'Gap insurance' for classics?

Surely the answer is just to ensure the agreed valuation is £14k?

Yeah, that'd be nice! But no, the car is really only 'worth' about eleven grand. There isn't another the same - its been built to my own spec rather than the original one - so its not as though I'd be able to buy a direct replacement if I lost it, and I'd have to do again what I've done this time - commission someone to build it for me. Inevitably, that build costs more than the finished article is worth, and I'm just looking to take insurance to protect me against that difference!

How has it been valued, then?

My classic is insured for more than its market value, based on the full de-rotting and repaint it had a couple of years ago.

OK, it's not as big a gap as you have - but I've used a couple of insurers who were more than happy to put a higher valuation on it, based on photos of it on taking out the policy.

On the price it *should* fetch were I to sell it, not that I have any intention of it.

Hmmm, Footman James said that resto costs were not relevant in valuation, and that was always my interpretation of it too - I've never actually *had* an insurance payout, but I thought it was designed to give you the amount of money you'd have in yer bin if you'd flogged it, not the amount of money it might cost if you had to find a replacement!

Correct. There is no gap insurance for classics. Guaranteed valuation is the best you can get.

Gap insurance for new cars only exists to compensate between the sale value and what the PCP finance value said it'd be worth on resale when you bought it.

Some insurance companies accept a valuation from the appropriate classic car club on an individual car - since no two old cars will really be worth the same. Might this help?

How bizarre. You'd think you can insure yourself against pretty much anything these days, but apparently not for the real cost of a car! Wonder if there's a business model there somewhere? :)

Phileaus Leaius gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

If somebody's daft enough to spend £100k on getting a Marina rebuilt, should they be able to insure it for that? What about some chav cretin that spends £20k on their Corsa?

What's to stop some scam with hooky paperwork for the restoration, anyway?

The value of the car is what it's worth - as set by the retail market. No more, no less. Insurers recognise that their normal valuation model can't apply to specialist vehicles like classics, so they accept - and agree - valuations from the people who should know - marque specialist traders, clubs etc. At least those specialists can be held to account for their valuations, in the form of refusal to accept any more from somebody who gets a reputation for high-balling.

Ummmm, excuse my obvious ignorance, but WTF not? If someone is prepared to pay the appropriate premium, why cant he insure his car for whatever figure enters his head? IIRC some halfwit insured his hands for hundreds of thousands because he made his living handling objects in TV adverts, so I'm guessing that the sum insured for doesn't necessarily have to be their cash value. Unless you want some hands, second hand?

Who cares? You have a 'normal' classic policy, which pays for the 'worth' of the car. Well, yep, that needs to have pretty substantial documentation to demonstrate the value. But if you then choose to pay an

*additional* premium for a further policy, I cant see why you shouldn't be able to pick your own number. Its like placing a bet with a bookie - its all about odds.

You're confusing 'value' with 'insured amount'. I said already the value placed was appropriate, I just wanted to insure for a little more than that to cover other costs of replacement.

Phileaus Leaius gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

No, you're confusing "some random number" with "anything relevant".

Try insuring your house for £10m quid, sit back, wait until it burns down, and see what happens.

And those of who restore our cars know that we will not - on the market or via an insurance payout - recover the cost of the job. That's life.

Ian

Shit, I didn't realise it was this confrontational an issue! There's no "random number" involved here. My 'new' classic cost more than £14K to build, but its only 'worth' £11K. Neither number is random in any way - they are accurate reflections of two different states.

If I insured my house for £10M, and it had a mysterious fire, I'd expect there to be some rather searching questions, given that its probably only 'worth' £200K ish. But were I to insure it for £250K, representing the actual cost of rebuilding it rather than simply the price I'd get if I flogged it, I'd expect to get paid out without issue. In fact, I'm pretty sure my bricks'n'mortar policy *is* for the estimated cost of rebuilding it!

OK, so I have a 2CV on my drive which is worth, roughly, =A31000. I take your tip and insure it for a thousand times more =3D =A31,000,000.

Next day I hit a fence post and wreck a rear wing. That's fifty quid to buy, a hundred to spray and fit. Am I allowed to claim =A3150,000 for the job?

Ian

Phileaus Leaius gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Only one person getting "confrontational".

Yes, there is.

Some notional number.

No, only one is even remotely relevant. The value.

It is. Because that's lower than the sale value. If you're in anywhere even remotely desirable, then probably about half of the sale value. In a good part of the SE, an even bigger multiple.

You're forgetting about the value of the land.

If you lived in some godawful hellhole so blighted that the sale value was lower than the rebuild value, then the buildings insurance would merely pay you the sale value on a total loss claim.

Yeah... call me picky, but I'd expected some sensible answers to a sensible question. Daft, eh?

No, plenty of bits of paper to prove. In fact, I'd suggest that the

*value* is the "notional number", since its nothing more than a subjective guesstimate - you can never KNOW a value until someone offers you that much for it, and since its now gone in some way thats not going to happen. The *cost* is OBjective, since you have bills to demonstrate it.

To a conventional insurance policy, I'd agree. To a further premium, no.

>

Phileaus Leaius gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Fine.

So go buy it. Oh, wait. You can't. Nobody offers it.

Looks like a business opportunity for you, eh?

Nicely snipped. Was the point too difficult for you? Ah f*ck it, forget it. I should have known better than to expect a sensible answer in here.

Whilst the custom car people know that even more so...

Insurers have and will only ever insure whatever is being insured for=20 its market value. And that applies to everything.=20

--=20 Conor

I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't=20 looking good either. - Scott Adams