Insurance Aggro

With all the price movement on Dinos in the past year, I decided to revisit my insurance coverage. I realized that $200k on a 14,000 mile 100% original, mechanically perfect, 3-owner fully documented, never painted flares & chairs GTS was way too low.

So I asked my Chubb broker to increase it to $400k, because I don't think I could replace this car easily at any price. He told me to get an appraisal. I contacted one well-known self-important dealer/know-it-all, who told me the car wasn't worth anywhere near $400k. I asked him if he could find me one anywhere near as nice for less, and he responded with restored cars with two, three or five times the miles, and not for much less. The fact that I'd tuned down over $400k for the car a while ago didn't seem to phase him. I assume he was going to try to get me to sell him the car.

Aggravated, I asked a golf friend who is also an insurance broker what to do. He said only a lazy idiot broker would tell me to get the car appraised. Chubb knows the car -- they already insure it, and they know what it's worth. I moved all my insurance to him, the car is now insured for $400k, and on top of that he redid all my homeowners and auto policies, and gave me the option of staying with Chubb with much more insurance on everything I own, and save $4,000 a year, or change to any of three other top insurers and save $12-18k a year, with much higher coverage and lower deductibles.

What I learned is that it's stupid not to make your insurance broker compete for your business. I am changing companies (Chubb is losing its reputation as the easiest to deal with on claims), and am saving about $15k a year, even with the increased coverages. And I also learned that Dinos sure seem to be appreciating!