Insurance and the Mark II

[Barry Wolk]

How do you insure your Mark II, as a daily driver, or as a collector's car?

How have you determined what it's worth? Was an appraisal required?

What restrictions does your insurance company place on use and storage?

Does your company offer coverage if used in a movie or commercial?


FYI, the collector car insurers , for the most part, are not insurance companies at all. They are the collection and service provider, only. They package our policies with other known low-risk collector car owners in huge bundles and sell our policies off to Lloyds of London or other gigantic insurance companies and keep the difference. They get paid to sell you a policy, and get paid again to service it.

The benefit of all that is incredibly low rates with real good service. I think the rates I pay are based on policy size and cost me between $5 and $6 per thousand of agreed-value coverage. With agreed-value coverage you pay for , say $50,000 in coverage and get $50,000 if your car is totaled. With standard coverage you insure the car for $50,000 and they give you a depreciated amount. Agreed-value is better.

Discuss.

[Chuck Lutz]

For as many different insurance policies that we own from auto, home, personal liability, to yes, even earthquake (it is California) I don’t think I’ve ever read the fine print disclosures like I did when I received the Mark II policy last week.
I opted to go with my usual carrier when my agent pointed out that there were some “carry over advantages” from parts of my other policies that could come into play. I had been quoted by the Collector’s insurance companies and it was all very close. I explained to the agent that it would be driven but not very often but I needed something beyond “only to shows and parades” language and seem to have that in the policy. My policy is for “stated (agreed) value” which may be adjusted as the quality of the car and / or the market value changes.
The thing I found interesting was one the few stated exceptions that pointed out if they replace glass components, they exclude the proper markings.
I don’t remember any restrictions on use or storage but I pretty sure nothing is said about a movie or commercial.
Noted in his book, Buddy Holiday’s 57 Mark II was in use at The Burbank Studios when they had a fire that destroyed 3 sound stages in 1974. His car was damaged but not lost and was restored. I would guess that the studio would be insured for that. I wouldn't even consider loaning or renting the car for commercial or movie use without them supplying full insurance.

[Mad Scientist]

I have all my cars insured with State Farm. However the MKII, MG, and Corvette are listed as limited usage (7500 mile per year) show cars thus full coverage is very reasonable.

[Barry Wolk]

You need to check to see if it's a stated-value or agreed-value policy. If it's stated-value you can be pretty much guaranteed that you'll get screwed in the event of a claim.

[depmike38]

I've done stated value with State Farm in the past and the only thing I can say is that it works if you consistently update the value to reflect the current value of your car. One caution though is that they'll take your money if you overvalue it but in the case of a loss they aren't obligated to pay you more than it's worth at the time of loss. Because of this I've got the Mark II with Hagerty and everything else with SF.

[Keith W Colonna]

I've got my antique cruiser with Hagerty....agreed value policy unlimited use.....every three years I have to submit an out of the water survey....$500.
But my 3 cars are with USAA...and their sub-company...American Modern.
It is very reasonable ($170?) per car with no restrictions if for hobby use.
I just came back from a lecture by T. Boone Pickens who is predicting an oil crisis with huge price increases within the next 3 years. His solution is natural gas vehicles...like in Europe. My 1959 Lincoln Sport Coupe gets 4.5 miles per gallon.....will we be able to drive our hobby vehicles in 10 years?.

[Barry Wolk]

My Mark II weighs #5,300 and gets 15 mpg. What's wrong with your car?

[Keith W Colonna]

My 59 sport coupe weighs 5450lbs is 18.9 feet long, 430 engine 4 barrel carb with 350 HP,. HP to weight ratio is 15.6/HP. My Dad was a pilot and always kept a log for this car as I do....best mileage was 9 highway, 6 city. Car has original 106k miles, well tuned, doesn't smoke. I could change to Petronix ignition I suppose. I got about 90 miles on my last tank with a 22 gal capacity...ran it dry at home and had to add a gal to get it to the station.
Did I mention I run on bias ply tires?