Hagarty Insurance Experience

Sometime back I took Mom out to lunch. On the way to the diner we alternately honked and waved and got honked at by all the pesky little golf carts that proliferate the streets of her seniors sub-divisions. Like they have to get the next hole in some sort of hurry, what?

Anyway, trying to make a graceful exit from my car, she gave a good tug on the windshield frame and while she cleared the car on the second bounce, the windshield would never be the same...stress crack.

I put in a call to Hagarty and described the event and the gal said,"No problem, you're covered."

She recommended some glass shops, but I told her my car was to be in a body shop for other work soon and I'd let them coordinate the repair. She said, "No problem."

Long and the short of it,six months, a few windshields,, two rubber kits and three visits from the installer later, the windshield was completed successfully and I called Hagarty to ask if I could send them my receipts, she said, "No problem"

That was week before last and the check was in my hands about three days later, truly no problem.

See? This is the kind of service we all want, but find increasingly difficult to actually get. Smaller, family-owned companies like Hagerty often provide excellent customer service because they know that's what differentiates them from the State Farm's of the world.
Not to get on an anti-big-business "rant" here, but when it comes to real customer service, my experience has been that the bigger the company the less regard they have for the public.
I'm eager to support companies like Hagerty.

please don't get me going about statefarm...the only insurance company I have used (in the distant past) that took months to figure out a way not to pay a claim I submitted. Losers in my eyes.

I use USAA now and the customer service is top notch - albeit you pay a bit more for it.

Mike

I just sent in my 3rd annual premium to Hagerty Paul and so your experience makes cutting that check an act of confidence. Thanks for sharing!

FWIW, my bro-in-law owns a paint and body shop and so he deals with all of the bigger insurance ourfits. Now, this is locally, or maybe regionally, but he is real high on Farmers & USAA for paying good and paying on time with no hassles. Your mileage and experience may vary... just thought I'd share that. Based on his recommendation I carry Farmers on all our cars and property (except the VS). USAA would be my alternate pick if I didn't like our agent so much.

Jim

Wow, you guys have sold me, I plan to contact Hagerty later today.

When I had my engine fire Hagarty said only to send them a few photos plus a parts/labor quote. When I did no questions were asked, it was settled pronto. Because of the minor damage/quote they didn't even send an estimater out. Best of all my yearly premium is less than a buck fifty (I live in a very rural area in the south).

My experience with Hagarty was excellent, quick service! That said, in retrospect it is too bad I worked so hard to put the fire out and didn't just let the damn gremlin-haunted car burn to the ground and start all over with a new one. Engine fires suck.

My wife write policies for Hagerty and others in Pa. and "swears by Hagerty" and doesn't swear "at them"!
My two replicas are insured by Hagerty and would never go with another company

I have used Hagerty for years. I would
not go anywhere else.
DA

They were also Great for processing a claim for the glass in my old speedster. They were so fast that when I did sell my speedster , I felt bad cancelling the policy. Those people were really Great & Kind. I now have my 993 insured with them & plan to add a new speedster when ever I find one in silver. GREAT WORK GUYS!

OK, so what am I missing. I have read all these glowing comments about Hagerty, and I sent them my application. They called me on the phone with the usual questions, and then a few days later they denied my application because "the useage and the mileage are too extreme". Driving a car on weekends to run around town is extreme? Maybe it's the mileage, but they never said there was a limit. Some companies come right out and say there is an XXXX mile limit. They asked me the number, I said THE ABSOLUTE MOST would be 5,000 and probably really only 3,000 - 4,000. Where do you go for insurance if you actually intend to drive the car? Thoughts from the more experienced owners would be appreciated -- as I have a car on the way and Hagerty left me this message today.

My wife is an personal lines insurance agent, is familiar in writing speciality insurance with Hagerty( we have it on two specialty autos)
You may have run into a hard ass underwriter as most are flexible ...
She suggests that you call hagerty and state that your maximum annual milage is under 3k and that should do the trick.

Alan, Thanks for your help. I will try that tomorrow. I would have thought, however, that they would have said something when I answered the question about mileage. I told them I was guessing high, but the first season I have the car, I don't want to be so limited in the use. Doesn't anyone drive these car more regularly? I keep seeing the phrase "daily driver". To drive it daily and not rack up over a few thousand miles, it would have to be a daily trip out to the mail box and back to the garage.

Just a brief follow up to my last two posts. Called Hagerty again. Less success this time. I got the distinct impression that in order to get insurance from these folks you have to either not tell them the truth (in which case they could deny coverage in the event of a claim), or never really use the car. They will not insure a collector car if it is ever used for anything you could do with your main car. What in the world could you not do with your main car with the possible exception of taking it to a collector car show? If that is an underwriting guideline, perhaps someone could tell me what it is about this company that is considered good. More importantly, perhaps someone could suggest another company with a more realistic view of what is done with a collector car that is not strictly a garage queen. Thanks for any guidance anyone could offer.

