Hagerty collectors insurance... grrr.

"Chairman Kaga" (mike-mckinnon) 05/09/2014 at 11:11 • Filed to: None

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I filed an application for insurance on my GTV6 through Hagerty last week, based largely on feedback from other Alfa guys and lots of folks here. Easy enough. The car has been on regular liability with USAA since I've owned it, costing about $300 a year. Hagerty's agreed-value policy would be about half that amount.

SEXPAND

ANYWAY, a week later and no contact from Hagerty whatsoever. I finally got a chance to call them yesterday (they said someone had called five times on May 3 and 4 and left voicemail, but, ummm.... no) and they are denying a policy. The rep said my driving record was "way too hot", to which I respond, "What the hell?"

It seems they don't look just at paid claims when considering an application. They took every single stone chip repair (which isn't a claim, but a benefit for policyholders and is basically just a discount through select vendors), a tow truck my wife called when her battery cable slipped loose, the two times I was rear ended and the one time my wife was clipped in a grocery store parking lot (all not at fault accidents for which USAA paid not a penny), and ONE comp claim I filed last year to repair a gash in my door caused by a drunk on a moped and ONE windshield replacement in 2011.

He declared we had filed more than 14 claims in the past four years and then he basically said, "You aren't the kind of driver we choose to cover. A good day to you sir." CLICK. That's not exaggerated.

So I called my friendly USAA rep and lo and behold, she confirmed we had ONE comp claim in the past four years (and in fact, one total for the life of the policy). They don't consider stone chips claims, or even windshield replacements (of which I've had one, after literally catching a spark plug in the corner of my Fit's screen). The tow truck was cancelled before it was even dispatched because I was able to realize the battery wasn't connected, so no pay out there either. In all, USAA has paid out $350 for the single comp claim and windshield replacement on our policy over 7 years.

I'm inclined to take this report back to Hagerty, but after my less than stellar customer service experience I'm considering just continuing with USAA, even if it's more expensive.

Rant, with plea for suggestions on how to proceed.

Oh, and I broke the screen on my damn iPhone yesterday too. Boo hiss.

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Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:15

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Insure a car for $350, just a dream I will never get anywhere near.

crowmolly > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:16

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That's wild to me. Hagerty has been STELLAR in the years I've had them. They are getting more restrictive though. I had to create a list of all the modifications I made to my car so they would be covered. Took a long time.

How old are you?

Party-vi > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:17

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Boo and hiss!

Hagerty (along with almost all the other classic car insurance companies) will only insure you if you have one driving infraction/accident on your record in the past five years. I'm not sure why they thought rock chips and towing services were claims on your policy. See if Grundy will do any better.

Andrew P. Collins > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:20

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Hm, I'm sorry to hear Hagerty is being uncool to you. I'm considering going through them when my hypothetical Scout finally comes into my life because it's way cheap, but I'm scared off by stories like this.

I'd say give 'em another shot, with your evidence from USAA. Who knows what was going on with that dude who hung up on you, maybe he'd been swamped all day and was looking at the wrong info.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:24

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Welcome to the insane world of insurance.

It's not surprising that this stuff ends up on your CLUE report. One of the local radio guys was pointing out that some insurers were putting tow truck calls on CLUE as claims (Because you asked them for assistance).

USAA won't look at the report, since you are on their loss database already. Every other insurer will look there to determine your loss record.

Ultimately, if you are upset that your CLUE report has so many things on it, the blame really goes to USAA.

CLUE reports are to insurance what credit scores are to loan rates. A not-accessible-to-you oversimplicifcation that doesn't actually correlate in all cases the way it's expected to correlate on average.

signintoburnerlol > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:24

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Hagerty is a bit of a joke in some places around here...

Nibbles > Party-vi 05/09/2014 at 11:25

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Grundy will probably insure it for a nice pair of pants

Chairman Kaga > crowmolly 05/09/2014 at 11:26

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39.

