by Reid Miegel
If your collector or classic car is insured on the same auto insurance policy as your daily use vehicle, it may not be insured properly, and your valuable investment may be at risk. Most standard auto policies will insure vehicles on an actual cash value (ACV) basis, which is a depreciated value. This would mean that your dream car, boat, or motorcycle may currently be insured at a fraction of its value. Many insurance companies will offer a coverage called stated value. This value will be shown on your policy at a designated limit, and you may think you are insured for that value. However, in most cases, this policy will only pay the actual cash value (depreciated value) or stated value, whichever is less. This may leave a huge gap between what you think the value of the car is, and what the insurance company feels is appropriate. As you can see, this can leave too many questions at claim time.
Mountain Lakes Insurance offers collector and classic car, boat, and motorcycle insurance coverage with Hagerty Insurance, which provides guaranteed value coverage, sometimes called agreed value. Guaranteed/agreed value coverage provides a guaranteed limit of coverage at the time the policy is issued or endorsed. This policy type guarantees that the policy holder will be paid in full, in the event of a covered loss. If you have questions about insurance coverage for your classic, collector, or specialty car, boat or motorcycle, please contact the knowledgeable agents at Mountain Lakes Insurance.