Grundy

[smokin'6]

I call Grundy for insurance over a week ago and am told the quote/application would go out the next day.

8 days later I call to find out the quote has just been drawn up and they will email it to me if I like.

After waiting with no email arriving, I call back, get another girl who says she'll send it out to another email I have, since the other email I have has alot of spam filters on it.

Send another email saying I hadn't received it, get an email back saying it still isn't finished, it 'takes a day for them to compute the quote'...... they've only had 8 days so far.

Why would two people tell me they'll email it out when its not even ready yet?

If this is how they handle buisness at the start, would hate to see what happens when you submit your 15k claim to them.

 

[dhauser]

Oh, and be prepared. If you have so much as an illegal sneezing ticket they won't even touch you.

IMO, collector car insurance is quickly becoming the "non-bargain" of the century after you factor in all the restrictions, fine-print and special circumstances and exclusions.

 

[FlyinGN]

I beg to differ. I have had cars insured by classic insurance companys for about 25 years now.. Never had ONE problem with any of them.. Including Grundy.. Never.. not one..

 

[dhauser]

I'm happy for you. How many claims have you filed with them? How many speeding tickets did they find out about while you had coverage? If any, were they in the last 5-10 years? I'd also wager you're over 50 or there abouts, smack dab in their "comfort" zone....

 

[turbofish38]

I agree on the small print BS! I cant even drive the GN for fear of something happening to it. Oh and heaven forbid if someone runs your DL through the system for whatever reason. I'm thinking screw Grundy, their lower than usuall premiums aren't much of a deal when compared to a stated value policy with the normal insurance companies if you cant enjoy driving your car when ever you want.

 

[musclecar neal]

I don't know who your talking to at Grundy but they give quotes over the phone in most cases. If you have a shakey driving record well that is another thing. I had my quote over the phone in about 2 mins. Had the paper worked faxed to me in the next 30 mins. Sent it overnight to them. I had insurance in 1 day after they had the pics and docs in had. $25,000 coverage 390.00 year. I am 39 no tickets.

 

[FlyinGN]

one claim,, no problem. had a few speeding tickets throughout the years.. no problem.
Im 42.. Have had classic insurance since I was 25.. The car was in my Dads name before I was 25 so that I could get classic insurance..
no probems.. ever..

oh and my experience with Grundy mirrored Neals.. Instant insurance..

Originally posted by dhauser
I'm happy for you. How many claims have you filed with them? How many speeding tickets did they find out about while you had coverage? If any, were they in the last 5-10 years? I'd also wager you're over 50 or there abouts, smack dab in their "comfort" zone....

 

[trbojo]

35 yrs old. 15k agreed value- 240.00 per year. got a quote on the phone in 2 minutes. i've had violations, but none in the last 3 yrs. they initially sent my application back denied, becuase i didn't include my driving history. i called them and was like "duh, you didn't ask for it on the application." no biggie, i just went to a tag place and they got an abstract for me which shows your driving record for the last three years. cost 20.00 . no claims yet, and hopefully never!

 

[2QUIK6]

I've had the same great experience with Grundy as Frank and Neal also. Got 3 cars on their policy, is stated value, gave me a quote over the phove because its based on how much you state the value is, its a fixed percentage, sent them the photos of the car and was done. I don't have any tickets, I could see that being a problem. You can drive the cars anywhere, just can't leave it unattended or out of your sight basically, which I wouldn't want to do anyway as much as these cars are getting stolen, nor would I want to get dinged up in a parking lot, thats what the truck is for.

 

[zam70]

Originally posted by 2QUIK6
You can drive the cars anywhere, just can't leave it unattended or out of your sight basically

Better read the fine print...."anywhere" only applys in certain circumstances.

 

[dhauser]

And heaven forbid you decide to take your car to work on a really nice summer day in order to enjoy the commute for once and get in a fender bender....this is how the conversation will go...

"Ooh, what's that? You were driving to work in your collector car? I'm sorry, we don't cover your car when used for work. Claim DEEE-Nied!" I've seen it happen.

While I know the purpose of the insurance and the car is primarily for pleasure, the policies themselves find more situations in which to not cover you to make the coverage sorta pointless much of the time. JMO.

 

[wlaukaitis]

Hi Y'all,

I am going to go with American Collectors insurance. My agreed value wll be $7000 as of right now. I will have coverage for $167/year.

Also, I am allowed "pleasure drives". I called and asked them what that meant and the dude said "we know people are going to drive thier cars so we allow them to take a nice sunday cruise, you just can't run errands and go to work etc...." I set my milage limit to 5000

That's fine with me.

I have not sent the app yet, still waiting for funds.

 

[2QUIK6]

Originally posted by zam70
Better read the fine print...."anywhere" only applys in certain circumstances.

Like I said, can't leave your sight, driving to work or errands is not included unless your not leaving it anywhere unattended.
Sitting at your office desk looking out the window is not ok either. I don't have any mileage restrictions.

What else might you be thinking about that I may not be?

 

[FlyinGN]

you are correct sir!
Thats why they call it collector car insurance and thats why its SO CHEAP. You have to drive another car to work.. If you don't want to bide by the rules set by them don't get it.. You want regular car insurance.. It simple. These are the rules. This is the price.. If you wanna pay 1/5 the normal amount to insure your classic (as compared to State Farm) then this is what you have to do..

