There are many options out there for Collector's Car Insurance, I choose to use American Collector's and have been very happy with their rates, coverage, and customer service.

I have a friend who insists on using State Farm for conventional coverage and I was able to get some solid numbers from my American Collector's rep that makes a pretty compelling case for those who don't put many miles on their FDs in a year--- Lots of variables here but this takes into account a driver in their 30s/40s with a clean record.

Typical insurance using KBB type values--- $25,000 value with presumably higher allowed miles. Approx $1200 per year for full coverage with a $500 deductible. Easy IMO to total out your FD taking into account 2021 parts and labor costs and that valuation.

American Collector's Insurance using NADA database--- $45,000 agreed on value at $442 annual premium with 1000 miles of annual driving and a $100 deductible.

They will go to $60,000 on the high end for FD values, and for 'special' cars be it trim level or color rarity or chassis mileage they have the ability to go to 50% higher so in this case $90,000. Pretty sure this entails providing many pictures and receipts.

There are stipulations such as the car must be garaged and you must have a newer daily driver, but double the coverage for less than half the price with a much better deductible makes a hell of a lot of sense to me...... provided you're not driving the car often.

ACI also has 2500 annual mile and 5000 annual mile tiers, and the premiums go up accordingly. From memory I believe at the 2500 mile tier the premium is closer to $600.

One other thing I checked on to be sure: The actual coverage is the same. So liability, comprehensive, medical etc etc is all identical to 'conventional' insurance.

One other very nice benefit: I believe each state is different, but here in NJ I'm able to easily switch between full coverage and storage coverage in the event the car will not be driven for a while (winter months, new turbo/engine project etc). That drops the rate down to about $200 annually.

Food for thought, and I wanted to share with the community as I just got off the line with American and all the numbers are fresh in my head

 

I'm another happy ACI customer, I have my FD & FC insured with them. ^That's good to know, I'll need to ask them if they do the winter storage rates in MD, as my FD & FC don't go past my driveway once the roads are salted.

They also offer additional towing coverage which is very reasonable too. When my FC's pilot bearing took a dump on the way home from DGRR back in 2015, they covered the expensive flatbed ride home from VA.

 

I was considering raising my "agreed to value" a couple of weeks ago and was unable to get KBB or NADA values for a 95. Are you guys able to obtain values?

 

As another point of interest ~ I have been using Hagerty for my two fd’s. Both tagged historic and see less than 2000 miles a year. They have an estimated base value of 26,500 and I added more on both accordingly. Both are listed as Cherished Salvage, meaning:

• You can retain salvage of your vehicle in the event of a covered total loss
• No salvage value will be deducted from your final payment if you choose to retain your vehicle
• You still receive the vehicle’s Guaranteed Value
• The cost is 15% of the vehicle’s physical damage premiums

They have stipulations also such as being garage kept, mileage, etc. etc.
I can tell you my premium cost are higher than rich quoted. Like Pete, I need to look into storage rates since mine also don’t leave the garage when they salt the roads either. I’m not sure if Hagerty offers that or not. I think ACI is definitely something worth looking into considering the value of these cars is growing every year.

“American Collector's Insurance using NADA database--- $45,000 agreed on value at $442 annual premium with 1000 miles of annual driving and a $100 deductible.”

I Think this is pretty compelling of having a base value of 45,000 right off the top. Definitely something I’m gonna look into.

~ GW

 

As has been said, there are ALOT of variables…valuation, deductibles, mileage, coverage limits, number of cars insured, age, driving record, vehicles with conventional coverage, claim history, regional and state differences and yeah, even credit score.
American Collector might be a good choice for some, but you’re doing yourself a disservice by not shopping around. Two other major players are Hagerty and Grundy. I went with Hagerty and have been happy but I’ll still be following my own advice over the winter with some calls. And the last time I checked (maybe five years ago) their rates were the best I found.
FWIW I’ve had two comp claims with Hagerty but absolutely no complaints. Zero deductible and I just emailed a picture of the glass and had a check in the mail within days. Like others over the years I’ve watched values increase on both my cars and subsequently raised my agreed coverage with a simple phone call and premium supplement.

IMO the big take away from this and the other thread Goodfella started https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-gene...sider-1095064/ is NOT the company but the agreed-value collector coverage. Very few (if any of us) still daily these cars. Unless you have a prison tat that’s still healing and your cousin-brother-in-law also drives your car…if you’re still using a traditional insurance carrier you’re almost certainly paying much more for way less.

 

^Agreed, very smart to shop around. I did this many years ago and American had the best combination of rates and allowances (ie you can do more than drive to the car show and then straight home).

