Bro - Stated Value is not nearly the same policy as Agreed Value. - read the posters above you that explain the diff e r ence. If you,have State Amount you have a much inferior policy to Agreed Value. Hate to,see you find that out on a claim situation. Especially a brother six pack owner.
I have an "agreed to" value on my cars and the premiums are based on that value. I am only trying to say that it really don't matter much what "was" agreed to when you have a claim. Most will try to say......Yeah, we agree that the value of your car was blah, blah, blah, but that was a couple years ago. You drove it 3000 miles since then and now it is only worth blah blah. Years ago I had a 84 Eldorado Barritz with under 10K miles and had it insured for an agreed amount of $12,000.00. When it got stolen, somehow now it was only worth $5500.00. I was not able to sue them or anything. The only option I had was to use an arbitrator. Somewhere I read that Insurance companies own 2/3rds of the wealth of this country. They didn't get that by playing fair. I have that warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that my 68 Charger has an "agreed to value" of 89K. However, like I said, I hope I never have to find out if it is valid. My biggest worry is if it gets stolen or burns up in a fire.
I hate to disagree with you but you must have had stated amount if they only wanted to pay you $5500 for your eldorado. Agreed Value they would not have argued and paid the $12k. If your Charger has $89k that's what they'll pay you in the event of a theft or total loss. I work for those big insurance companies that your so fond of and have for 35 years. I know the drill. Just trying to help......
You can agree or disagree all you want. I am only stating my experience with the few claims I have had. I now have American Family for my homeowners and daily drivers. Haven't had any claims except for a couple windshields which they paid for. I know there are good and bad in every business out there. It has been a lot of years since I lost that damn Eldorado and all I remember is they wanted pictures of both sides, front and back. Under the hood and interior before they would insure it for what I had in it. Once they had the pictures and Odometer verification, they agreed that it had collector status and had no problem insuring it for $12,000.00. Two years later with still under 10K miles it got stolen when I drove it to a Sears store for some R12 freon for it. Gone 15 minutes and it went missing. Back in the late 90s before there was a camera everywhere. The police were called and reports filled out APB's out in every direction. A year later I still owed over $6,000.00 on it and settled for the $5500.00 just to get out from under it. It never was found. I don't remember what company it was but they were in Michigan. That was the only car I had insured with them so when they let me down, that was the end of them for me. So, Yeah, not too fond of any of them. They are a necessary evil but I don't trust em. Like I tell everyone, they are good when the premium is due but hang on when you need them. Maybe your company is better and or things have changed but to me, it is just like a length of chain. Only as good as the weakest link.
Ranger, Like I said in my last post, I don't remember the name of the company. Only that they were located in Michigan. My wife don't remember what it was either. This happened back in the 90's and I remember a bunch of phone calls to them with nothing but excuses about why they wouldn't pay. What I remember the most is the pain of making payments for over a year on a car I no longer had and then losing close to $8,000.00 on top of it. At the time, I thought I was insured for the total value because they had no trouble charging me monthly premiums for the total value of the car. I chalked it up as having the car stolen twice by two different thieves. My point is, Just because you paid the premiums and believe you are covered for total loss, it is not necessarily so. Read the fine print or better yet, have a good lawyer decipher it for ya or bear the consequences. There are shysters everywhere. Probably more now than ever. Everyone says there is a difference between stated value and agreed value. I agree with that. However, I believe if an insurance company charges you premiums on your stated value, then they should be agreeing to that value.
I hear ya Mike. I hope you never have to deal with it either. It's nice to have that warm and fuzzy feeling that you are protected. A lot of guys don't like Hagerty because of their prices and opt for a cheaper company. I sometimes wonder if that is a good idea. Everyone likes a better deal but you don't always get what you signed up for.