Originally posted by dhauser
And heaven forbid you decide to take your car to work on a really nice summer day in order to enjoy the commute for once and get in a fender bender....this is how the conversation will go...

"Ooh, what's that? You were driving to work in your collector car? I'm sorry, we don't cover your car when used for work. Claim DEEE-Nied!" I've seen it happen.

While I know the purpose of the insurance and the car is primarily for pleasure, the policies themselves find more situations in which to not cover you to make the coverage sorta pointless much of the time. JMO.

 

[re-evaluating]

Shopping myself

I have a good friend that sells regular insurance but does not carry collectors. Something I have been WARNED about is exactly what Eric said he was going to do. Agreed value and stated value are completely different things.. Stated value only sets a max limit as to how much the insurance company will pay out, NOT what the car is worth.. If you have a expensive to insure car that to you isn't worth nearly as much as the book says and you can't really afford the rates they can give you a reduced rate for stated value. On the other hand if they show the book on the car is $3,500 and you have a stated value of $15,000 you will get $3,500 or have a major battle to get anything more. He said that this is one of the most misunderstood areas (by the public) in insurance and they use it to sell you insurance under false pretenses. So DON'T be foolish enough to get suckered in to "stated value" insurance because if you do have an issue you are in for a fight and did not get what you thought you were buying.. Just my .02 Good luck

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Dancing around....

Someone said:"You can drive the cars anywhere, just can't leave it unattended or out of your sight basically, which I wouldn't want to do anyway as much as these cars are getting stolen, nor would I want to get dinged up in a parking lot, thats what the truck is for."

I e-mailed Grundy for clarification on the restrictions the last time this thread was started.
All I got was gibberish from some woman, telling me in VERY VAGUE lingo that unless the car was driven only to "social functions", such as car shows, parades, etc, that the coverage was not in effect.
After 3 attempts to get her pinned down as to EXACTLY what the restrictions were, I gave up. IMO, she was doing the dance, because the replies were on an e-mail, and therefore a written record. [ At first I thot I was talking to my recruiter!! No concrete guarantees, but allot of "if's, ands, or's, and a few maybes thrown in to maximize the confusion.]

Want real, sure enough coverage that doesn't put you on heart medication everytime you go for a drive?? Get agreed value coverage from a real ins company, and go on w/ life....

 

[dhauser]

Amen Chuck!!! This is exactly why I say collector car insurance is not all that it's fans crack it up to be. If you ever did get them to list all the precise exclusions in an email, it would take them 3 pages and you'd never buy the insurance. At least in my experience, NONE of the collector car insurance companies I've checked into have ever given me a complete answer on all the situations that are excluded. There are so many of them that you probably aren't even aware of as to make it virtually useless. THAT'S why it's so cheap, not because it's a good value for your money. I don't think there are enough car shows and parades to make it worth MY money, when for 33% more (not 500% more)I can get the same amount of agreed value coverage and drive the car anytime I like, anywhere I like, with no restrictions.

Hey, it's ok, some people like the coverage, and for others it's not for them. That's the great thing about having choices.

My only advice to anyone considering getting such insurance is to do what Chuck did and TRY and get a complete understanding of what is and, more importantly, what is NOT covered, because many people will be surprised.

 

[2QUIK6]

My written policy from Grundy clearly states no restriction on "pleasure" driving. It does clearly state it cannot be driven to work or on errands, left unattended, and must be in a locked garage at night when stored. Bottom line, is if you can live by the rules, its a bargain, if not get regular insurance.
Regular ins would cost me over $2500/yr for my 3 collector cars, with Grundy its less than $950. Saving me over $1500 per yer, if they don't cover the entire cost, so what, I have an ins card in case I get stopped by the cops, and if I had a complete loss in 10yrs that they did not cover, I'll have an extra $15k just in ins savings over that time to help cover the loss.
Its also important to note that any insurance co will not pay out more than what the car is worth, so be sure your stated value is about equal to the book value, its just less hassle with a collector ins co, as I know my State Farm rep has no idea what any of my cars are worth.

 

[smokin'6]

Glad 2quik6 posted the bit about Grundy saying it 'cant be left unattended'. That ends it for me, I'll go to a car show and want to walk around and look, if something happens to the car when Im gone Im out of luck? Forget it, as far as over the phone 2 minute quotes, they said it 'takes longer for california', they also said it takes a day to 'compute the quote', interesting since they had 8 days to do it in. Also spoke with two people who were going to email me the quote immediately and then come to find out an hour later it wasn't even done yet....... they needed another day!

Good luck to anyone ever filing a claim is all I can say.

 

[RBE17]

I didn't have any problems getting the quote from Grundy. I also had no problems w/ them covering me. That includes a violation in the last three years, which I stated on the application.

I don't like some of the rules, but at this point I'm a little paranoid about driving the car to work anyway. I don't like the idea of stopping at the grocery store after leaving a car event and possibly being denied a claim since it might be considered an "errand".

I chose Grundy because my regular carrier, Allstate, flat out told me the car was only worth their stated value. W/ Grundy, I have it insured for the agreed value of $15k.

The price decrease from my regular carrier to Grundy was substantial. As w/ all insurance, I hope I never have to use it.

Later,


Steve.