Classic insurance question.
Discussion
Somebody recently knocked off my wing mirror, The guy was apologetic and polite, i picked one up cheap on ebay and we settled it outside of insurance no problem, This however made me wonder.
What would happen if you had relatively minor damage to your classic car but the damaged part was rare and no longer available even second hand? In my case a simple broken mirror, They are no longer available new and there may not be any for sale second hand, How would the insurance handle such a thing? Would hey really write of a car for such minor damage? I know this is the case for some old sheds that are not worth much, but what about if you have an agreed value and the cost of the repair would clearly be less than the agreed value however the part in question was no longer available and thus they simply could not repair it?
What would happen if you had relatively minor damage to your classic car but the damaged part was rare and no longer available even second hand? In my case a simple broken mirror, They are no longer available new and there may not be any for sale second hand, How would the insurance handle such a thing? Would hey really write of a car for such minor damage? I know this is the case for some old sheds that are not worth much, but what about if you have an agreed value and the cost of the repair would clearly be less than the agreed value however the part in question was no longer available and thus they simply could not repair it?
"Agreed value insurance"
While the usual suspects will set an old car's value at nothing, unless its a rare sports car, specialist companies will let you set the value you want to insure for, as long as you provide details of the car to substantiate it. A marque club can be helpful in finding such insurers, and in validating the value.
Then it's up to you. If you know that parts are rare and expensive, if obtainable for your car, then set the value higher.
John
While the usual suspects will set an old car's value at nothing, unless its a rare sports car, specialist companies will let you set the value you want to insure for, as long as you provide details of the car to substantiate it. A marque club can be helpful in finding such insurers, and in validating the value.
Then it's up to you. If you know that parts are rare and expensive, if obtainable for your car, then set the value higher.
John
I wouldn't imagine it was practical to set a value at a point where it would be reasonable to expect the insurers to cover the costs of manufacturing something complex. Leaving aside a wing mirror specifically (where the OP could temporarily use a different mirror), in the case of something less easily replaced tooling could easily run into thousands if not tens of thousands of pounds. Advances in 3D printing might help for some items, of course.
Once you want to set an agreed value that is markedly different from the norm for a given vehicle, it seems that insurers require an independent valuation and, in order to retain their credibility, it would be difficult to get a club or recognised expert to value a car at three times the general value just to cover having to have a tool made to replace something critical on it, on the off-chance it ever needs it.
Once you want to set an agreed value that is markedly different from the norm for a given vehicle, it seems that insurers require an independent valuation and, in order to retain their credibility, it would be difficult to get a club or recognised expert to value a car at three times the general value just to cover having to have a tool made to replace something critical on it, on the off-chance it ever needs it.
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