Has anyone had to USE your insurance?

[vegas80step]

I'm shopping for truck insurance and I was woundering if anyone has USED their trucks insurance and how it went...

I don't care what the person that SOLD you the policy SAID... I wounder what happen when you had to file a claim..

I was leaning towards hagerty, but I will be driving mine to work every day. My only option with them is to say I just happened to take my truck to work that day, but I'm sure they will be able to find some way out of paying me.

So I would really like to get an aggreed value that allows daily drivers. I'm waiting to hear back from my state farm person. I called farmers and they want me to spen $150 to have a third party appraisal... (which I haven't ruled out) but would like to hear what happen when people used their insurance..

thanks for any info/stories...

[RandyP]

I had a policy back in the 90's with Farm Bureau on an 86 GMC Sierra that we had sunk a lot of money in. Totally new drivetrain, interior was 100% new and new paint etc. I had a policy that went with my set amount of $10,000 as the ACV on the truck. The truck ended up being stolen from my driveway after about 6 months and I turned a claim in. After 30 days of it missing, they called and offered me the $4000 they showed as the ACV. I argued and told them I had a stated amount policy for 10k, I still had to make a packet and give them, showing invoices and receipts of everything done. Thankfully the amount added up to about $11,000, they did pay me $9500 (10k minus my $500 deduct) the next day. I was always a big disgruntled that I had to prove why I wanted 10k, when I'd been paying extra for a policy like that....

[Jonboy]

I haven't had to use mine, but my truck is insured through Hagerty (my Lincoln is too). No problems as far as I can tell.

[Stickman]

I use Grundy and had a small 15,000.00 incident about a year ago in a grocery store pkg lot. A girl drove head on into my 69 Buick GS 350 and mashed it up fairly well.I had insured for 18 thou and they ended up writing me a check for 16 and change and got everything covered at a friend's body shop and all was good. I made two mistakes.

1. I should have taken the check and purchased another one and fixed the wrecked one.

2.I should of had it insured for at least double the appraised value which in my case was 16 thou.

Live and learn

[tucsonjwt]

From what I have been told, stated value insurance policies on collector cars prohibit daily driving (like the grocery store parking lot incident would not be covered), so you would have to get a more conventional policy. So, a DD policy would have to be weighed against the extra cost of the insurance premium. If your truck is a trailer queen then the collector car policy like Hagerty is cheap. Most regular insurance companies don't like to do stated value policies because of the difficulty in verifying the value and repair cost of a collector vehicle - if you can even find some parts for them - as we all know some parts even on our common squares are no longer available new or sometimes not available at all.
I solve the problem by driving a mechanically well maintained beater square and have no collision or comprehensive insurance - maximum value of my old truck would be $4500 and that is pushing it. The last time I checked, I would pay about $800-$1000+ per year for full coverage at stated value like $15-16K, so I prefer to drive the beater at about $300 per year for just liability insurance. The new vehicles I buy are insured at full coverage for only $200 or so more than the beater at liability only, so that illustrates the big extra premium paid for a DD classic vehicle.

[Jewbacca]

Thank you Vegas for asking this. I'm in the same boat as you.

[john_p]

state farm, after bad hail damage, gave total repair cost, which of course was more then the value of my truck.. i pay extra for a declared value above the book value. took about 3 days to get the check.. along with checks for my other trucks, house barn shop..etc..

[domeier]

Had a good experience with Geico when the wife was t-boned by an idiot.

[PanelDeland]

The first thing you need to do is change your thinking.I treat Insurance Salesmen just like I do any other transaction.Up front I tell them if they are not who I come to to resolve a problem then I will not do business with them.If the adjuster tries to underpay or cause a loss for me,I want to be able to call the guy who sold me the policy and have the issue resolved.If you can't do that,you're just a sales scroat and I have no time for you.I have talked to an adjuster once since I started buying my own insurance,he tried to undervalue my claim.I called the ins agent who sold me the policy,I got results less than 24 hours later.This was after waiting almost 10 days for the adjuster.
My motto is "You sold it to me,you stand behind it!!"

[vegas80step]

Thanks for the input everyone... I'm on day two of phone calls and research.

State farm just told me that it will only cover my if the truck has been "restored to the orignal state" (dont think baggin it counts) and I can not drive over 2000 miles a year.

So looks like state farm is off my list... The company I have my other truck, house and life insurance with... I know the days of people making decisions is past but when you usa a company for ALL of your insurance for your adult life... it sucks when they can't do anything for you..

[motornut]

i'd check regards to where/how it has to be stored/ parked
some state it needs to be in a garage
i've lost two burbs hit by DUI's,argued and they paid

[Coley]

I had a very nice '72 Chevy stolen in Toronto about 15 years ago, which I never saw again. It took a couple extra weeks of patient and purposefully positive negotations with the adjuster but I got the full appraised value for the truck.
The insurance payout also included extra for paying tax on its replacement...which took 15 years to find one equivalent (in my opinion).
I attribute the outcome to not setting up a confrontational situation with the adjuster...which they expect and they are geared for. What he didn't expect was me treating him as a 'team' member in resolving this correctly...which we did.
Good Luck
Coley

[rustyrodknocker]

the simple facts are, insurance is not to be used. it is simply what you pay for the right to drive. they will wreck you financally in the years after a claim. if you are driving a pickup you need to forget about it. enless your in for tens of thousands and will be feeling the hit for years. its just a pickup. get another one or get some parts.
what you need is protection from personal injury. most states minimums are a joke. 50k per person and 150k per incedent is ridiculous. that will barely get the injured a ride to the hospital.
Isurance companies hate stated value policies. because they are tangible. it does not allow alot of room to argue and b.s. their way out of paying what is owed. its to simple. you are insuring your metal box with wheels for a value of x. if it gets destroyed. they must pay you x. not x minus y plus bs times .33. x.

[Indian113]

I keep a log of every thing I spend on changes to my truck, it's easier to argue value when you can show them just exactly what you have on paper. I copy all my reciepts and keep them in the file and take pictures of the changes.

I have stated value and my insurance will let me raise the value if I have added to it at any time. It helps my agent is a hotrodder-he has a 71 Mach 1 he restored. He really dropped it when I got my S10,I sent him the pictures of it and he come right over to check it out!

[Sillyoldman]

I have a Hagerty insurance on two of mine. I used my policy a few months ago. No deductible to pay, one estimate was OK with them and no grilling. With that being said my claim was small so I would not expect any trouble. I admit they were a little slow handling the claim but there was really no big hurry.