Project car insurance?
 

(Can't seem to find a better forum for this, mods can move if they like.)

The really simple form: does anyone insure project cars as assets, not as vehicles?

I have a '60s muscle car that was torn to components a few years ago, and is presently a fully restored and painted shell with suspension, brakes, and a somewhat temporarily installed driveline. The rest of its parts, all new or restored, are waiting in boxes for me to finish putting back together this big Revell kit. Assembled value will be in the neighborhood of $35-40k; I'd accept less as a current insured value. It's completely non-op and won't see a road for at least a year, probably a bit longer. (I don't get much wrench time these days.)

I carried it as a cheap addition ($100 or so a year) on my regular insurance for these past non-op years, but I recently switched to Progressive and they don't cover non-op, unregistered vehicles.

So I called Hagerty. I think they'll approve the underwriting but want nearly $250 for the year, which is almost entirely based on liability insurance and a household of two sharing one driver.

So I called Grundy. Sure, no problem, $106 for the year... declined by underwriting because it's not complete enough and each driver in the household doesn't have a dedicated vehicle.

Mainstream insurers like State Farm and Farmers are often generous in this respect, but only as an extra vehicle on a standard policy with other cars.

So... does anyone write a fairly cheap asset-only policy for things like a project car? I don't need liability. I don't need comp or collision, per se. I just need some assurance that if a meteorite hits the garage or someone steals it I will get something like my value back. (It's actually irreplaceable; I am original owner on it. But $25k would buy a lot of beer to cry in.)

I'm in Colorado, for what that's worth.

Midwest (Modern Insurance) insured mine while I was building it. Didn't seem to pose them any problem. It probably wouldn't hurt to play 20 questions with them about the coverage. Modern is one of the major antique car insurance providers. Robin is the main guy at Midwest for the Cobra crowd.

Thanks! Do you have a link? Searches turn up everything except an auto insurer.

Midwest Classic Insurance

Of course each State has different rules on insurance so I can't be sure they can cover you in Colorado.

Thanks. Not surprising they don't show up in web searches... I'm not sure Google recognizes that as a web site. :D

And... Midwest joins the crowd that won't insure a project vehicle unless each licensed driver in the household has a dedicated vehicle.

I guess Hagerty gets the business, if they'll end up actually taking it. Good thing I'll have that liability coverage in case the car falls on someone's foot.

(And now I can say that I haven't seen a website that ugly since GeoCities closed down. :D)

Too bad as Midwest has been good. We don't have an issue with a driver without a dedicated vehicle but I also don't recall that question arising. But I've also found that variances in insurance coverage from area to area are often due to State insurance laws and regulations so that may be a factor.