Ed Fotheringham
Cover Your Assets
October 1, 2005
Exhaustively consider every way in which you use your
car before
initiating
conversations with an insurer. Never make an
assumption about coverage—know
exactly what your policy
allows. Don’t
be embarrassed to ask questions, even if
they
seem to have self-evident
answers.
If, for instance,
you personally trailer your car to shows, you will want to
know if the
car is insured during transit. And are you covered if a third party
transports your car? Ask if you will be reimbursed should the car catch
fire in
your garage. And what if the same car catches fire in your
mechanic’s garage?
Garages and restoration shops typically have
policies that are limited in
liability and are not sufficient to cover
all the cars in the shop in the event
of a catastrophic event, like
fire. “Let’s say you have a Morgan in a shop with
$1 million in
liability insurance,” Gandy explains. “It’s sitting next to an
original
$4 million Daytona coupe and the place burns down. Chances are your
$30,000 Morgan is going to have a hard time competing for that
liability
insurance. If you have our comprehensive and collision on
your car, you’re not
left holding the bag, regardless.”
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And what about a car that gets reduced to a greater and greater number of pieces—either in your garage or your mechanic’s—as your routine tune-up turns into a ground-up restoration? “Some other people don’t like to do it, but I will insure a car that is under restoration if it warrants that kind of coverage,” says Gandy. “No one does a rotisserie restoration on an MGB, but if it’s a Hemi ’Cuda or a Shelby GT350, we’ll insure it whether it’s in a shop or in your garage.” Does the policy cover Sunday drives as well as excursions to club events? Find out which drivers will be covered and which will not. Reading the fine print is your responsibility—pleading ignorance won’t get you very far if something goes awry.
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