Anyone have recommendations for Canada? Does Hagerty deal here?

Herb, When I recently got my Hagerty coverage, it was permissable to go to shows, and pleasure drive, obviously pleasure drive covers a lot a definitions. They limited me to 5000 miles per year, no problems, no issues. There even seemed to be some practical leeway in that.


Gclarke "The vacaville Guy"

I called American Family who insures my house and "main" car and asked if they insured Replica cars and he said all the time. It's titled as a 68 VW and it's insured for what I paid for it. No questions about mileage, usage, anything.

Herbert: I tried Hagarty also, and was told that they would not insure my '79 IM. It was several years ago, so I do not recall their reason. I did find insurance with Aon Collector Car Insurance, formerly K & K. It is insured as a '79 IM, not a daily driver, garaged and valued at $15K. My premium is $249/yr.

Aon Collector Car Insurance: 877.765.7790, www.collectorcar.com

No affiliation, yada, yada, yada....

I had a good experience with Hagerty with my '68 pan based Speedster. The car could not be used as a daily driver, which was fine, and I was later told that mileage should be limited to 2,500 miles per year. The premium in TN was just under $400/annum. After I sold the car and asked for a quote on my SAW Cabriolet, I was informed that the rate would be just over $700/annum, based on a mid-thirties valuation and with all the same restrictions. I was told that the increase was due to the fact that the car was being titled as a 2004 model and that the same car titled as a classic (like a '57, for example) would have a similar rate to the Speedster I was replacing.

The quotation from State Farm, who insures my house and other cars, will be just under $800, with the understanding that mileage will be 7,500 per year or less. Obviously, I could save a 'C note' by going with Hagerty, but have a more restrictive agreement. Further, State Farm would surcharge me an extra $100 for covering the car under our umbrella policy, so the bucks work out to be the same.

I'm not certain I understand the reason for Hagerty's position on this matter, but they will not be getting my business this time.
John H.

Herb,

Maybe someone out there know and remembers the name of one of Hagerty's competitors, seems to me the company name started with the letter 'G'? My recollection was they had replicar policies without the mileage limits or maybe stair-stepped premiums to better reflect your useage... When I went to buy insurance for my 1957 singlecab VW Hagerty's focus became clear that they are in the classic car insuarnce business.

They didn't want me to use my truck like a truck and that ended that negotiation. For some guys that would have been all right as they drive fixed up show trucks and such...(and the rate was only an additional $50.00 per year!) but the cabinetmaker in me has work to do so I went with Mercury Insurance, gave them an estimate of value as the truck is no longer in any blue books, and if I restore it any further they asked for an appraisal proper to readjust the value upwards. I thought that was fair.

Two stated value policies (1981 911 & 1957 VW) cost about $400+/- with comp and collision.

Paul, do you mean Grundy?

Paul,

The "G" insurance was probably Grundy. They advertise in Hemmings and other old car magazines. Never got a quote from them as I had used Taylor for my Studebakers. Now I'm with Haggerty. This thread makes for interesting reading. When shopping around for insurance for mine I contacted my home and car agents and they quoted me about what Haggerty did. Turns out they were using Haggerty as the insurer. I've got the 2500 mile limit also, but how in the world is that ever verified?

Bruce

I was tempted to go with grundy this year for 1 reason... they have no mileage limits. To quote their material; "We recognize the folly of trying to verify mileage".

Jim

Something else I didn't mention in the last post was the tenor of the discussion I had with the Hagerty rep. I was speaking to a young lady with a REAL attitude. There was NO WAY they were going to get past what the original underwriter had apparently decided. I told her I had picked 5,000 miles as the highest guess, but I could probably work within their restriction. Didn't matter. Her bottom line was that if I have an accident and they are able to determine that I was using the car for "something I could have done with my main car", they would not cover. "If you take it for a pleasure ride, it's covered. If we find out you had an accident pulling out of a shopping center, we won't cover it." That's the kind of dialog we had. I think I really p---ed her off when I told her they sounded like a company that would only give you an umbrella if the sun was shining. I went with my regular company (Chubb) and they allowed a "stated value" for the car, with no driving restristions whatsoever. It's a couple hundred more than Hagerty (and Grundy, which I also called) -- but they will actually cover the car for more than just looking at and wiping down with a soft cloth. Thanks for everyone's help and advice.

Grundy, that was it, thanks guys...

hagerty refused to insure my Speedster because my wife had a 2 year old moving violation (crossing a dbl line to turn into the post office parking lot)! I even stated that she would not be driving the Speedster and told them that she did not know how to drive a standard shift. I have stayed with State Farm. Premium is a little more but no hassles.