The mark of a good insurance company is how well they take care of you in the event of a claim. I've been fortunate to not have to go through this, but a friend had to make a claim on an FD and American went above and beyond to get the car fixed like new when conventional insurance would've definitely totaled the FD.

As a side note, short Geico story--- guy I know had his FD being worked on at a shop for a long time period. Had moved to some form of minimal storage insurance on it while it was being worked on and not driven. He had plans to pick the car up so called the morning of to have Geico start the full coverage back up. On the way home he hit a torrential downpour and hydroplaned, smacking a guardrail so hard that one of the front strut towers moved a few inches. Evidently no one at Geico told him the coverage didn't start until the following day..... so he was basically driving uninsured. FD totaled with no coverage. Sorry pal, better luck next time.

 

Who are you using for insurance? The rep on the phone with me the other day pulled the rates right up.

 

I was going straight to the KBB and NADA websites. Perhaps I'll use an agent.

 

Defiantly going to start making some phone calls when I get home today. I've been back and forth between Geico and Progressive since I've owned the car. I think I've put just over 10k miles on the car in 3 years (and most o it being the 12 hour trip from Cali when I bought it and the 16 hour round trip to Denver and back), so this will absolutely be worth it to save me a few bucks and have the car properly covered. Thanks for posting and sharing the info...probably should be stickied for future owners.

 

They quote me $1000+ for 2000 annual mile and $30k agree value This was maybe 3 years ago, maybe I should try again haha.

 

I think rates tend to be very state & region dependent. I'm in MD, and for the last year (Jan 2021-Jan 2022), I paid only $689 for my FD and FC on a "shared" 5000 mile tier plan - so the total miles between my FD + FC can't exceed 5000 over the year.

FWIW, my FD is a modded, single turbo - very nice "driver's car", so I have the agreed value currently set at $37K now, and my FC which is also a very clean resto-mod, I have valued at $10K, which is probably a bit low these days.

 

That's very reasonable for 2 cars, essentially that's what I'm paying through my regular insurance ~$300 per car in the household. That's one reason I haven't jump over to collector insurance, because I'll have to pay 3x what I'm paying now for just 1 FD.

 

I just checked with Grundy, ACI, and Hagerty. The coverage was roughly the same across the board and I got wildly different quotes. It’ll be interesting to see if any alterations come back from the online quotes.

Grundy - $325/year
ACI - $900/year
Hagerty - $2,300/year

300/100/300 coverage with 2500 annual miles. No deductible on any of them.


I sure am glad that this post came up because Grundy/ACI are better than I’m currently paying for my other toys.

 

For comparison sake in Massachusetts, I have a quote from Hagerty with a guaranteed value of $50K (initial quote assumed $40K without asking), mileage assumed at 2K / year (initial quote at 5K), and cherished salvage coverage that GW outlined above with a premium of $1,308 (vs $1,343 $40K/5k). Unlike what Rich was calling out on dropping for storage months with ACI, I mentioned New England is undriveable for 6-months of the year to my agent, and they mentioned there's no drop down coverage option (assumed in the 2k annual miles and total premium calculations)

I'll have to see if American is offered in MA

 

I also checked with same 3 and Grundy was the best deal by far for me. I have an collector vehicle policy with agreed value with Grundy for under $500 a year.

 

Thanks to GoodfellaFD3S's tip about the winter storage rates, I asked ACI about that before renewing my policy on my FD & FC. As it turns out, this is a state dependent thing. In MD, the state requires you to carry liability insurance for as long as you have your car registered & tagged. So they couldn't give me a break on the liability portion of my insurance policy for winter storage months, but they can turn off my collision coverage for whatever period of time I choose, which will save me roughly $200~$300 if I turn off collision coverage for say 2~3 months during winter storage months.

The way it works is you request the change by phone, then they send you a form to sign confirming the change (email/print/sign/scan & return to them). Then when you're ready to turn the collision coverage back on, call them back & repeat that drill with the forms and pay the difference to add the collision coverage back on for the remainder of your policy period.

 

I want to add that they will not insure your car if you don't have a garage...

 

That's the same as my current insurance, I can turn off collision coverage during winter months and take off like $100. My only problem is that they only do it by 6 months period and I think it is between Nov-Apr, I did it for one year and stopped because the saving is so small, and I want to be able to take the car out if I catch some nice weather in those months.

 

Yup, typically you need a garage and a newer (within the last few years) daily driver. You also need to let them know the usage for the car-- going to car shows vs the race track etc

Pete, glad I was able to save you some cash! You can spend it on 93 octane once the weather warms up

 

Agreed. I also move the car from my home to my shop a couple miles away occasionally for winter-time work. I was also worried about suspending and re-establishing collision and liability coverage via telephone with no way to document things…Murphy’s Law and all.