Project cars and insurance

The Bertone had the now standard 17 digit VIN. I talked to the insurance lady several times today and I asked if she was able to load it in and she said she had to manually load it in rather than it automatically coming up so all was good eventually.

By the way, I did get the settlement numbers from her and I'm happy with them and that included salvage buy back at was pretty minimal for these cars.
The Bertone will be a parts donor for the flared X (Fat Rat?) not sure what will happen to the 77 since it's too far damage to go on the road again.

I am extremely happy with the way USAA handled this whole thing. The adjuster was great and she kept me informed the whole time. Hard to believe this was not my insurance company....or I'm just a sucker for blonds with a southern accent.

We can now move on to my next X1/9 project....and I don't even want to talk about how the spider is going.
 
That was pretty quick. Happy to hear that you are satisfied with the outcome! Sometimes things work.
 
That's excellent news Carl.

That's right, the Bertone is new enough to have a full VIN format. It's really odd that she had some difficulty with that one and not the older one. I wonder if Bertones in general were never fully recognized in the US databases, including their VIN's. Obviously they have titles with VIN's and get registered, but there must be something to explain why they are so elusive with record systems.
 
Another data point: When I took my 86 into the Missouri state emissions testing for the first time the tech was really pissed that the VIN would not show up in the computer. Fortunately, MO changed the regulations so that all cars built before 1996 are exempt from emission testing.
 
Great news!

Yknow, we’ve got lots of blondes with southern accents around here.

I have USAA for home insurance (not sure why I don’t also have them for our “regular” cars also) and they have been great, so hearing your experience wouldn’t surprise me.
 
Carl, et al...

A couple of things about this entire scenario don't sit right with me...

1. It appears there is no contest when deciding fault here... it is the other party's. You don't haveta justify anything to their insurance company! Of course SHE is being NICE to you... her job is to pay out as little as possible. Take your car to a FERRARI specialist and ask for an estimate for repair. Get a couple. If unrepairable, call SEVERAL Collector Car Insurance companies and ask them for a quote to insure it to the maximum AGREED UPON VALUE they would authorize. Those are the only documents that you need to gather for them, along with photos of the damage.

If they balk, sue them in court, plus fees, I can't see why you would not be successful, unless you live where I do 'cause nuttin' makes any sense around here!

2. Shop for Collector Car Insurance with Grundy, J.C. Taylor, Hagarty, USAA, AAA, etc. I use Grundy on my X and pay less than $100 a year for $9500 agreed value and FULL coverage on everything else with ZERO deductible. My Vettr and T-Bucket I added to my regular daily driver policy with AAA and the Vette agreed value is $35,000 which cost me an additional $200 a year. Adding the T-Bucket at $15,000, REDUCED my overall yearly premium by $103 bucks! All have the same deductible and coverage.

Be sure to read and understand all the limitations though, some can be very strict. Both AAA and Grundy require you have a DD, are over 27 years old, and that they are garaged. (Verb for me, Noun for them, and others have suggested how to present the car if its a problem.

Hope this helps Carl, sorry for your trouble.
 
No problem, Tony. I will definitely look into this kind of insurance for my Fiats. As to all that leg work, the initial amount proposed to me is way way higher than what I expected and what I had in them (my wife is already planning to take a chunk of it to pay off my GTI loan). Being a basically lazy sort I have no desire to go through any more work. The cars are not drivable and no repair shop is going to drive out to my house to check them out...for free. I sincerely feel that Ferrari of Washington has no desire to come out and appraise some Fiats for a non-customer of their products.

As the saying goes....I'm good.
 
I did get the check yesterday! I didn't want to comment until that showed up.
I got $5,300 for the Bertone and $6,500 for the 77 X. Both were rated as being in "good" condition. These were the buy back prices so in addition to the check I have possession of both cars and the agony of parting them out.

Please don't ask for parts, the Bertone is the donor for the flared X and I may have a buyer for the 77.
 
that's awesome. I doubt a specialty policy would have afforded you anything more apt for the damage you endured. Good luck as you move on to the next phase.
 
