Insurance Coverage for old cars... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Pato · #1 03-17-2005, 02:44 PM

One thing that has come up is insuring my "new" MB. I know most everyone with an early 80's MB is in this boat, so what is commonly done? cash val for these cars is really low...lower than market value. Plus I will be putting money into restoration (like fixing tranny, oil leaks, and whatever else. Then eventually the SVO conversion. So - what to do. any little repair from an accident would cause the car to be totalled and then the car that I just spent all this money for only gets me 600 bucks fromt the insurance co. i know that the totalling of a car is basically a scam, and it stinks, but it exists. i am curious to what some of you folks do about insurance beyond liability. Or do we just take a risk that we might have to fix it ourselves if in an accident. thanks for you input. Ima gonna go try some transX and vac adjustments....the recent story of my life.

dannym · #2 03-17-2005, 03:02 PM

I have the least I can get away with by law. On the other hand I don't own a house or boat or anything that could be taken away so to speak.

If they want me they can come and get me!

Danny

Hatterasguy · #3 03-17-2005, 03:23 PM

Don't get into an accident. I don't have collision because I am 19 and can't afford another $2k or so a year, on top of the $2,400 I am already paying.

lietuviai · #4 03-17-2005, 03:23 PM

You need to get something called agreed value but that's all I know about it. You have to talk to your agent to work something out.

PatrickW · #5 03-17-2005, 08:03 PM

I've been saving ebay auctions of cars that are similar to mine, in an effort to establish what a reasonable value is. I print them as adobe acrobat files and keep them on the hard drive.

I don't know if doing this will do any good if I ever need it, but at least it's something I can put down in front of an insurance agent when he tells me my MB is only worth whatever their lowball book value is.

- Patrick

lrg · #6 03-17-2005, 10:02 PM

Agreed value is the best bet usually but not everybody offers it. With agreed value you set the value of the car BEFORE you have an accident. It can take a bit of work to show them the real value but at least you know what the coverage is when you are done. The downside is that it's still not hard to total your car even with agreed value. If your near perfect 300D is worth $5,000 (when an average 300D is worth $2,500) it doesn't take that big an accident to make it a total. If you can't get the agreed value high enough to make the threshold for a "total" at least $5,000 then I'm not sure it's worth it. No matter what, always keep detailed service records, parts receipts and a good set of recent photos (remember to documment the date they were taken by including a front page of the newspaper in a couple of the photos) to use to argue your case with the insurance company for the guy who hits YOU.

Hatterasguy · #7 03-17-2005, 10:06 PM

Agreed value sounds interesting to me, maybe when I get another car and take my SDL out of daily use I will look into it. I would need to get an agreed value of $10k on my car at least to make it worth it.

Pato · #8 03-18-2005, 07:57 PM

I am doing the research. but first i want to find out if it is worth it to me to keep the car. i am on the long road to S or WVO and pretty committed to the cause. The 2000 purchase was basically a serendipitous impulse/emergency buy, so now after the fact i am going to have the pre-buy workover to find out everything that is wrong. mainly the transmission. i thought the problem was the common vac sys shifting prob, but have come to find out that http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=843243#http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=843243#those problems can cause the tranny to wear out. So i am patiently waiting with open pockets for transmission angels to dump boatloats of money into my pockets so that i can fill my potential money pit that, in the first week, I am already not being able to see myself in anything else after 8 years of Toyo Pickup gasser driving. so...thats that.

McDiesel · #9 03-19-2005, 05:34 PM

i have 3 older benz 2 diesels 1990 92
and a 300E 2.6 with a 17 year old driving it.
My Uncle is Lawyer and Told me to get an umbrella policy .. it covers you up to a million for only 600 more a year.. in my case my collision premiums for the 3 daily use cars adds up to about 600 a year.. so for the 1200 a year i currently have the best policy being I have YOUNG DRIVER 17 AND UNDER IN THE STATE OF NJ

its unfair that the 17 year old driver gets charged 3 insurance points in nj
before the even get their LICENSE

its RIDICULOUS

being the way people are in this sue happy world the most i could by in nj is 250,500,250 i believe.. with the umbrella policy it also covers not only auto but it adds into your homeowners as well... so if my son or anyone else's gets in an accident it is a good cost effective way of keeping all your assests
and staying out of the poor house for for pennies a day or you latest STARBUX Latte ... in my case 3.28 a day

of couse situations differ but in nj a male driver is Scr@#ed if he has an accident up until hes 25 < or married>

when i was 25 i was paying 4000 a year for car isnurance and that was 20 years ago!!

I married my wife and my car insurance went to now get this 1500 a year for the both of us! only because of nj!

the reason we purchased the 190 2.6 was for my son..

yeah he wanted a honda, with a "coffee can exhaust" accord or acura

so we looked at hondas.. found an 93 accord EX coupe the kid fell in love

called ins co for quote... 4800 a year due to the theft, and the young kids getting into accients over the past few years especially us "Y" chromosone Testosterone filled men get Raped ...

the agent said the hondas are not as safe and medical expenses blah blah and the like are outrageous.. but with the 190 he pays about 1800 a year for full covg. 300 less than the honda or mazda but not a safe TANK
of a car like the Benz! he loves it black on black he thinks hes a Movie Star and paid 3000 bix for it..

the 3000 bux for the car and the umberella make me feel safer to say the least,..,

since you have young ones and the cost of medical and legal fees ssay the slide on the ice and take out 8 cars in a row? your in big trouble!
because hes not legally an adult here until 21 so the parents have to take our children under our "wings" and pray for their saftey and
hope we raised and taught them well!

just one mans opioin!

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