Ok, I went crazy yesterday.

I recently blew a large sum of dough on lifting my truck. I wanted to make sure that it would be protected by my insurance in case of a collision. So, I changed my coverage from liability to full coverage. I have AAA So CA as an insurance provider.

I went down to their place and went to have my truck inspected and ask a few questions.
I asked if suspension kits were covered and the lady started flipping out on me.

"We don't ensure dune buggy's, we are very conservative here and only insure street cars"

I went on to explain that I went to great lengths to ensure that my vehichle was street and smog legal. I also explained that it is primarily a daily driver and estimate 10 percent of the driving to be offroad (Actually closer to 25, but who's keeping track). She started ranting again.

" We aren't going to cover shocks and spark plugs...all cars have those"

So after some convincing the adjuster came out to look at my truck, after a huff and a giggle she finally gives in and takes some photos. Then she places her clipboard between my fiberglass fender (Raised 4" over stock) and my 33" tire.

"Barely, I'll let it slide"

What the &*(^%$ is she measuring that has nothing to do with anything. Then she took me inside and told me that she didn't think any of that would be covered, but to keep all my recipts just in case (DUH!!!) Then she asked if I wanted to insure the camper shell. I explain it's an SUV, then she calls me crazy....it's a truck. Then I explain it has a rear seat and removable "Camper shell" like a jeep....and she concludes that it is a van. I wish I had whatever she was smoking.

I don't want to insure my vehicle if I am only going to get blue book (4.000 - 4500) if I wreck it. I have 5,000 in the front end, 1,000 in exhaust and intake, 1,300 in gearing, 1,000 in rims and tires, and probably another 3-4000 in my rear suspension and locker(when I get it done.



So my question here is, What insurance do you extreme offroaders have and will tehy cover our stupid upgrades??? How can I get my insurance company to understand?

I see plenty of more highly modified rigs on the road, and I am sure that they are insured.
Hell, my lift cost a bundle, but it is only 2-3 inches over stock...hardly noticable.


Lastly, my buddy told me that as long as I have full coverage and keep all my recipts, they have to pay me for my upgrades.

Thanks for the help, I think I just pooped out a Ford. I've been stressing so bad. -Seth

 

A VAN?!?!?!?


Wow! That's pretty unbelievable... ha ha hahahahaha

Man, I hope you get that all figured out. That just sucks dude.

 

That's the hard problem about insurring OLD trucks. They'll total it out and write you a check for the KBB value minus deductible for minor yet costly accidents. In my case, my 4Runner is KBB'd at like $1500. Thus it was totally pointless to get full coverage w/ a $500 deductible. I take the chance that I wont total it in the first year and Ill save $1000 in insurance premiums (I pay $500/year for liability insurrance).

Your full coverage insurrance will probably only cover "additional" parts - not replacement parts. So you wont get money for your suspension - thus keep your old stuff so you can swap it out if it gets wrecked. Same goes for gears, exhaust, etc. I said probably though...so dont take that as gospel. However, I bet an insurrence company will fight you pretty hard on parts you replaced not add-ons. I wouldnt be surprised if they hopped on ebay and showed vehicles with similar mods - then cut you a check for what people were getting for them...which isnt much.

My advice is to just get the cheap insurance - pocket the money saved and consider that payment for your mods if you wreck your truck.

 

Don't have any advice, but I'll be keeping an eye on this thread seeing as I need cheap coverage for the truck I just bought....with 8 inches of lift. :pat:

 

What about some type of insurance that would cover the items themselves? Kinda like renters insurance that covers the expensive plasma screen tv and full surround sound system inside a $400/month studio. Not sure where you would find that, but I know that the guys w/classic cars(hot rods/vintage cars) that are worth much more than the "going rate", use a smaller insurance co. that will cover their expensive "old cars" and pay what they are worth instead of what you can get for a 50yr old car.

 

Keep the liability and if it gets totaled (assuming it wasn't your fault), buy it back and part it out.

It'll save you some dough. Speaking of liability, I think it's about time to drop my 4runner's insurance from full coverage.

 

All I can say is wow... the insurance lady is sure proof that there are, in fact, still some stupid people out there that are put on this earth to make the rest of us shake our heads and say what the heck is going on here. sorry, i don't have any advice, but if you figure something out let everyone know. im puttin a bunch of money into mine, but im just keepin liability on it. if i total it, i just pray that my suspension and diffs will be ok.