Chairman Kaga > Party-vi 05/09/2014 at 11:28

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USAA didn't know either. They don't count them as incidents. What pissed me off was he kept calling it my driving record. I've had ONE ticket and ONE at fault accident in 20+ years of driving.

Party-vi > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:30

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Hagerty was looking at your policy and drivers on your policy; if you wife had any accidents they look at that too. The reason their rates are so low is that they really don't want you to drive the fucking thing when you get it insured :/

Chairman Kaga > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 05/09/2014 at 11:32

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And that's what's infuriating. I can call USAA and ask them for a report on claims, and it'll have one item. I know, because I did that. I can take that OFFICIAL document to Hagerty, and they won't recognize it. I also can't have any sort of conversation with them about the nature of those non-claims that they consider claims. His only response was, "They add up." Even if there's $0 payout, it adds up? I mean, I can understand some reluctance to insure a car in Austin, what with our highest in nation DWI and uninsured driver stats. I can also consider that while a Honda Fit's windshield costs $200 to replace, an Alfa Romeo GTV6's screen might be 10 times that. But isn't that why they charge higher premiums?

Insurance sucks.

Chairman Kaga > Party-vi 05/09/2014 at 11:36

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My wife has had one not at fault accident and three or four stone chip fixes. No tickets. Again, apparently each of those stone chip repairs was considered a claim. Which is utter BS because USAA simply has an agreement with Safelite to do repairs. We get a discount, as members, but we still pay cash for 100% of the final bill. They do verify membership and the policy with USAA, but they aren't billed.

dogisbadob > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:36

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Well yeah, I guess that pouts the hag in Hagerty.

I'm surprised that states haven't revoked their authority to sell insurance.

They just seem to have so many stupid restrictions that other insurers of that sector don't have.

Hagerty Garage Ornament Insurance

ZiptieMcBumper > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:37

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Go with your gut on this one. NO ONE is better than USAA. If Hagerty is being this dickish about just getting covered, imagine what will happen if/when you file a claim.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:38

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In theory, that's why they charge higher premiums. But since Hagertys doesn't write general liability policies (Your liability policy will come with use restrictions on the car, i.e. can't commute with it, can only put XXXX miles on the car a year, can only apply when driving to a show, etc), they can be far more selective with the policies that they do write.

Your standard Allstate, Nationwide, State Farm, etc, *has* to provide general liability coverage, as it is mandated by state law. They get around writing questionable policies by jacking the premiums through the roof.

A smaller speciality insurer will just flat out not underwrite the policy.

tl;dr: Insurance sucks.

Party-vi > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 11:41

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Call them back and get another Rep on the phone. Explain your previous Rep gave you shit service and you want to talk to a supervisor. Inform the supervisor that there is only one claim on your policy and your Rep refused to consider your vehicle for insurance. That should get the ball rolling.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > ZiptieMcBumper 05/09/2014 at 12:14

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Well heres the thing with the classic/collectible car, (I have USAA and a classic car), if you get into an accident or whatever, chances are they will total out your car, because they only look at fair market value, take my 944 for example, if someone rear ended it, it would most likely be far above 3k to fix it, but my car is only worth "fair market" about 3-5k, so they would probably total it out. Classic car insurance is different because they will insure it for an agreed upon value, so what it would really be worth. But that comes with a shit ton of strings, I couldn't get insured because even though it would be parked on my own property, I don't have a garage, and it has to be garaged and locked up at night. Owning a classic car and trying to keep it in good shape has so many pitfalls sometimes it's not even worth it.

inefficient > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 12:50

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Does USAA not offer agreed value plans?

Chairman Kaga > inefficient 05/09/2014 at 13:10

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No, although they do have an affiliate who does. The quote I got initially was more than twice what I pay now, but I called them instead of doing it online and apparently it's in line with Hagerty. Submitted an application so now I'll just wait to see what they say.

