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 under a classic car insurance policy.
Can you be covered under a Classic Car Policy?
One way you could find out is ask the previous owner whether it was covered under a classic car insurance policy and with which insurance company.
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.
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.
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.
Some providers will only cover a couple of thousand miles per year under the policy, but many specialist 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.
If you change your lifestyle and you will be eligible to apply for all sorts of non standard specialist car insurance that is tailored to a particular genre or lifestyle group or club.
Classic car insurance policies are now based primarily upon usage limits and consequently tend to reflect the fact that classic cars are used differently than a normal everyday car, although the all types of use will still apply.
The types of use are
1. social, domestic, pleasure
2. business and commuting
3. for hire and racing
Many a beloved classic motor will stay under wraps in the garage for many a month and is only brought out and paraded for special occasions and events.
The range, length and risk of these events will undoubtedly determine the level of price for a specialist classic car policy. Such events can be as innocuous as local classic car club meetings at predetermined destinations, fun runs, treasure hunts, vintage runs, air shows and displays, national classic rallies, film shoots, motor shows, trade shows or as extreme and heavy premium carrying as classic car racing or hill climbing.
Most specialist motor underwriters therefore appreciate that you may need a more tailored and flexible type of car insurance for a classic car, one that allows you to fit the policy around what is effectively your lifestyle risk. Your risk levels are calculated upon the way you use the classic car and the number of miles distance you cover in that car each year.
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.
However the introduction of many classic car insurance comparison websites on the Internet means that premium levels can no longer be ignored and that customers now rightly demand service and cover for their specialist car insurance lifestyle vagaries, at the right price.
It is now possible to obtain tailored online cover for even the most obscure car marque and the introduction of online underwriting has introduced a welcome level of competition into what had become a stagnant market. Group and affinity market buying power has also helped stimulate growth and push premium prices down through bulk buying power schemes. Whatever aspirations you may hold as a classic car owner it appears that with technology you are more increasingly likely to be judged financially by your lifestyle than its trappings that you must insure.
The Internet has made it very easy to get classic car insurance quotes that were previously only available from specialist car insurance brokers on the high street.
You can find classic car insurance companies offering special deals for your particular classic by searching for your model type e.g American classic car insurance.
For a instant classic car insurance quote call 0800 089 0182