" so badly. Secondly the percentage to total out your car will most likely not equal the agreed value (example mine is insured for $25,000) through American Collector Car , out of Cherry Hill NJ. The idea here is that you don't have to worry about a salvage title or buying your car back with money from the claim (putting you at even more loss or lower evaluation, however you choose to look at it). The higher evaluation also will allow your car to be repaired properly while still staying under the "total loss" percentage.
Then you take your car to be fixed without worry and the insurer cuts a check. Another perk of collector insurance is they will reimburse you for "spare parts". So let's say you have a spares in your trunk and your car burns up in a fire. Those spares are also covered in addition to your now roasted car.
My policy covers spares up to $750. I don't even need a receipt. They know that many parts in the collector hobby are sourced through swap meets, forums, barns, etc... Some cars have parts that cannot be replaced (think old Dussies and Auburn's, etc). While $750 won't do crap for that NLA part for a brass car; it will go quite far on an X1/9 or similar classic. Also deductible s are very very low. I think mine is $100, with an annual premium of like $340 and as mentioned an agreed value of $25,000. I forgot to mention milage is 2000 per year IIRCC. Maybe a touch more or less . Hope this helps someone. GL
 
I hope it works out for you on this. I'm not awesome (in fact, I'm rather bad at it...especially since parts I purchase are often for more than one car, bulk purchases, etc....so it's not always a straight 1:1 relationship between a receipt & a car). I'd expect there is some negotiation ahead. I've been using Hagerty for a long time (maybe 17 or 18 years now) in part for this reason. I had a bad experience where someone crashed my semi-collector very nice 1970 Chevy C10 truck and had to argue that it's value was not just straight KBB type depreciated new car stuff. So, when the idea of a 'collector' policy came up, I jumped on it. THat said, I should still do a better job of organizing receipts.
 
I second the use of specialty or collector type insurance companies for a agreed value policy. I haven't looked lately so things may have changed, but they have traditionally been extremely inexpensive and offer much better terms than 'normal' insurance companies.
 
Waterbury, I don't have USAA, the lady who hit them does. The insurance lady was very nice and said she treats all her clients, I am one apparently, the same way. As to collector car insurance, I was told the cars have to be kept in a garage and mine are not.

I would prefer parting my cars for parts I know are good rather than make a ton of money and have to go buy all that stuff again, some of which is not available. Not to mention the wheels/tires and DCOEs on the Bertone are not mine, they are on loan.

On a side note, anyone have problems with dealing with Bertones? Some data bases have a real problem with them as they not really Fiats. Also what is the official model name for a Bertone, is it Bertone X1/9?
 
You might want to double-check the parking/storage requirements. When I first got my collector insurance, I think that was a requirement, but more recently when I've added cars to it (added, subtracted...lots of transactions over the years) at some point i noticed there was a wider array of checkbox answers to "Where is your vehicle stored?". While i don't think, "in the street" was an answer to select, I believe the array spanned from locked garage to private driveway or something like that. I guess in theory you could always have 2 Fiats in your garage, right?
 
You have a garage. It could store your Fiats (even if it doesn't). I don't see a problem. Seems like an odd time to grow a conscience (only joking). :D

The question about a "Bertone" will be interesting to see what happens with the insurance company. I know when I order parts, many part sources do not include any listings for a X1/9 of any sort beyond the year of a "Fiat X1/9" (around '83). Others have Bertone listings that are not related to the Fiat listings in their database. As for what they are called, I've heard it depends on how the paperwork was written at the time; some may just say "Bertone", some Bertone X1/9, some just X1/9, some Fiat, etc. When I went to transfer the title for my '85, the DMV was confused because it was written three different ways on the paperwork and their system. I tried to convince them to go with "Fiat" in order to avoid future confusion. But the clerk randomly clicked on one of them.

Not sure if this helps: https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1987-bertone-x1!9
 
what I was getting at is that it's possible that one of the cars stored at Carl's secret outdoor storage location may even be eligible. I don't know the current rotation or hierarchy of parking at Casa Friedman, but I have seen the garage i person so I know that it could hold 2 Fiats or even 1 Fiat.
 
And I was taking it even a step further. A garage exists on the property that could be used to store the X's. To me that qualifies. Want evidence? Take a photo of the X's sitting in the garage (for a minute while you are washing the other cars).

In the past (many years ago) there were only a small handful of choices. But the last time I looked at agreed value policies I realized there are now quite a large number of companies offering it for hobby/collector cars. And the details of qualification, coverage, terms, price, etc varied considerably from one to the next. So I'd suggest shopping around to find one that fits each person's needs.
 
Good luck with the settlement, it sounds like the insurance adjuster is heading in the right direction when she lists them in very good condition. Perhaps the fact that you spent a lot getting them into good shape helped her come to that conclusion? But, it seems to me that the real value would be what it would cost to replace them, no matter what you spent on them. BAT has documented what the market will bear for Xs that are in very good condition. That should be to your advantage.
You did mention that you were considering selling the white one, if the insurance company "bought" it from you, you should come out OK if they offer what you would have taken for it before the accident. Especially if you can buy them back and part them out for more than you spent to buy them back.
 
Go for a collectors policy every time. Super cheap and agreed value.

I’ve heard nothing but good about hagerty
 
The insurance forms she was working off was giving her problems with the Bertone since it did not recognize it nor X1/9 nor Bertone X1/9. It also kept spitting back the Vin but she said not to worry she had seen things like this before. The 77 was no problem. I'll definitely look into collector car insurance. I may have a two car garage but she who controls all has let it be known that one spot is for her car. And I do have several local Fiat friends who kind of fudge the garage issue with their collector policies.
 
For what it may be worth as a data point, I renewed my Hagerty policy this month & I noticed that I have the white 124 Spider listed as “parked in driveway” and I do not see any appreciable difference in coverage. The funny thing is that it is actually in an enclosed, locked garage.
 
You are talking about the ins. you have on your cars right?
How about the %#* that ran into the cars?
Is their ins. paying anything?
 
I repeat, the insurance from the lady who hit the cars is paying me, I only have liability on my cars and my insurance has no dog in this fight.
 
carl said:
It also kept spitting back the Vin
Click to expand...
That is typical with vehicles built before the now standardized VIN format. Enough time has passed since the introduction of the uniform VIN code that many databases (like with insurance companies for example) are not configured to receive a VIN with fewer digits or otherwise differ from the expected structure. But what's odd is her system accepted the VIN for the '77 (which has the same VIN format issue)? I wonder what if she had tried using "Fiat" instead of "Bertone" for the later car.

The same VIN problem can come up with things like parts searches, damage report histories (eg. CarFax), DMV records, SMOG histories, even the Government's theft/total loss records, etc. Occasionally it can work in our favor, but usually hinders things.
 
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