Mike-- make certain you are talking to your SF agent about the right kind of policy...I'm not sure if this is still the case, but the physical damage coverage on SF's Limited Use/Class Car form used to be worded such that the stated value of the vehicle (usually documented through appraisals, which the SF agent's underwriter back in their Bakersfield regional office would evaluate) established a ceiling and not a floor, which is a huge difference. In other words, in the event of a loss you would receive up to a maximum of $X, not just "Sorry for your loss, here's your $X" straight out of the starting gate. This put the onus on the insured to have their appraisals updated on a yearly basis. The liability premium was typically 25% of the norm, which is where most of the premium discount came from. Again, that was then, perhaps changes have occurred since.
Have I approached my SF agent regarding this coverage? At one point I did so, yes. However, it became clear to me that the intent or "spirit" of the program is to cover pristine examples of vehicles such as that 30K-mile '86 GN that was parked next to you last Saturday at Donut Derelicts, or something like Gary's car, or a cherry old Gran Sport that gets taken out once a month, and not a highly modified or virtually all-out race car such as what we have. Quite frankly, if SF or AAA insured one of our GNs for $30K on a "here you go, no questions asked" basis, that would be clear evidence to me they haven't a clue what they're insuring. To take this one step further, if an appraiser told me my GN was worth $30K, I'd tell him he was full of crap, because it isn't. None of our cars are, with "our cars" intended to mean the typical vehicles we have and not some mega-dollar Stage-motored 8-sec racecar, or a GNX. The cost of modifications doesn't necessarily add value, and insurance is intended to cover casualty losses, not market losses.
Very few on this board know what I do for a living, or who my clients are. I will say that whenever I visit some of them (whose names you'd instantly recognize) I am shocked at the lack of underwriting expertise and their inability to evaulate a risk. And no, I do not work for the California DOI.
