Hagerty’s “ Treasured Value “ Salvage Insurance

[Trulyvintage]

Apparently if you have 

“ Agreed Upon Value “  insurance 

coverage with Hagerty’s 

then you can purchase an 

additional rider called

“ Treasured Salvage “

that allows you to keep your vehicle

in the event of a complete loss.

 

 

Jim

[1957Birdman]

I am trying to figure out under what circumstances would someone buy this insurance. It would seem to make more sense to buy it back from the insurance company for the salvage value in the unlikely event your car gets totaled. Even if cheap it still does not make sense to me.

Lew Bachman

1957 Thunderbird

[Fordy]

Shannons insurance here in Australia has that as a standard inclusion. If it's an economic write off you get to keep the car for use as parts or even rebuild if you can. Seems odd to me that you need to pay extra for that in the states

[Trulyvintage]

33 minutes ago, Fordy said:

Shannons insurance here in Australia has that as a standard inclusion. If it's an economic write off you get to keep the car for use as parts or even rebuild if you can. Seems odd to me that you need to pay extra for that in the states

You do.

It is an additional rider to the policy.

 

 

Jim

[Trulyvintage]

37 minutes ago, 1957Birdman said:

I am trying to figure out under what circumstances would someone buy this insurance. It would seem to make more sense to buy it back from the insurance company for the salvage value in the unlikely event your car gets totaled. Even if cheap it still does not make sense to me.

Lew Bachman

1957 Thunderbird

Please carefully read my post.

 

 

Jim

[1957Birdman]

Hi TrulyVintage,

I did read your post carefully and the implication is that there is some advantage for taking possession of your car from the insurance company after they have paid the agreed value for the car. It seems to me unless you want to get into the auto parts business, or you think you can fix it with the money Hagerty paid you for your claim than I think it makes sense for Hagerty to deal with it. I would think most hobbyists would be more interested in replacing their car that has been totaled than to deal with parting out the wreck.

Lew Bachman

1957 Thunderbird

[Trulyvintage]

For a modest rider on an

” Agreed Upon Valuation “

insurance policy with

Hagerty’s an insured

vehicle is yours to

keep at no additional cost.

 

That - is an added value.

 

 

Jim

[R Walling]

There are many reasons that you may want to keep your car.

 It may be sentimental.

 It may be that you already have the parts in your garage that are necessary for the repairs.  (from a donor car)

 With body shop costs today, you may be able to do most of the repairs yourself and make money on the deal.

 Also you may have had the car under insured.  (some cars increase in value in the time that you first have insured it.)

 The last consideration (at least in Ma.) is that you can most times " buy it back" from the insurance company at the price of the

salvage value of the wreck.  ( You will only receive the insured value minus the salvage price)   

[gungeey]

2 hours ago, R Walling said:

There are many reasons that you may want to keep your car.

 It may be sentimental.

 It may be that you already have the parts in your garage that are necessary for the repairs.  (from a donor car)

 With body shop costs today, you may be able to do most of the repairs yourself and make money on the deal.

 Also you may have had the car under insured.  (some cars increase in value in the time that you first have insured it.)

 The last consideration (at least in Ma.) is that you can most times " buy it back" from the insurance company at the price of the

salvage value of the wreck.  ( You will only receive the insured value minus the salvage price)   

 Exactly.

 

Also, in MA, insurers can declare a total loss when vehicle damage exceeds 50% of it's worth. A 20-25K car that gets sideswiped could easily be a total loss. Since my next car will be the same style as my current car and the car before that, I'll keep the Engine/Trans/ Posi, the new interior I just did. The trim thats all chromed and polished. Even those drums and brake shoes that are getting harder and harder to find.

 

Makes complete sense to me.

[joe_padavano]

I'm a little confused by this extra-cost buyback provision, but here's my theory.

 

"Normal" insurance policies are based on KBB value or a similar third-party valuation of the car. This valuation database encompasses both the value of the car for "total loss" determination and also the average residual salvage value of the vehicle based on a total loss. On several occasions I've retained title to an otherwise totaled car by having the insurance company decrement the total loss payout by the residual salvage value. The problem comes with declared value policies. Since the owner is declaring the value (and the resulting total loss value), there isn't an independent third party value for total loss or salvage value. The insurance company is in business to make money, not to make you whole. Their loss calculations and resulting premiums account for risk (probability of loss) and some estimate of salvage value in the event of a total loss. Those calculations are probably less conservative for declared value collector car policies than for normal policies (where there is a much larger historical database). I'm guessing this buy-back option is a way for the insurance company to hedge their bets on profitability.

[Frank DuVal]

17 hours ago, 1957Birdman said:

I would think most hobbyists would be more interested in replacing their car that has been totaled than to deal with parting out the wreck.

You obviously did not read the thread by out late friend Dave S:

 

 

 

Followed by the repairs he accomplished:

 

 

No way was that 2938 Studebaker a "totaled" car that needed to be crushed. Repairing it was the right call. You would have given up on a T'Bird in similar accident?

[1957Birdman]

I probably should have said average hobbyist, if there is such a person. 1938Studebaker was not the average hobbyist and he took the repair as a challenge. As for me and the Thunderbird, that is probably not the best example of what to do. Given the availability of early T-Birds it wouldn't be hard for me to replace it with the insurance proceeds and maybe have a better car in the bargain. 

In other words, each situation is different, and if you want to pay that premium, then do it because it is still a free country.

Lew Bachman

1957 Thunderbird

[Trulyvintage]

It is not big premium for most vehicles.

It is a “ rider “ added to an 

“ agreed upon valuation “ policy 

that lets the insured keep the vehicle

at no additional expense.

 

Jim

Edited June 18, 2023 by Trulyvintage (see edit history)

[3macboys]

I just checked my premiums for the cars that I just put coverage on with Hagerty and the rate for this coverage was not broken out - it was just shown as included though I recall the conversation with the broker as it being just a few dollars a year.  The property damage portion of your coverage is the cheap part, what you are really buying is liability coverage.  I set the agreed value at what I considered to be reasonable and what I would expect to get if the car went to auction today.  Hagerty takes pictures to match the car to the insured value and I'm pretty sure if I tried to insure my 10k car for 100k it's going to be denied, it is agreed value, agreed to by both parties.  As to the coverage at hand I considered it a no brainer, I get all the money plus keep the car to do with as I wish.  You could sell the remains yourself for extra money or repair it.  The experience of Dave S with his car demonstrated how easy it is for a car to get totaled - an insurance company can't search for months for parts, they have to find a parts car today, which is likely to be a complete running car in which to take the parts off of to repair the damaged one, basically parting out a restored car to fix a damaged car.  How does that make sense to the hobby?  I suspect the Cherished Salvage saves the company money in the long.  No staff tied up searching for parts/cars, swift settlement time, no haggling with the customer and they don't have to deal with repairs not up to the standard of their client.  Not to mention the costs involved in dealing with the damaged vehicle such as tow fees/auction fees.  Lets face it, the vast majority of cars are going to be in the +-20k range, paint alone is going to be nearly enough to total the car.  

[Trulyvintage]

Hagerty Link:

 

@ https://www.hagerty.com/insurance/classic-car-insurance/additional-coverages/cherished-salvage-coverage

 

 

Jim