Grundy denied coverage for my new JPS speedster because Mr. Grundy said that 26K was an unrealistic replacement value for a 'kit car'. He also said that they DO NOT insure 'kit cars'. I informed him of other forum members insured through his agency and he said that they must have 'true collector cars' insured with him as well.
Terry

Terry,
I found exactly the same thing with Grundy when attempting to insure my VS. They told me after requiring the application to be notarized that they do not insure "kit cars". I have my VS insured with Haggerty.~R

F--- Grundy then!

I have had great luck with Hagarty, but what I suspect has happened is over time some owners who insured with them agreeing to limited pleasure driving were fudging on their actual useage, ergo, more mileage more risk, more risk more claims.

My hunch is the replica group is a bit different than the car show classic cars owners, which is the focus of Hagarty's underwriting. Over time they may be doing the backstroke with replica policies; and while they pretty much need to rewrite existing policies maybe aren't inclined to write new ones. Still, that is no excuse for poor phone service or for not laying their cards on the table. If someone is intending to drive their car frequently it would be best to have it insured as a daily driver I suppose.

Think about all the street rods, which more and more of them are nothing more than glass "kits", that have little or no problem with registration and/or getting insurance. And alot of them are "home built" also not turn key or built by pro builders.

Good point, Rocky. It would seem that these cars, "glass kits" whether turn key or truly home built, would be no more or less risk than Speedsters are. Perhaps the insurance experience with these cars is better than with our kind of cars. It would be interesting to have some comparative statistics pertaining to the two types of cars; this might be very illuminating information but probably unobtainable. Without the facts, your guess is as good as ours is.

Seemed to me, after a few phone calls with Hagerty, and one with Grundy, that the message was, "You can either actually drive your car OR you can get us to ensure it, but you can't have both". Maybe these companies are trying to get out of the repro market because we actually USE our cars on occasion. But, why not just say that instead of this charade of "use restrictions" which no repro owner is really able to abide by. If all I wanted was a "looking at" Porsche 356, I would have bought a real one that would, at least potentially, appreciated in value while sitting in the garage.

Try Condon & Skelly's Specialty Automobile Insurance Policy. They're underwritten by The St Paul. They advertise in many of the magazines and claim to understand specialty cars: www.condonskelly.com/special.htm

called hagarty direct and told them i was interested in no limits on a 59 IM roadster and they gave me only one limitation and that was the car could not be my only car..........no problem i said it would be 2nd car...price quoted for 1 year 404US.........no other limits and 24 hr flatbed roadside assistance included. I have no tickets and no accidents in the last 5 years. I'm not sure why your having trouble? Ask for justin and see if you dont do better.

I also told them about 5000 miles a year, but justin said there would be no actual limit? Maybe if I fill out the paper work they will deny me, but thats definitly not the indication I was getting

Steven,
When I used hagarty I had the same experience. But I used a CA broker named Richardson Insurance. They charged me a $50 broker fee but the policy had no mileage limit, needed to be garaged and my second car. Richardson actually went down to Vintage, took pictures and documented the car so that it was insured when it hit my driveway. Well worth $50 extra. Richardson is only a broker in CA though.
-=theron

My 3rd year policy with Hagerty has no mileage caveat. I just read it over and it seems it was only on there the first year.

I did the same as Theron when it was new, except no local broker. Had a local appraisor photo it, ID everything, certify it and the invoice...sent all that with about 10 pics to Hagertys. I was extra careful with them as I didn't want there to be any Qs if I ever made a claim on it.

I was tempted to go with Gundys, they have higher personal/med liabilities, and no milage caveats. I was approved on line and via letter. But in the end it seemed better to do the loyal customer thing. I belive that is a good practice as a customer.... in most cases.

WOW. I've read your posts... for some of you it sounds like insurance sucks. :)

I have my 91 chevy k1500, my 92 camaro, my apartment, and my speedster (titled as an 89 composite) with State Farm, Yes, State Farm... My insurance ladies are still begging me to bring the speedster by so they can see it and ride in it (they've seen pictures) as well as the camaro... one even asked me what i was doing for Fat Tuesday when I called and invited me to go out with them... I pay 1100 every six months for all vehicles - Full coverage on the speedster, liability and comp on the other 2, truck is the daily. others are pleasure vehicles with no mileage restrictions. I have a feeling I wouldnt have a problem getting a claim processed through these ladies. I think with large companies, as I have worked for many, they can afford to pay out more often, but if you get an a-hole who wont fight for you at your local office, you are screwed. If you get a couple great people, i cant image having too much trouble.

btw, when i was with progressive before getting the speedster, i never had a problem with any of my claims (all comp - hail etc.)

o - and none of the specialty companies would insure me because Im under 25 - with a perfect driving record. screw them. ill never insure with them now. ever.