AmericanMuscle33

Hey there guys,

It's been a looooong while since I've posted on here. I am a long-time Camaroz28.com member. I've met a couple of the local members from Yakima WA, and I am from Ellensburg WA.

I just wanted to offer my knowledge and services in regards to insurance to the CamaroZ28 community. I am a Farmers Insurance Agent who is fully licensed to sell Property, Casualty, Life, and Disability in both Washington and Oregon. What that means is I insure Vehicles, Homes, Commercial Business, and Life. My office also handles financial services. The main reason I wanted to post this was prior to becoming an agent, I found it very difficult to find adequate coverage on my modified Camaro. It was even more difficult to find an agent or a company that understood what was even done to my car.

So, if any of you guys have questions of any kind...shoot! And I'll answer to the best of my ability. I can answer literally any insurance question, however I expect from this board it mostly to pertain to properly covering modified, or collectible vehicles. For example, I personally have an all forged supercharged 396 LT1 1994 B4C that I use to daily drive. And I made damn sure if that thing got stolen, or wrecked I am covered for the replacement cost of all the modifications…not just the value of a bone stock 1994 Camaro RS.

I hope this isn't breaking any sort of soliciting rules of the board. I'm not trying to advertise my agency. I just want to provide an avenue on this board to answer questions that the majority of insurance agents either answer incorrectly, or not at all.

So, if you'd like me to review your personal coverage’s, or simply state how I go about insuring modifications to vehicles and collectible cars; post on this thread or PM me.

Thanks,
Andrew Mendenhall

P.S. My apoligyto the members who also frequent LS1Tech.com...I made a duplicate post on that board as well.

JakeRobb

Go for it.

AmericanMuscle33

Here we GO!

There are several different ways to insure a modified or collectible car. First off, we'll need to decipher if the "Market Value" of the vehicle is greater than the cost of modifications plus replacement cost of the car in original euipment. Many older collector cars, especially original vehicles, market value is far superior than original purchase price or cost of modifications. In that scenario, it's a case-by-case basis. Normally the value of the vehicle will be determined by an appraisal that we'll keep on file. Based upon the appraisal and use of the vehicle an Underwriter will determine the premium. This is then presented to you the customer, adjustments can be made as necessary.

Now, if you have a vehicle who's cost of modifications is greater than its market value, than I would recommend a customized equipment endorsement. This endorsement amends the standard auto policy and explicitly states any modifications done to the car including engine and transmission are covered. The limitations on this endorsement are currently a maximum added value of $10,000. Keep in mind any modifications done by the original manufacturer are automatically covered by the standard policy. With this endorsement we document exactly what modifications are done, and preferably copy proof of purchase or cost of the modifications. The more documents we have on file, the faster the claims process will be at the time of loss. This endorsement pays out indemnification via "Replacement Cost" not Actual Cash Value. Meaning, they have to pay you enough to replace what was lost with "like kind and quality". This is good. A lot of endorsements will only cover ACV, meaning they take the cost of replacement and then subtract depreciation, and pay you the remainder. They determine premium for this added endorsement in a very fair manner. We take the original car symbol for your vehicle the way it came from the manufacturer (representing its value). We then reference the rates of a car symbol equal to your symbol plus the added coverage of the endorsement. The difference in rates is the added premium. Example, you have a $25,000 car, you add $10,000 worth of customized equipment coverage, we referance the rates for a car worth $35,000 and evaluate the difference. The difference will then be the cost of the endorsement. In reality, on my personal vehicle adding $10,000 of customized equipment coverage resulted in a $21.00 increase to my 6 month premium...not bad.

Currently, those are the niche markets I can "Properly" cover: Vehicles with a market value greater than customized value, antique cars, and vehicles with up to $10,000 worth of non original manufacturer customizations. That leaves a big void for those of you with over $10,000 worth of coverage. I realize this and am actively pursuing a solution both within and outside of farmers. The nice thing about where I work is if Farmers does not offer the necessary product for a customer, I am allowed to use other companies. Our agency is affiliated with many non-farmers owned companies that specialize in coverages farmers does not offer. So, currently I am looking into if farmers would be interested in raising the cap on the customized equipment endorsement. Also, I'm researching what companies would be appropriate to become appointed with that would offer these coverages.