Agreed, that is way more than I would have expected. I wonder how they came up with such high numbers. Frankly I think that is more than good (undamaged) X's sell for, and that's not even accounting for the buy back value of keeping them for parts. Especially when you consider the Rat X wasn't a complete car or really that nice (as far as car values go). You scored in my opinion. And I mean all of this as complimentary. :)

I'll have to seek out drivers with that insurance company to get in an accident with. :D
 
First you negotiate with the insurance agent and then you negotiate with your wife on the results of the first negotiation.
 
Doesn't she know old wrecked X1/9's are only worth a couple hundred dollars? And that was how much you really got...right?? :p
 
USAA is great, I insure my cars and my home with them. I recently had a home claim from a busted water pipe that happened while we were on vacation. They handled everything and it was actually quite painless.

As for classic car insurance, I have not tried Hagerty. USAA works with American and I tried to get insurance through them but they insisted it has to be kept in the garage at all times. While it does live in the garage, I like to have the option of parking outside when I want to use the garage for other things. The lady said that they even frowned on it sitting in hotel parking lots if I ever took it on a trip. Saving a few hundred dollars a year isn't worth the aggravation of having my insurance company tell me when and how I can use my own car. So I just have liability insurance on it now. Maybe I'll give Hagerty a try.
 
Huey, shop around. There are numerous companies that offer agreed value policies on hobby/collector cars. The terms and conditions vary widely between them. I'm sure you can find one you like. Some of the large "traditional" insurance corporations have added these type of policies, and many of the small independent carriers that only offered them in the past are now getting into covering your regular cars also (traditional type policies). The bottom line is the insurance industry is one of the most profitable businesses in existance and everyone wants a piece of that action. They will compete for your business.
 
Huey said:
USAA is great, I insure my cars and my home with them. I recently had a home claim from a busted water pipe that happened while we were on vacation. They handled everything and it was actually quite painless.

As for classic car insurance, I have not tried Hagerty. USAA works with American and I tried to get insurance through them but they insisted it has to be kept in the garage at all times. While it does live in the garage, I like to have the option of parking outside when I want to use the garage for other things. The lady said that they even frowned on it sitting in hotel parking lots if I ever took it on a trip. Saving a few hundred dollars a year isn't worth the aggravation of having my insurance company tell me when and how I can use my own car. So I just have liability insurance on it now. Maybe I'll give Hagerty a try.
Click to expand...
Even though I have my classic cars insured (Grundy), I am always very nervous whenever I park them. There are too many people who feel a need, or feel compelled, to valdalize them. I feel like I just parked a fur coat instead of a car. I sometimes go so far as to park at a friend's house instead of parking in the street or a parking lot. Paranoid? Maybe, but I have had more than one vehicle keyed. I also think more and more people feel it's their obligation to promote social justice by vadlizing "decadent" cars.
Maybe that's one more reason I like driving my rat cars!
 
MikeHynes said:
Maybe that's one more reason I like driving my rat cars!
Click to expand...

There it is! Most people go out of their way not to park or be seen near the rat X. I anticipate the same lack of respect for the Fat Rat X....due on the road some time this spring.
 
MikeHynes said:
There are too many people who feel a need, or feel compelled, to valdalize them.
Click to expand...
I agree. I always park my "good" cars out in the furthest corner of a parking lot, away from all the other cars. I even look to see which way the ground is sloping and avoid the downhill side of the lot; that way run-away shopping carts don't find their way to my door. But now and then I still come out of the store and find a new dent, scratch, or other damage...intentional or not. Generally speaking people are idiots in my opinion (present company excluded, I hope). ;)

I'm with Carl and Mike, I'd rather drive an ugly car and not worry about it. My dad left behind a generic Ford sedan. Extremely low miles (he was too old to go anywhere) and in good mechanical shape. But already full of dents, dings, scratches, and the other damage older drivers seem to collect. So I drive it for my routine needs and don't give a darn what happens to it. And sure enough it has gained a bunch of new damage in the couple of years doing that. All of the new damage has been from parking lots while I was in the store.
 
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