 

Hmmmm... As mentioned, hot-rodder and muscle car folks can get “agreed value” insurance, but I’ve never heard of that for 4x4. Here are the Yahoo! results I just received.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=agr...web-t-131&tab=

 

here's my theory: insurance companies aren't out to lose money, in fact, they're out to make money. so that means, on average they need to take more money from you than they pay you. so i only ever get the amount of insurace i need to prevent a financial disaster if i lost something. that means, i have the base insurace required by law on my truck. BUT i have a separate savings accout that i put about $100 a month in. if anything happens to my truck that would be covered by better insurance, i pay for it out of that account. this way the evil corporations don't get my money.

granted, it would suck if you totaled your truck right after putting a few grand into it, but would it be a financial disaster (like say losing your house in a fire)? if you could relatively easily get by with the loss, you shouldn't really have insurance on it (just make sure that you set aside the money to help out if you need it - much better than giving it to someone else)

 

I agree Mike. Get out your check book if you want “agreed value” insurance. You're better off putting the money into theft prevention measures and driving very defensively with a big bull bar.

 

Gee and I was proud to call mine one of the last of the "trucks"

If you have a big prob like that and you want it insured there's always Lloyd's of London (and yup, they'll still insure just about anything).

That lady is an idiot.

 

Wont your insurance add a Ryder for the added equipment cost to cover loss and theft, kinda like added insurance for your home by listing out all the equipment and jewelry and other kinds of things in case or fire or total loss.
but I don't know maybe its time to call a few other insurance companies Prices vary so much its amazing I know when I tried to get a motorcycle added to my policy my insurance lady actually said you may want to shop around cause she knew they didn't offer the best rates on motorcycles (honesty is hard top find in this business), I got varried rates from double to triple what I am currently paying per year and it even has added insurance for what you bolt onto the bike. Also this is from a insurance company I been using for many year and have multicars and my home insurance through. So I say call around get soem quotes.

 

she sounds hot!

 

I believe I would have walked after the doon buggy remark. It wouldn't have been worth my time to stand and listen to some lady who doesn't know a thing about automobiles and only knows how to fill out a form to put info about the car.

It seems they (the ho's) were just yanking you around and seeing how far they could push you and insult your rig, stupid old bats. Are you sure you weren't in Houston? That's how the people there are, mean and stupid.

I would just get the cheapest liability you can, then sock away the difference between that and full coverage. In a year, you'll have saved up enough to cover about everything. you guys in other states are lucky, Texas has a really high premium for substandard coverage. I'm kind of anxious to see how SC is on insurance.

 

Look at Progressive Insurance. They allow you to cover custom equipment. Of course the more coverage you ask for, the higher the rate, but that's better than NADA or KBB value.

 

So I take it that the guys here with full coverage has slight modifications on newer vehichles. And the guys with liability have old beaters (like mine) with more modifications. And the rest are somewhere in between.

I have another appointment on tuesday, so I'll keep you all posted. Thanks for the words of advice.

Hell, I might pack my money away just to screw the system.

-Seth

 

Yep...

if [deductible + (full-coverage - liability costs per year)] > cost of vehicle OR close to it after a couple years.

Then
Save the money and drive safely. Remember if someone hits you - you can sue for damages. So unless you screw up...you're good to go

 

I've never found a female insurance adjuster that knew crap about cars, much less 4x4s and definitely didn't understand the need for one and the whole testosterone thing. Shop around for another insurance company, get liability and make sure you get a competent male adjuster!

You can add riders to cover custom parts, but not worth it on a truck that old especially one you are going to beat on.

Best bet is just have a trail rig and a daily driver and don't even bother with insurance on the trail rig and pocket the extra cash saved for a rainy day!

 

Ok, here's an update on what i did,

My 4runner would be close to 2000.oo with full coverage and they wouldn't give me all the money for my upgrades, because upgrades lose thier value just like vehichles. And with people determining the value of something they don't understand in the first place, I figure that's not a worthy route.

I ended up getting liability plus some theft protection. The total as like 1300.00 OUCH I know. But I have one speeding ticket where I bounced over the center divide and ran into a winchell's and killed 5 cops, so it's understandable. J/K but I do have one sppeding ticket and they pointed out that I did 16,000 miles last year and only 12,000 is allowed.

I plan to buy another vehicle as a daily driver to spread out the miles, plus it is cheaper to pay for two than just one car.....multiple car discount. So that's the skinny.

 

wait, insurance is allowed to cap your mileage???

uh oh... im over 15K and i still have 3 weeks till a year.