nickb1909

Hi Toyotafolk!
I have a question about the disparity between available loss and theft insurance coverage and market value on my 1992 Toyota Pickup:
A quick survey of the current market value of my truck (early 1990s 4x4, 22RE, manual trans, extended cab, fair body mechanically flawless) in my area (southern AZ) puts the actual market value value at around $8,000 (that's a rough estimate...might be more, certainly wouldn't be much less)...but Kelley Blue Book average private sale value is around $3,000!

So, here's the problem(s):
1) If my truck gets totaled in a wreck (and it's not my fault), the other parties insurance company would, according to my contacts in the insurance industry, rate my loss at around the "Blue Book" value...leaving me several thousand dollars short.
2) If my truck got stolen, my own insurance (comprehensive protection against loss by theft) would also use the same metric and also leave me several thousand dollars short.

My question: Is there any way to increase my insurance coverage for either kind of loss?

Traditional vehicle insurance coverage does not seem to have an answer and I'm wondering if a "specialty" insurance company might offer an alternative. What I'm really looking for is insurance to cover the GAP between industry rated value and real market value in the event of either kind of loss (wreck not my fault and/or theft).

Any thoughts or suggestions (or personal experiences) would be much appreciated.

Thanks. Nick B.

coryc85

Nick - I don't have this kind of policy, but some companies (Hagerty's for instance) offer stated value policies. I think what that means is that you agree on a value up front, say $8000 in your case, and then you pay a premium that is based on that amount.


Actually, I just did some googling, and my description of stated value is not quite correct....I think there is another type called agreed or guaranteed value see this link from Hagerty's:https://www.hagerty.com/resources/in...alue-insurance

nickb1909

Thanks coryc85!

You're the second person to mention Hagerty's (along with a friend of mine in the industry) so I'm gonna check them out for sure.

Nick B.

Jimkola

I had that discussion with my insurance co about my value. The agent was incredibly evasive amount how much they’d pay, but eventually did say I could determine a value and pay premiums based on that. Pretty much what Coryc85 said

nickb1909

Check out the Hagarty link in Coryc85's post above.

scope103

Insurance companies don't use "Blue Book" values. Instead, they will do their best to find a comparable value, meaning they will find a "similar" vehicle sold "recently." I does get trickier with an older vehicle (yeah, early 90s is definitely older) where there aren't many sales. If your "quick survey of the current market value" produces records of recent sales, then you're done. But if your quick survey was only looking at asking prices on Craigslist, then you're only half-way there.

(And while you're at it, don't overlook these:
https://flagstaff.craigslist.org/cto...744081572.html
https://yuma.craigslist.org/cto/d/yu...736269903.html
https://flagstaff.craigslist.org/cto...744255286.html )

But the real question is: why bother with comprehensive (or collision) coverage at all? You know that in the long run you'll pay much, much more in premiums than the carrier will ever pay in claims. That's how it works for all insurance. Of course, you carry liability coverage, because a $100,000 personal injury judgement would wipe you out. But are you living paycheck-to-paycheck, so that you'd never recover from having to buy a new early-90s truck (even if it is $8k)? Comprehensive coverage on a 2024 Tesla makes some sense, but once my cars and trucks are 3 years old I drop collision and comprehensive. I'm taking my chances and am money ahead for it.

Jimkola

I just carry liability.
I figure the real battle will be if someone hits me and their insurance company isn't fair. I've kept all my receipts (lord, there's a lot) and have taken recent photos of engine, underside, exterior, and interior. I also save auction results that close. With that, I'll most likely end up in court suing both the driver who caused the accident and their insurance co.

jazz1

Have your vehicle appraised and forward a copy to your insurance company.. This may increase your premium, a 30 years old truck wilthout appraisal is worth about $700.

nickb1909

Actually, this 30 year old truck (with an approx. market value of around $8,000) is rated at around +/- $3,000 for a total loss...and, for obvious reasons, traditional insurance companies don't have an insurance instrument to increase theft and/or total loss coverage to make up the difference. Hagarty's apparently does (or might)...and I'm checkinhg into that.

osv

a friend of mine got rear-ended at a stoplight, in a beater vw karmann ghia, the autobody shop estimates were around $6500 and the other driver's insurance company(state farm) wouldn't pay to fix the car, they just sent him a check for something like $1800... he did not have full coverage, so no money coming from his insurance company and they did nothing to force state farm to pay what they owed.

state farm sent a girl out to evaluate the damage, but she refused to get down on a knee and look at the ripple damage under the fender well.

after a year and half of delays by state farm, i filed an online complaint for him with the california department of insurance: https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/101-help/

they got state farm to negotiate again, and he settled for $5500, but he could have done more... his position was weaker because:
1) he didn't keep any written records of phone conversations, copy/dates of correspondence, etc., with state farm.
2) after months of no action he had a lawyer friend of ours yelling at state farm, which did no good and when the california dept. of insurance found out about that they wanted to bow out of the case altogether... i had to present evidence that our lawyer friend had died, so he was no longer representing my friend... do not bring a lawyer or court into the equation until after you see what the department of insurance can do, and of course ymmv depending on what state you live in.

with liability-only insurance you'll want to max out uninsured driver insurance of course, but that only works if you can prove that the driver who hits you was actually uninsured, aka it's useless with a hit-n-run situation... and of course the payout limit is $3.3k or so? many moons ago i had to chase a driver who rear-ended me on the freeway, caught up with him in traffic at an exit, tried yanking him out of the car by his shirt collar but his seat belt saved him, so i took his keys out of the ignition and threw 'em in the weeds, which resulted in a loud shouting match with the chp... turned out that he was an illegal alien with no drivers license, he told the chp that he had hit me with his sisters car, so i got to watch him walk away, while i drove off in my unibody project car, that was bent up and ruined.