Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

Wondering who has Specialty Auto Insurance Policies vs just Standard Auto Insurance policies ?
In other words most of us here have modified/upgraded our maximas in some way or form. Some more than others. But what happens to those upgrades when you get in a accident and total it or damage it? Nothing righ? Well obviously in the typical world of autos none of those upgrades/modifications really count or add vaule to a car and you never see compensation for that. Well technically theres a way you can insure those upgrades and their vaules with a Specialty Auto Insurance Policy. For a lack of words its designed for people who have increased the vaule of thier cars, or drive vaulable antiques, hot rods etc. Now i dont want to get into technical coverage limits etc. or anything but just who actually has this kind of policy.

I am asking this because most of us here have added some kind of vaule to our cars, and I am considering this kind of policy.

82maxtx

well, I'm not sure about a modded car and the required / elected coverages for such thing...

BUT, after I bought my 1st gen, I called around to get quotes on it, and surprisingly, a few companies said I would HAVE TO HAVE a special "classic car policy " due to it's age. apparently some big name companies won't touch a car that's older than 20 - 25 years with out a special policy, and a special premium ($$$). I've heard that different insurance companies have different reasons for doing this, such as : high replacement value, difficulty in finding replacement parts, lack of factory safety equipment, auto-body shops who won't work on an older car as an insurance claim case etc etc.. I have since gone with a company that has a cut-off of 30 years before they require a special policy (I'm actually coming up on that mark in another 2 years lol).

anybody else ever heard of this?

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

^ some places here apparently will consider a car 20 years or older a classic/collector and give you cheaper insurance

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

ive always wondered too do you have to tell your insurance company if you go turbo?

Stereodude

I have additional coverage for my aftermarket stereo. I checked and they said my aftermarket wheels were covered without any extra coverage (probably because they're ultimately cheaper to replace than the OEM ones).

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

You do. If they find out your vehicle's been in a wreck and was modified that extensively without their knowledge, they can pull the coverage and leave you stranded. Some companies won't even cover heavily modded cars. One of the first things I was asked when I called about insurance was, "Has the car had any major modifications done to it?"

Yeah, but most of them limit the number of miles you can put on the car per year before your premiums increase.

maxgtr2000

iTrader: (29)

Only if you want it covered if it got damaged in a wreck. I would imagine you would get hit with a higher premium for additional things but the job of most insurance companies is not to pay a claim if they can get out of it. If you have a turbo you would have to have all the receipts from purchase and the install price and you should get reimbursed if it got damaged/destroyed. I would also imagine that say for a 4th gen having a turbo kit claimed and then the car gets wrecked would total it out seeing a turbo kit would either be very close or over the cost of the car. Last I made a claim a 4th gen max (97 SE) was worth about $2000-$2500.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

**** that sucks. i dont want to take that risk so when i turbo my 3rd gen i may have to buy a NA Silvia to drive around in the meantime, and just build my 3rd gen as a track car/nighttime on the streets car.

Sorry to be a pest, but with the VG30E apparently you can take some parts off of the VG33 and gain 50 or so HP, would that count as major? (guessing yes lol)

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

I don't think so. I think anything that's way out of the norm really. Headers, intakes, and so on, don't really count. And I don't think OEM part swaps count either, unless it's a total engine swap.

You'd have to check with your insurance, really. It varies from company to company.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

yeah, i dont think they even asked about aftermarket performance when i got my insurance. still would rather turbo than get the VG33 stuff though, but i'll ask what will happen if i do want to drive it daily turbo'd.

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Supercharge it.

Easier to go back to stock if you get into an accident and need to hide something from the adjuster.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

not a fan of Supercharging really, what i'll do is ask how much my rates will go up for a turbo, hopefully not much or not at all and i can keep it as a year round daily driver. with the huge JDM aftermarket here hopefully they will have some mercy

its not like i'm going hardcore though, a Z31 turbo with intercooler will only bring me from 160hp to about 280-300

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, but another thing to think about is, depending on your age, some companies will refuse to cover your car if it's modified. Or a sports car. Or a modified sports car.

I, for example, had an absolute HELL of a time trying to get the insurance company to be okay with me being even a secondary driver when I had my Trans Am. My dad put himself on as primary, and obviously that was okay. But they were still gun shy about letting me be on the insurance period...

Edit: Like I said, though. Talk to your insurance company. They may say otherwise. Although your premiums will probably go sky-high. Insurance companies love to do that kind of stuff...

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

man all of the fun crap in life costs you big time lol

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, no kidding.

I mean, you could just not tell them that you t/c'd the car. You'd just better drive like a grandma.

But then again, that completely defeats the point of the t/c. Why not look into a centrifugal s/c versus the positive displacement type? The centrifugal setups sound pretty cool at high RPMs IMO.

That, and the added bonus of not having to buy a turbo exhaust manifold...

I guess I'm just a bigger fan of s/c's because the install/tear-down is quite a bit easier than that of the turbo.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

i drive good, and the only time i rip is on dead roads or i go to the highway Sunday nights when its dead and rip a bit so i'm no harm to anyone. its other people that are a problem, like the idiot last summer who didnt know how to use the circle and nailed me, their fault but they were obsessed that it was my fault. the back of their corner bumper gouged my headlight and scratched my bumper (i know i hit the back but i was in the circle first so its their yield). they just said forget about it and left, scratches buffed out and i got a junykard headlight but all i need is for someone to nail me worse and my insurance to find out about the turbo

i may do that though, get a non-turbo Silvia or AE86 to drive daily and keep the Max a hush turbo

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

That sounds like a better plan.

