Collector Car Insurance
By Jerry Zeims
Lincoln, Nebraska
Nebraskaland Thunderbird Club
This article was reprinted with permission from the author. It appeared in the Nebraskaland Thunderbird Club’s December 2005
newsletter ‘Thunderwords’ and the January-February 2006 issue of the Classic Thunderbird Club International‘s bimonthly
magazine the ‘Earlybird’.
Specialty carriers offer unique features critical to owners of fancy automobiles.
The following are some practical tips on the difference between standard and specialty insurance, and how to make the
best choice for you.
Standard vs. Specialty Coverage:
Standard insurance costs significantly more than coverage offered by a specialty program provider, who better
understands the nature and purpose of a collectible vehicle. Although standard companies can provide adequate coverage for a
daily driver, they rarely offer the added benefits associated with collector car programs.
You pay a higher annual premium with standard insurance and your classic is depreciated. Additionally, you will probably
pay fees for liability coverage on each vehicle, whereas a specialty policy may only charge a single liability fee for your entire
collection.
When your collector car is driven occasionally for pleasure drives, club events, special excursions, and not used for
business, it’s time to enroll those cars in a collector car specialty insurance program. The basic premise of collector car insurance
is that you use the collector vehicles on a limited basis and have regular-use vehicles for daily needs.
Most collector car programs will require you to have at least one regular-use car for each driver in the household.
Agreed Value Coverage:
There are three types of automobile insurance offered today: Actual Cash Value, Stated Value and Agreed Value. While
you are likely familiar with ACV, Stated Value and Agreed Value may sound very familiar, but are actually quite different.
As with most regular use auto insurance policies,