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Originally Posted by Ecky
Insurance doesn't just flat out take your car. Rather they give you a payout, but you can immediately offer to give part of that back and keep the car. It's generally referred to as "buy back".
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That's good to know. At least if it's someone else's fault with insurance then I could sell the parts I've put into the car.
But it wouldn't help if I did decide to get full coverage and either the car or the new part(s) I recently installed were stolen. For an example, there doesn't seem to be a catalytic converter insurance that would cover the loss of a brand new catalytic converter, which right now seems to be a very common theft on these Prii.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ecky
I have some slight concerns about my Insight, driving it on slick winter roads surrounded by SUVs and trucks. On paper it's an unpopular 20 year old 2 seat economy car with the better part of $30,000 miles, even if I've put very significant money into it with my modifications.
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Sounds like my point of view. SUV's have a higher probability of crashing into other cars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Charlie
So you're happy to pay the premium based on it being a 15 year old Prius with a ton of miles, but you want the insurance company to pay out something higher because you've maintained it.
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Did you mean insurance premium or maintenance premium?
What I'm saying is that I want to take good care of my car. But that involves money. Theoretically if I change out the HV battery, catalytic converter and brake actuator on my Prius with OEM parts the car should last another 15 years. And that would be around $6,000 just in parts.
The difference between that and buying a slightly newer Prius for $6,000 is that if I fix up the older Prius today it should last another 15 years. But if tomorrow it get's ran over by a Suburban I'm not going to be getting back anywhere near what I put into it.
But if I go buy a newer Prius worth $6,000 today it would be a lot closer to needing the repairs I've mentioned and so won't last as long without them. But if it gets ran over by a Suburban tomorrow then the insurance company would pay up to what I've put into the car.
Or what if I had an old 2011 or 2012 Nissan Leaf with a degraded battery. A new battery is like $8,000 anymore from Nissan. But these old Leafs are worth something like $3,000. Imagine if someone were to put that kind of money into one and soon after it caught on fire.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ecky
There are independent insurance companies, often used for modified or classic cars, which allow you to pick your own value. The rates go up proportionally.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Charlie
If you simply insure it like a regular car, you get market value for... a regular car of that year, mileage and condition. If you want to insure it at a higher value, you can deal with the insurance company, get it inspected to make your case for insuring it at a higher amount, and pay a higher rate. Generally not worth doing that unless it's a collectible.
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I've looked into those kinds of classic car insurances and the ones I've seen put a pretty low limit on how many miles you can drive the car per year. That wouldn't work for someone like me who can put as muchas 30,000 miles per year on one.
I don't mind paying more for insurance if it would cover my expenses that I've put into the car. But that doesn't seem like an option.
Conclusion
I guess what I'm saying is that before I was under the impression it was a good idea to keep my cars fixed up in tip top shape. But after thinking about it, I'm wondering if that's really a good idea or not. As long as we don't get into any accidents, then it should work out. But pouring a lot of money into a car could be a risk, unless the car is worth it on paper.
What made me think about this is I know a lady who crashed into an older vehicle. The older vehicle owner asked her to not go through her insurance, but if she'd just pay out of pocket for the repairs under the excuse that she'd not have to report it and have her insurance go up and such. But then I found out that the real reason is that he had put a substantial amount of money into restoring his car and was afraid that his car was supposedly worth only a few hundred dollars according to KBB or NADA guides and therefore the insurance company.