ZiptieMcBumper > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 05/09/2014 at 14:06

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So I'm guessing that the reason Hagerty is nit-picking every little thing (battery issue, stone chips) is because it affects the agreed value?

That sucks. I guess it's one thing if you have a $200k trailer queen that only gets driven in parades, but for people who just have interesting cars that need to be protected, it seems like you're left in no-mans-land.

Greg Davis (will I ever get out of being Gray???) > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 14:58

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Call USAA and get them to move it to a classic car policy. They farm that out to ACI and I have it on both my vettes and it's less than $200 for both vettes (a 75 and 78 so not high value vettes :) ). You'll still get the discounts as well with USAA. Car can't be your daily driver, needs to be garage stored.

Chairman Kaga > Greg Davis (will I ever get out of being Gray???) 05/09/2014 at 15:02

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I just talked with ACI, as a matter of fact. Quoted me $133 a year with comp and collision, same coverages as my USAA policy. The car IS garage stored and I only drive about 1200 miles a year, if that.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 15:10

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I do my 68 Montego insurance through State Farm with all my other insurance.

The car is insured to 7500 (which I should probably increase with the upgrades I've done) and I pay 120 for 6 months.

crowmolly > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 05/09/2014 at 15:22

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Make sure your policy specifically states AGREED VALUE and not ACTUAL CASH VALUE or something like that. A few years back State Farm was notorious for having agents selling actual cash value policies as agreed value. It is not the same thing. They may have changed their stuff since then but there were guys getting into wrecks getting blue book payouts on their classics.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > crowmolly 05/09/2014 at 15:24

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the NADA at the time of setting up my policy was $7500. And that was the day I paid 2500 for the car. If they gave me blue book, it's a hell of a win for me (emotionally destroyed, but a win)

Chairman Kaga > Greg Davis (will I ever get out of being Gray???) 05/09/2014 at 15:29

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Boom. $135 a year with the same coverages my my USAA policy. I did have to spend a few minutes convincing her than an '82 GTV6 was a collectors car (normally anything from the 80s and 90s doesn't qualify unless it's "special"), and it activates tomorrow so I can go to Cars & Coffee on Sunday!

BoulderZ > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 16:23

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I have USAA for auto and home (formerly renters', now homeowners'). They've been an A on auto, and a C on home. I'll probably switch for home. Anyway, at the time I wanted to add a collector car, they had no offerings and no affiliates for it. I looked at Hagerty, and they were way too restrictive for how much they were charging. Grundy was much less restrictive, and more in line with other Agreed Value prices I was seeing. I straight up told them I'd be tracking the car and they were fine, just stating that I wasn't covered on track, but even to and from I'd be set. The only restrictions were I had to have another car registered in my name (in other words, a collector can't be your DD), the collector has to be garaged, and I think there's a no-one-under-18-drives-it or something, which is fine as no one other than me drives it anyway. And it is Agreed Value, with the value being set by what I say it is (I added up everything from purchase to finished restoration), then we all signed. Good luck with coverage shopping!

Treese23 > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 17:06

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Really, the best insurance folks I have ever dealt with are USAA. Best combo of cost and service, IMHO.

Greg Davis (will I ever get out of being Gray???) > Chairman Kaga 05/09/2014 at 20:41

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awesome!!!!

BrianRad > Chairman Kaga 05/10/2014 at 09:11

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This is what happens when politicians allow insurance companies to keep databases for the entire industry to conspire and keep rates artificially higher. This doesn't even include them using your credit report/score to rate you either.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > ZiptieMcBumper 05/10/2014 at 12:55

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I wouldn't say because of the agreed value, I would say it's because of the track record, because even though it isn't accidents it shows they drive a lot, and classic car insurers don't want you driving your car really unless it is to shows.

But yeah pretty much you are stuck in no mans land with a classic car, it does suck, which is why classic cars is pretty much for either people who like to garage the car, or someone who truly loves cars, because you'll be doing a lot of the work yourself