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Say it's a beautiful spring or summer Saturday morning and you decide to take your handsomely restored 1938 Packard 120 coupe to the grocery store or gym, when, WHAM, some goofball texting runs a stop sign and plows into you. The worst part is that the goofball has no insurance.

I know there are insurers who specialize in insuring vintage cars. Will they cover the total repair of your car? What about getting speciality parts? Will they cover that as well?

As always
Garrett Meadows

I know they will pay up to the value you set on the car. So if you set the value at 5000 and you have more than that in damages they only pay up to 5000 of it.
So you need to have a correct value set for your car.
Many antique car insurance companies either carry "towing or flat bedding" your car as part of their policy or for a small additional fee.
Antique insurance, like antique or historical plates have limits on driving. They are not really meant to be driven as a daily driver under these license plates.

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That is the kicker and the limitations are severe in some cases -- mileage and purpose wise. A lot depends on the relationship you have with your agent and company as to whether they will consider your trip to the store or gym allowable under the "other uses" category they will cover. On a tour is one thing and a trip to the gas station or short Sunday drive to keep the car operational is allowed but routine trips to shopping centers etc is heavily discouraged by most companies.

They are not really meant to be driven as a daily driver under these license plates.

ptv's point really needs a full understanding by all of us who use a "historic" motor vehicle registration. Just what you can and cannot use the car for no doubt varies from state to state, and may even also be limited by your insurance policy. Though getting into an accident while using the car for a un-allowed use may (or may not) affect your insurance settlement, it may also open you to liabilities for violating the terms of your motor vehicle registration. We all probably push the limits from time to time, but at least we should know what they are. New Jersey's permissible uses for historical registration limit use to "exhibition and educational uses only". So, if you had an accident going for a joy ride to pick up a quart of milk, unless you could quickly conjure up a ficticous story about a true nearby car show you were on your way to, you could face loss of registration privileges and were there injuries to others you could face civil suit for violating the terms of your registration and/or insurance. Potentially nasty ground to get involved in!

The primary difference between most classic car insurance policies and your "daily driver" policies is the coverage limit for collision and comprehensive (and uninsured motorist). Some of the terms and minimum coverage requirements vary by state, but almost all policies have those coverage categories in common. Classic car policies, the good ones, at least, are Agreed Value policies; you and the insurer have agreed on the value of your vehicle/the amount you'd receive in the event of a total loss. Daily driver policies are Actual Cash Value (ACV) policies and pay you the insurers estimation of the market value of your car LESS your deductible. ACV policies work well for new cars because they depreciate somewhat predictably, the market is large enough to generate solid estimates of value, and identical model vehicles are pretty much identical. That's obviously not the case with old cars, so most of us prefer to know what we'll get if we have a total loss.

Indeed, as long as the damage is less than the coverage limit, they'll cover the repairs to your car, often the complete cost because many classic car policies have a $0 deductible. Some insurers, such as Hagerty, have experts dedicated to sourcing those hard-to-find parts. They'll pay to put the car back as it was, provided that cost doesn't exceed the agreed value. Of course if the cost of repairs does exceed the limit you'd set, then they'll just write you a check for the agreed value, so it's important to set that value accurately and to review it regularly.

There are some limitations on use, and going to the grocery store may be frowned upon by some of the more restrictive insurers (the commonality in all policies I've reviewed is that you can't use your car for daily driver duty). In that case you'd still be covered for liability, but you'd be in violation of your policy agreement, which could result in a bit of a fight for coverage. Hagerty is the market leader and their restrictions make sense - limited daily use is permitted, you can even drive your car to work occasionally if you want, but it can't be your everyday car. It's important to know exactly what your insurers requirements and restrictions are so you don't run afoul of their limitations, but in general the policies are set up to cover all perils you'd likely experience.

In Ontario Historic Vehicle plates allow you to use the car for shows or parades only unless you are road testing for repair purposes which is handy for short road trips. I use Hagerty since my agent was bought out by his firm. They seem very agreeable to allow me to use my car for Sunday drives, trips to the coffee shop and even use it for long distance road trips if they are for pleasure or to visit family. I have taken several trips of 1000 miles or more to visit siblings. I always check with my agent before embarking on a lengthy trip to get the OK. The only limitations seem to be for work or shopping. I am very pleased with the leniency of this policy.

Cars that are 40 yrs old or more here in ND can get "Pioneer" plates, that's what I have. Only restriction is the car cannot be used in everyday functions of business or farming. Otherwise have at it.

I was asked to drive for a wedding and I checked with Hagerty and they told me that you can do that as long as you don't charge for the use of the car.

Hagerty is the firm I used for years, and have only had one claim for a dented fender. They sent out an inspector and sent a check out a few days later. They are very good to work with and understand that we do like to actually drive our cars.

I have Hagerty on all three of my classics. Two of which are Packards.