How to say worth of vehicle...

I don't have any collision insurance on my Volvo 245 DL. Which was fine because I paid $1,400 for it. However the past few months I've put $1,300 into just fixing the car up at my leisure. I don't think I'd even get $3,000 on CL for the car. However, I now see the car worth a bit because they are repairs I won't have to deal with forever or another 60k miles. Should I put collision on the guy? I'd be gutted if I had to scrap it with no kickback from insurance if it was crashed or crashed into. But I'm pretty sure the payout on a 300k mile car from insurance would be nothing.

Ha, timely topic for me.

The insurance company ("regular" insurance at least, those agreed value classic policies that places like Haggerty offer are totally foreign to me) isn't going to value your car at "this is what I paid for it plus what I put into it." They're going to give you what they think is fair market value, i.e. NADA averaged out with a few comparable cars, less your deductible of course.

My Cherokee is kind of a similar situation to your Volvo, I bought it for $700 and have put too much into it, probably $3k+ all in. But I doubt it would value at over $2k, and even that is probably optimistic. For the $1xxx (at best) I'd get paid out, I'd rather save the money and bear the risk myself.

Look up KBB "poor" value for your car and assume that is what they will give you in the event of a claim. Then make the decision.

I wouldn't put collision on anything worth less than $5k. If I crash it it's my own stupid fault and I deserve to foot the bill to fix it, and I have never crashed ANYTHING (well, unintentionally at least). If I get hit, the other guy's insurance will cover it anyway, and there's underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage for the rest.

My general rule is if valve of vehicle is less than one year of increased premium then it's not worth it. Fortunately for me I'm an old fart and full coverage isn't much difference. I think my K30 came out to $6 a month.

The phrase you're after is "agreed value policy", you agree on a value, you get the value in the event of total loss. Good luck finding that for a daily driven Volvo brick though, mostly a garaged collector car thing.

pointofdeparture wrote: Look up KBB "poor" value for your car and assume that is what they will give you in the event of a claim. Then make the decision. I wouldn't put collision on anything worth less than $5k. If I crash it it's my own stupid fault and I deserve to foot the bill to fix it, and I have never crashed ANYTHING (well, unintentionally at least). If I get hit, the other guy's insurance will cover it anyway, and there's underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage for the rest.

I felt the same way before my deer strike on the '03 Crown Vic. Ruined the windshield, spotlight, driver's door skin.

New windshield = <$200 out of pocket. Door remains ugly. I do need to do something about it.

If the deer had totaled my car... I'd be out a couple grand in value.

Check with your insurance company. My son had the total cost for one car DROP when he added collision. Go figure.

I have an agreed upon value policy on my 300k mile 85 300sd. The car is not worth much, but the lowest amount my carrier will write for a policy like that is 5k, so I went with that. The policy itself is probably cheaper than a typical liability policy on the same car, so makes a lot of sense.

Cotton wrote: I have an agreed upon value policy on my 300k mile 85 300sd. The car is not worth much, but the lowest amount my carrier will write for a policy like that is 5k, so I went with that. The policy itself is probably cheaper than a typical liability policy on the same car, so makes a lot of sense.

What kind of stipulations do they put on the agreed value policies? I know I've heard mention of things like the car must be stored indoors, mileage limits, can't use for regular DD use, ect. I love this as a concept, I just wouldn't want to end up in a situation where I feel like I can't actually "use" the vehicle. Also, how do you agree on the value?

After another riveting round of debate with Flo's mafia this afternoon, I've decided in no uncertain terms they're no longer insuring any enthusiast vehicle I'll ever own. Not that I think Progressive is being outrageous in any way, they're just obviously not equipped to deal with anything non-standard.

Wrecked My Blazer last week,They Paid the Tow Bill,The upside is my to go box's of tools were in back and the yard wouldn't let me retrive them until the bill was paid,250+50 a day!!!!!, Downside is now I own a wrecked Blazer.

Furious_E wrote:

Cotton wrote: I have an agreed upon value policy on my 300k mile 85 300sd. The car is not worth much, but the lowest amount my carrier will write for a policy like that is 5k, so I went with that. The policy itself is probably cheaper than a typical liability policy on the same car, so makes a lot of sense.

What kind of stipulations do they put on the agreed value policies? I know I've heard mention of things like the car must be stored indoors, mileage limits, can't use for regular DD use, ect. I love this as a concept, I just wouldn't want to end up in a situation where I feel like I can't actually "use" the vehicle. Also, how do you agree on the value? After another riveting round of debate with Flo's mafia this afternoon, I've decided in no uncertain terms they're no longer insuring any enthusiast vehicle I'll ever own. Not that I think Progressive is being outrageous in any way, they're just obviously not equipped to deal with anything non-standard.

Here are the restriction/requirements for all of my agreed upon policies:

Must provide a picture

Must have one or more vehicles on a standard policy

Must be stored in a garage that locks.

No mileage restrictions on mine....they have never asked for any mileage figures.

As far as values, they have always accepted the initial value I provided and there has never been any negotiation. I always feel I'm reasonable with my values, so maybe they would balk if you asked for an overly high value or something.

Full coverage or not?

Can you afford to replace it, cash money, out of your pocket, today? If yes, good news! You are self-insured. Pay yourself the premium every month.

Can you do without the car, if it is totaled or stolen? If yes, good news! You don't really need insurance, as long as you are willing to take the risk, rather than passing it off to the insurance company.

That said, I keep full coverage on my wife's car. That's it. And that, only because she want's it. The rest of them are replaceable or not. I've got spares.