Hagerty Refuses to insure 2006 Lotus Exige.

I guess the assumption is if your daily driver is over 5 years old, you'll be more inclined to use your "classics" on a regular basis. (ie daily driver is in the shop, or is itself a classic car, etc). I don't think the issue is who carries insurance on your truck.

I would also think that problem would be solved with a mileage stipulation in the contract (which I think is already in place with their policies).

Also, maybe particular to the Elise/Exige, it's not hard for those cars to be totalled, cars aren't worth a lot and repair bills for small accidents can easily be $10k+. so maybe that's their way of saying they don't want to write a policy on the Exige?

 

I have an Exige S insured through State Farm. When comparing new to new, it was priced the same as my 430. With only a couple of years separating both vehicles, that is saying something, as the 430 was triple the price of the Exige. I think the main problem is there is no cheap accident--the front and rear "clams" are not repairable (actually, I suspect they are, but not every town has the fiberglass artisans needed) and I think are now pushing 20 grand. So a 10 mph parking lot event could be a 25 grand repair bill.

 

Their whole rationale is that with a newer (<5 yrs old) car it is unlikely that your DD will be breaking down and creating a need to drive the "special" car that they are insuring. Their rates aren't the best either. Look into Congdon- Skelly, Grundy, etc.

 

Thats interesting, when I had my cars insured with Hagerty may daily drivers were all over five years old. Maybe this is a new policy,,,

I always drive old used cars ..

 

I do remember this rule coming up from when I was a broker 10 years ago. No recent experience however since I'm not in that business any more.

As suggested above, they may have that rule in place as a way to decline coverage at their discretion... the loss history on the Exige may very well be the underlying reason why, or your personal loss history, or a combination... I am speculating like the rest of you but that is all plausible.

 

This is the main reason the classic car insurance companies have such strict language in their policies that intimidates you from insuring a classic car as such, if it might occasionally be used as a daily driver.

My observation over the years has been that grocery store parking lots are where a very large percentage of accidents involving classic cars being declared a total loss.

IMO one of the big reasons classic car insurance is so inexpensive is that most classic car owners are very attentive to their cars and, generally speaking, will try to avoid precarious situations with them, so the risk is fairly low. But when you go get a gallon of milk, there is a higher risk than parking at a show&shine or enjoying an empty country road.

 

geico specialty division - american collectors insurance. insured my xke at ridiculously low rate for 2 yrs and paid total loss due to flood. now has my elise at much higher rate than jag was but still about 1/2 conventional ins would charge for it

 

PM sent.

 

I did not know that Haggerty, Grundy, and others were owned by a consortium.

That is sure not how they advertise themselves in the trade publications or on TV on the car shows.

 

They're not.

Where do you get your information?

 

The original poster said so in the original post - see above. Company name One Beacon.

 

I missed that. Thanks, James.

But the OP's statement is wrong.

OneBeacon was previously the exclusive underwriter for Hagerty, a situation that ended a year or so ago.

See OneBeacon Selling Essentia Insurance Unit to Markel

In particular the fifth paragraph: "Hagerty has not been sold and continues to be a privately-owned family business."

Hagerty essentially serves as a broker and, while catering to collector car insurance, gets its underwriting from other larger insurance companies. It's a family business, but it does have to follow the rules of whoever does the underwriting.

I don't doubt that someone from Hagerty said that they were owned by OneBeacon, but it has never been true.

Matt

 

Well, that makes sense.

It would be practically impossible (in todays litigation society) for a private insurance company to do business without an underwriter.

But that is not the same thing as "ownership".

 

'xactly.

 

Sadly...I ran into the same thing about 1yr ago when I had the 2011 GT3RS. They asked what the other cars were, and basically if you have two drivers (hubby and wifey), the other cars must not be older than 5yrs.... even though they are not the ones covering the car. Don't understand the logic.

 

One of the reasons is because people get nice cars, like a GT3RS, for daily driving, but pretend that their daily driver is a piece of junk 88 Grand Am--so their insurance is low on their actual daily driver, the GT3RS.

The insurance company is trying to prevent fraud like that.

The other reasons outlined above also account for this policy.

 

If you are a dwarf the Elise is ok. If you are tall, forget it. Nowhere for right knee to go when shifter is in left side gears. S2000 is much worse. Right knee firmly wedged between right side of steering wheel & console/shifter area. Impossible to make right turn since nowhere for right hand to go & not enough space to turn wheel. None of these car companies stop to consider that average American male height is not 5'5". No legroom.

 

I'm 5'11" and I fit in the Exige just fine. Plenty of leg room to heel and toe, and my head fits with a helmet. Now, do you have to wear narrow shoes so you don't activate two pedal at once--yep? If you have big lats, the seats are gonna give you a firm squeeze.

This is a very pure driver's car. If you have time to relax you right leg, you aren't driving. Having said that, I've done 3-4 hour drives in the Exige and been fine. Wouldn't want to go all day though (although I have done a 2.5 hour drive to a track, done a track day, and driven home on the same day--makes one ready to sign on the dotted line for a trailer and a tow vehicle).

 

OneBeacon is not the "umbrella corporation" for Hagarty. It was the insurance underwriter. Hagarty is a privately held, family owned business. It acts almost like an insurance agent for other underwriters. OneBeacon was the exclusive underwriter, but is no more.

Matt