Insuring a 'nice' Reatta....

[luftweg]

I was driving home from work last nite, and saw 3 cars involved in an accident... I pulled over to help.

No one hurt. It was a collision with a deer; the first car (a Suburban) hit it, then swerved; the second car (a Dodge minivan), an older woman driving it, lost control and spun-out hitting both the deer and the guardrail; the third car went right over the deer, lifting the car right off the ground.

Well the third car was an Allante.

It was damaged at the bottom of the grille, the cowl and under a crossmember in that area (must be one on the Reatta like it); the fans were pushed into the condenser/radiator and they were both twisted.

Certainly it was fixable in the practical sense; it was driven away.

But this got me to wondering how insurance companies deal with such damages.

What if similar damage occured to a nice Reatta?

I heard talk on this forum that if you get a broken windshield on a Reatta, it would TOTAL the car!

Does anyone have experience with this?

What would happen if one did all sorts of work to a Reatta, perhaps changing engines (with significant expense), and then a minor accident occurred?

Would this mean a great loss?

[Guest DAVESWF]

I recently went through the exercise of insuring my low mileage, 90 REATTA Convertible, a 'CLASSIC' car that is worth more than 'Blue Book' value (what the insurance Company will pay in general).

My insurance Company would insure the car for whatever value I wanted. However, if the car was involved in an accident and I wanted to collect on the policy, I would need to prove, via an appraisal and photos, that the car was worth the amount for which I had it insured.

[Chuck Parry]

I have all three of my reattas insured for stated values with Peerless Insurance. I just told them what replacement value on the car would be and they insured it for that amount. Ask your agent if they can write Peerless policies. They will charge you a set price per hundred dollars above the book value on the car. It is worth it. If one of my Reattas is totaled I will get enough for it to buy another one comparable to it. I would also try to buy back the totaled reatta from them for parts.

Chuck Parry

[Guest tomt]

But back to that pesky windshield.

I do not have the classic insurance I want, because I had a loss on the TR-6 which I had. They say after a major loss, you should wait 5 years to insure a classic car. I do have a policy with the collecter car arm of Farmers Insurance, as they are my regular carrier. It isn't as cheap as it could be, but I store it for three months and it isn't terrible. It's agreed value, but I have a $500 deductible for the windshield, which I consider a bargain. I'm sure my agent also believes it to be a bargain, but if it's lost, I'll make out nicely.

[reattawp]

I am an Insurance Broker in Ontario. I purchased my 88 Reatta in June05. The first thing I did was obtain an appraisal on it to establish the current market value. My policy is with a regular market, not a classic car package. I didn't want the restrictions on how I can use the vehicle. Of course it is hibernating right now. It is important that what ever Insurance company that has the coverage has the correct value listed for the vehicle. Just call your broker and find out who in your area is recognised as an appraiser. The cost of $120 CDN was well worth the peace of mind knowing I would not have to argue the value of my vehicle, especially if it was never recovered and the condition of the vehcile could not be established. Most companies will add the coverage.

[90reattaWI]

It does sound like a good idea to have an appraisal. My only question is would the appraiser recognize the rarity of the Reatta and other rare cars? I have my Javelin insured at a stated value, I guess I'll have to consider appraising it next season.

[Guest Dolores]

I checked with State Farm and Allstate - both have collector car insurance but for both it cannot be a daily driver which mine is. What do you mean about regular car insurance with an appraisal? Please explain. As my car is definitely worth more than the $3,600 kelly book value.