Insurance in MA?

I know there's a thread on insurance in the general forum, but I wanted to see who f-car owners in Massachusetts are using for insurance?

The general consensus was either Chubb, State Farm, or USAA. Chubb and State Farm won't insure in MA, and I'm not in the military so USAA is out. I currently use MetLife for my VW, but they've said they won't cover a Ferrari.

Any ideas?

 

noah - search for the thread (on the old board?) where someone posted an insurance company rating site. in that thread i culled out the list of insurers who will cover in MA.

the industry is fully regulated here. in theory, nobody will give you a better price than anybody else, and 99% of the discounts you can get with one guy you can get with all the other guys.

a delightful side effect of this process is that nobody is really going to provide you any better service than anybody else. some of them just plain suck rocks, but on the other end of the bell curve, well, manage your expectations .

i use commerce, but i was hesitant to switch there a few years back from liberty, who had always treated me stellarly. i've never had to make a claim (beyond a cracked windshield) on amy of my stupid cars, so i don't really know how they are when backed into the proverbial corner.

i use chubb for my home and umbrella coverage, and do wish i could use them for my cars, but they (rationally) refuse to participate in the inane MA auto insurance system.

doody.

 

I use USAA insurance for my daily driver (the venerable "154"), but when I went to insure the Ferrari, they actually suggested I use a company that is an affiliate of USAA called American Collectors Insurance (www.americancollectorsins.com)

My car is not registered as an antique (it's 27 years old so I could do that if I wanted to) but they insured it as a "collectible car". My premium is only $157 per year with $500 deductable. The conditions are that I can only drive 2500 miles a year, it must be kept in a locked garage and it can only be driven for leisure (not commuting). The only one of those that might be a problem is the 2500 miles a year, but so far it hasn't.

It would have been about $700 to insure under my normal USAA policy without the collectible limitations.

 

I use National Grange but have to say that I think the indvidual agency counts as much or, perhaps, more than the company itself. As Doody said, in this state they're all about the same. I'm fortunate that I have an agency that actually acts as an advocate for me as oppossed to a represetative of the insurer.

 

just called american insurance....they, like all the other "special" car insurors, can only insure the car if its 25 years old or older.

bummer

 

On a related note, does anyone know if MA insurance rules (& regulations) apply to commercial verhicles / vehicles insured for business use?

I know in New York, for example, everyone is able to get physical & liability insurance under a state assigned risk pool, no matter how bad a driver / high risk you are. If you're a company, however, the insurance companies are exempted and they can turn you down flat if they want.

I also know that in MA, when it comes to health insurance, the companies are all REQUIRED to insure you, no matter what pre-existing condition you have. That means you can have full-blown late-stage cancer and get full-coverage health insurance at regulated rates. This is also why health insurance in MA is near the most expensive in the country.

I'm wondering if the same applies to all vehicle insurance too...?

nlh

 

no noah - if your vehicle has late stage cancer, they don't have to insure it.

doody.

 

Heh. Yeah, in re-reading that, I guess I wasn't terribly clear. That damn exhaust tumor!

nlh

 

That's really strange as I've insured my '82 Euro 308 GTS QV w/Metropolitan aka 'MetPay' since I bought it in 2000. They promptly settled on my only claim - a small parking lot bumper dent.

Cost for full year 'round coverage is about the same as my '87 Rx7 TurboII.

What model are you trying to insure? Is it one of the big $$ models that they're balking at?

Btw, pls fill in your profile so we'll can tell what model you're discussing/asking about. Also would be nice if you added an entry under:
FerrariChat.com > Regional Areas > New England > Where are all my NE peeps?

 

I was asking MetLife about a 360, which is probably why they won't cover it.

Also, I did find some additional info in case anyone is curious -- it seems the state does have a program to guarantee that everyone can get insurance, commercial or private:

http://www.commauto.com/

"Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers (CAR) is the industry operated residual market and statistical agent for motor vehicle insurance in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In its residual market role, CAR provides access to private passenger and commercial motor vehicle liability and physical damage insurance to that segment of the State's motoring public that is unable to obtain automobile coverage through the voluntary market."

nlh

 

yes, that link and the related state laws are specifically why the insurance industry here in MA sucks. because of that coverage system.

other states have managed to have full-coverage systems without the insane controls that MA has.

doody.