And trust me, ripping it in the dead of night is never any good.

That's when me and my buddy got busted. It was about 12:30 A.M. And we got busted hard, too. Like this cop seriously went all out.

It was just bad luck on our part, really, though...

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

cops here let alot of that go unless youre really a danger. their major hate is drug dealers, and if you have window tint you will get pulled over for anything because they figure they'll bust you for drugs as well if youre a drug dealer in your riced Civic, they let performance cars like Skylines and Silvias screw around a bit because most of the drivers are respectable and they dont usually tint their windows.

theres one alley here in the hood part of town thats about 1/4 mile and usually dead, one time i wanted to do a little test and halfway through i saw a white car coming and i thought it was grampa in a Cadillac, i got closer and it was the Crown Vic special and i almost crapped my pants. nothing came out of it at least and there was no eye contact lol

kinda like The Fast And The Furious, "see those traintracks over there? theyre exactly 1/4 mile away from these lights"

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

I dont want to get into whats covered or not because thats a whole other thread, but apparently if you have reciepts of what you have done and even better if you get the car appraised with its current upgrades they will pay you for them.

It seems completely crazy but I was chatting with an insurance rep for 30 mins yesterday and both of us seemed surprized but the facts where there.

I checked on my max too and hypothetically lets say they would only give me 8,000 for it. Well If I wanted to get 10,000 because of my upgrades were vauled at that. As long I can back it up with reciepts/ even better an appraisal. I could get that 10,000 with the specialty coverage.

And this is the most hardest part to grasp but some how in my case it would be cheaper to get this coverage. And I allready have a really cheap premium price.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

that sucks because i usually only keep repair receipts, i might have the $220 receipt for my Magnaflow exhaust still but i dont think i have the $1700 one for my Sparco seat setup i dont think a appraisal would do me any good either lol.

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

You paid what for that setup?

You could've gotten a pair of Corbeau seats for that price, could you not?

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

the biggest problem is Sparco is out of 3rd gen bases and the other parts and it doesnt look like they will ever again so i had to get some manual seat brackets made and welded up to fit, and it was 10 hours total of labor but they charged me for 6 i think.

the seats alone were almost half of that because i didnt want ripped up/smoked up ones from a drug dealers Integra and i had to buy a pair (2 Sparco Sprints were $700, one Recaro they had was like $800 for a single seat and one bride was $1200 or something). Got a used harness for $100 and a second new one for $200

not a fan of Corbeau myself, just Sparco, Bride, Veilside, and Recaro. i wanted a pair too because one seat just looks horrible

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, one racing seat does look kind of I've just always liked Corbeau because the fabric they use looks great. I mean, my Max just being a DD and all, that's probably what I'd invest in. I'm not really in the market for unnecessary weight reduction, so they'd work.

I looked into Recaro, and I almost **** myself when I saw the prices for them...

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

CF racing seats can go for $2000+ which is ridiculous

theres some with a Civic hatchback here and he has one Sparco seat, sticks out when you have just 1. that guy that posted the crazy Lexus in the member rides section had one red Bride seat i think it was and it stuck out really bad

anywho back to insurance i guess getting your exhaust fully done counts as a major performance mod, i was considering getting a 3" straightpipe after i go turbo so if i decide to tell about the turbo i would have to tell out the exhaust too. Currently i have a Magnaflow but its not all the way

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Exhaust systems, at least catbacks anyway, don't really count for much, because the gains you see are minimal. If you pull the cat and tell them, that's a whole 'nother story altogether.

Now, if you're running full on turbo with modded manifolds and a 3" exhaust, I'm pretty sure they'll figure it out once you've told them you turbocharged the car. They work with this stuff every day.

8675309v2

got to make sure you cover every angle

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

wut?

HIMax

Sounds like you answered your own question and helped educate the rest of us in the process. I guess the bottom line just do what you are most comfortable with. It turned out better for you in this case, but even if the premium is higher, you have to decide what is worth it to you. If you can easily replace the parts you installed or frequently change setups, a traditional policy may be best, but if you're driving your dream machine a custom policy may be the solution.

Thanks for the update and info from your agent. Who is your policy carrier?

Rydicule

Wow, what is this nonsense?

Secretly turbocharging maximas? Please. Insurance companies don't care.

Hypothetical: You turbocharge your car and don't tell your insurance. You get into an accident the next day. OMG YOUR ADJUSTER FINDS THE TURBO!!!1!1!!one!!

He shrugs his shoulders, cuts you a check for the book value of your car and walks away. If you want to fight him the cost of the ruined turbo anyway, this is where it will depend on the company. Many will tell you too bad, so sad, should have declared it. Others will pay for it, sometimes with conditions of proving you bought it.

Unless it is WRITTEN into the copy of your auto policy that you must inform the company of major modifications, they cannot deny you coverage. Even if it is written in your policy, no company worth their weight in **** will deny you coverage because of a turbo on a 1992 maxima.

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

Allstate. Its confusing but I would get all the same coverage benefits, deductibles, and all. Though you can do the whole receipt route, They said the ticket is having an Auto Appraisal with the value you want to cover. Because you can cover all you want but they still may not pay that out if theres nothing beind it.

###

idk about mods being covered but i have full on both maximas and the aultima and around 600- 700 for 6 months it will go up cuz a wreck with aultima