An Introduction to Classic Car insurance for new owners

If you are one of the lucky ones who has recently bought a classic car, resident classic car insurance expert Dave Healey has some useful advice on the differences between classic and standard car insurance covers.......

Classic Car Insurance - A Beginners Guide For New Classic Owners
By
Dave Healey

If you've just bought your first classic car you will need to consider not just where, but also how you are going to insure it.

As a classic car owner it matters not if you drive a perfect condition Ford Capri 3 litre from 1970, a beat up old Morris Minor from the Sixties or a sleek E-type Jaguar in British racing green, it is essential that you find the best classic car insurance cover for your cherished motor, that covers your individual risks at prices that won't break the bank!

If you have not owned a classic car before it is important to realise that there are basic differences between what is known as a standard car insurance policy and the cover offered under one defined as classic, from a specialist car insurer.

The first thing to establish is whether your car is eligible for cover under a classic policy. One way you could do this is ask the previous owner whether it was covered under a classic car insurance policy and with which insurance company.

Different classic car insurance companies have different definitions of the age and type of vehicles that can be covered under this type of cover.

What might be easily covered with one provider may be excluded by another. Fortunately most online classic car cover providers provide this information on the first page of their websites, so it is fairly easy to surf around and check your eligibility with different insurance companies.

You should check that both the eligibility of the age of the car in question and also whether there are policy restrictions for your individual driving circumstances, such as your age that would prevent you from applying for cover.

The major variation between a standard policy and those offered by the classic car specialists is in the way that you use your classic vehicle, and in particular, how much you drive it. The large mainstream insurers and price comparison sites will offer cover for older cars but will charge an additional premium because of its age. They will also load the premium if replacement parts for the vehicle type are known to be expensive.

More importantly you will only be offered the current market value replacement if the car is covered under a mainstream policy and is deemed to be a write-off when you claim.

With a standard car insurance policy on a replacement like for like basis, the value of the car is often set by the market value at the time of a claim, typically taken from one of the car price magazines such as the UK's Glasses Guide. The amount you will be probably receive for a write-off will be at the current market value of your car which is an annual depreciating amount. Inevitably, if you own a classic car and insure it under a standard policy contract, this leads to under valuation and under insurance of the true value of the car. You will also probably not be offered the salvage and a repairable classic car may often be deemed a write-off because the cost of repair is uneconomic to the Insurer.

If you purchase a specialist classic car policy you will be offered a choice of either an agreed valuation of the classic cars worth or a policy based on market value.

An agreed valuation amount is the amount that the insurance company will pay out in the event of a claim that results in a write off. This is a major benefit of insuring classics under specialist policies because it ensures that you are not just properly covered but will also receive the specialist repair services that your classic will require should you claim. It should be noted that even agreed valuation polices can change and you should ensure that the value is guaranteed for a certain period of time to avoid fluctuations in market values.

Classic Car insurance polices are therefore tailored to the needs of cars considered to be collectable and effectively the valuation is a rating factor for the condition of the car.

The other major difference between standard and classic policies is in the way that you are allowed to use your car under the terms of the agreement. Originally this type of vehicle insurance was designed for drivers who do not use their classic cars much.

All classic car policies have a limited mileage clause which only covers the vehicle for an agreed amount of miles per year. Depending upon which specialist car insurance company you use, there will be a limit to how far you can drive your classic. Some providers will only cover a couple of thousand miles per year under the policy, but many specialist car insurance providers are now offering cover up to ten thousand miles per year. These policies reflect the fact that many drivers now use modern day classic cars as their main form of transport.

As with all car insurance it is important to compare both covers and prices when shopping around. There are many specialist classic insurance providers available online today and many specialist schemes that are targeted at particular classic owners. Compare the premiums offered by these with those from the price comparison sites, but if you want to avoid disappointment if you need to make a claim, be sure to understand the difference in policy covers.

The Internet has made it very easy to Compare Classic Car Insurance that was previously only available from specialist car insurance brokers on the high street. You can find those offering special deals and bespoke schemes for your particular classic by searching for your model type classic car insurance.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Healey http://EzineArticles.com/?Classic-Car-Insurance---A-Beginners-Guide-For-New-Classic-Owners&id=3280405

specialist car insurance

Get Specialist Car Insurance If You Need Specialist Repair Services

When buying car insurance policy it is essential to look at what is offered should you have an accident and need to a claim.
After all, you are only insuring the car to have the potential to make a claim should the worst happen and the cover is only as good as the insuring company's claims department.

With the hardening of rates in the UK car insurance market and the recession, price is most peoples consideration when purchasing cover, but one of things you should not overlook is who is going to repair your car if it is damaged in an accident and you need to claim?

This is especially true if you own a non-standard car? Non-standard are cars that don't fall into the mainstream set that the large insurance companies like to cover. Surprisingly a large number of vehicles fall into categories that the majority of mainstream insurance companies do not want to cover!

Such examples that may struggle to obtain motor insurance at reasonable rates are owners of high performance, prestige, expensive, luxury, grey and foreign imports, kit cars and q plated cars, sports cars, convertibles, muscle and modified motors, vintage, veteran, collectors and classic cars.

More importantly if you are the owner, if something happens and you need to make a claim on your policy, it is important that your car gets fixed by specialist professionals, using the correct parts and not cheap substitutes. More often than not these type of car repairs require unique tools that are only available through specialist engineers and motor engineering repair shops that deal with particular models.

So it is most important when comparing car insurance to also compare the services that a car insurer offers in the event of a claim, especially those regarding choice of repairer. Bear in mind that cheap car insurance bought through a car insurance comparison website offers no claims services and it will be up to you to fight your corner in the event of a claim, if you don't agree with what the insurer is offering as recompense.

All specialist car insurers and many insurance companies will offer a choice of repairer - many others will not as they have existing arrangements with so called approved repairers.

Trouble arises when an insurance company insists on employing a particular firm to fix the car against the policyholder's wishes, and it is not uncommon for major disputes to arise at this point.

For example, the insured may have an expensive Italian sports car bought from an exclusive importer and specialist firm of dealers who added a number of accessories and or modifications to the car at the insured's request at the time of sale; the same firm may have performed all the routine servicing since the sale and the insured may genuinely feel that they 'know' his car better than anyone else could, and that only they, in consequence, should be entrusted to carry out the repairs.

If the repair work quoted in an estimate by the specialist firm is substantially higher than that expected from the approved repairer and the car insurance claims department consider that the approved repairers are capable of carrying out the work to the same standard as the specialists , then the only way out of this impasse is usually for the insurance company to suggest that the insured pays the difference!

Clearly then it is very important to understand what you are buying with your policy when it comes to claims and repairs. Specialist car insurance policies always offer unique claims repair services and if you own an unusual, expensive, classic car or performance motor, then it would be sensible to opt for a specialist classic car insurance or performance car insurance policy, that includes these repair services to avoid the above situations. What might look like a cheap policy might turn into fools gold in the event of a claim!

specialist car insurance