Originally Posted by
KurtZehrINS
Great question. I have been working on what is the best way to properly insure the vehicles that would fit under this program. As you said under a home or tenants policy you can schedule items, like jewelry, due to it have special limits on a standard policy. In the auto side this would all be incorporated in the collision and comp coverage as you stated.
My idea has come to me over the last couple years as I see a lot of the show cars from groups like Nokturnal and Swift, and how heavily modified they are. There was no way, this could pass under a standard auto policy.
So originally I was planning to do an appraisal style policy with discounted rates and restricted use. However, as I reach out on the forums, and what not, many people have modified cars, that probably do not fit to most regular insurers, but they are their daily driver and are not limited use show cars.
As this has gone on, I have changed that stance. Two reasons, as stated above, many people use their car on a daily basis and it does not have limited use. The second is that I am unsure if requesting appraisals, is going to really show you the value of what you have in the car. We run into this regularly in the collector car market. Where people say their car is worth more because they spent money on it. Again not trying to stir up trouble but, if you have a 1991 Mustang, and you swap out and put $15000 worth of a new Coyote engine in with the fixings, does that make you Mustang worth $15000 more, very rarely would that help you out. The same could maybe be said about the Mazda3s and other cars that are modded in the newer generation. Custom paint, and engine mods, limit the cars appeal, and does not mean that the money you put in has a bearing on the potential sale price of the vehicle.
I have moved towards a new model. My current plan is to rate the base vehicle, use and driver as you normally would. The base vehicle would be settled on its actual cash value, as it would if your vehicle was not modified, and then modifications would be covered on replacement cost, with provable receipts. The premium would be the base premium plus a small tiered surcharge based on the total value of the modifications.
My plan would be to have you in full control on the claim in terms of the garage that takes car of your repairs.
Hope that makes sense.
Cheers,