I'm about to get my baby legal again and think I'll go for collector insurance for a low rate since I don't plan on driving much (especially now that gas prices topped $2/gallon). Any recommendations (American collectors was suggested by a local agent who couldn't help, and their rates look great).

I'm not sure if they'll require an "official" appraisal and have no clue of the value, but at this point I just want a piece of paper to show the DMV commandos. The car's decent (not missing anything), but I really don't know if the #s match. It ran great when it was driven regularly until I decided it was time to give it a rest.

Maybe just regular car insurance, insuring it as a second or occasional use car would be the way to go. My insurance company insured my Ely, including collision and comprehensive for a low rate. Extra value insurance costs more, but is it worth it? I can get book value for my car if I have a claim, as is.
Eric

Go for the classic car insurance. I went through Grundy Worldwide Insurance (http://www.grundy.com/). They are in all states and I think can even quote you over the Internet.

I'm not sure if they'll require an "official" appraisal and have no clue of the value, but at this point I just want a piece of paper to show the DMV commandos I did NOT require an "official" appraisal. Just an agreed upon value. I set the value myself. You can probally come up with a pretty close accurate price. I have not had my Elky appraised, so I just put a value of 10K. My insurance for that amount runs under $300 a year.

There are only a few limitations. One, I can not use as my main car to drive back and forth to work (you must show that you have another car), I have to garage it, and no one under 25 can drive it. Other than that, no other limitations.

With regular insurance, the value of a '70 El Camino is probally going to be an insult to you if you need to file even a minor claim.

I saw your web site. Hope that Elky looks that way again now, if not, real soon!

It works for me. Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck.

A good friend had 5 cars with American Collectors and raved about them. I've used Hagarty for about 5 years & they've been good to me. And Grundys has a good rep too. So.... call each and ask questions about their limitations & specific requirements. Each company is slightly different and one may work better for you than the other. When I was insurance shopping, the biggest problem I had was the annual mileage limitation that several companies impose.

And what part of LI are U from. I left in 1971 to see the world. Spent my impressionable youth about 8 miles due south of Haupauge in Islip Terrace.

Any idea on the age limit of Hagerty or American Collectors? i would like something a bit more collector oriented because my insurance just about died when they heard my elky was hit. Somebody hit me in Feb. and i still have to pound out the dent and repaint the tailgate.

I've used Grundy for years on all my collector cars. You tell them the amount you want to insure your car for. The terms of the policy don't allow you to drive it as an "everyday" car. However if you did drive it to work and got into an accident you could tell them you were driving to a repair shop, road testing or something like that. I'm sure they would pay the claim but they might not renew the policy. I think they are pretty reasonable, four collector cars for less than $1100 a year.

I HAVE HAGERTY W/ MY 70 CAMINO. I HAVE A $20,000 POLICY WITH MY PAYMENT ONLY $175 A YEAR. I CALLED TOLD THEM ABOUT THE CAR-MODS-BODY WORK ETC. AND THEY CAME UP WITH THE FIGURE. I WAS MORE SHOCKED W/ THE AMOUNT THAT THEY VALUED MY CAMINO.

Thanks for the referrals and advice. I knew I could put in back on my regular auto policy, but didn't want the "book value" if anything terrible happened....and I also don't want to pay a higher premium for less coverage (and my business pays for my daily car -- I'll be paying for the EC). The mileage isn't a problem....I put less than 5K a year on my daily driver (work from home, so the commute is excellent). I tried getting the accountant to leave the EC on the business name, but they weren't going for it when I leased another car (I thought having it cherried out on the business's dime would be just fine .... a big ol' billboard, eh?).

And....to answer the Long Island question....I was raised in Northport, but lived all over Long Island (and the country) after I was of legal age (early 1980s). The El Camino was found in California and was only on the LI roads for a couple of years before I put it away for safekeeping (got tired of bottoming out on LI roads and couldn't afford the gas to commute). It doesn't look quite as good as that picture, but very close. It could use a repaint (it's still original Midnight Blue metallic but my cousin wasn't expert enough on his bargain repaint) and has various little mechanical problems. However, it was good enough to come to life with a roar with only a new battery after being ignored for 2-3 years. Friends couldn't believe I didn't need to use starting fluid and replace gaskets, and didn't have a single fluid leak. That's what I call a dependable car!

Hope this is not a repost...my first post took but then did not show up. Anyway one more time.

The value of these cars are really going up. Have you seen a price for a clean 67-69 Camaro lately? Forget about a RS, SS or Z/28 they are all over 20K. The 3rd gen Elky's are not far behind. Look at this link to a local consignment dealer in my area for a price of the few Elky's he has in stock. http://californiaclassics.com/showroom.asp

I have to have mine appraised and get the special insurance also.

I have mine with AON(formerly K&K).

I like not having any milage or usage restriction. Agreed value coverage, Car has to be garage kept and you must have another registered vehicle for your primary transportation. It cost me less than liability alone with regular companies.


http://www.aoncollectorcar.com/

I have my El Camino insured for $8,000, no deductible, $300,000 liability, uninsured motorist $55,000, no milage restriction, personal injury protection, all for $86 a year! Think I will increase my value, I got this policy 10 years ago and the cost has never gone up. The company is JC Taylor - www.classicautoinsurance.com

Go for the classic car insurance. I went through Grundy Worldwide Insurance (http://www.grundy.com/). They are in all states and I think can even quote you over the Internet.

I'm not sure if they'll require an "official" appraisal and have no clue of the value, but at this point I just want a piece of paper to show the DMV commandos I did NOT require an "official" appraisal. Just an agreed upon value. I set the value myself. You can probally come up with a pretty close accurate price. I have not had my Elky appraised, so I just put a value of 10K. My insurance for that amount runs under $300 a year.

There are only a few limitations. One, I can not use as my main car to drive back and forth to work (you must show that you have another car), I have to garage it, and no one under 25 can drive it. Other than that, no other limitations.

With regular insurance, the value of a '70 El Camino is probally going to be an insult to you if you need to file even a minor claim.

I saw your web site. Hope that Elky looks that way again now, if not, real soon!

It works for me. Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck.

Grundy turned me down on my 74 for saying it might be used for errands.

I have American Collectors and yes they have limits on the vehicles. Pretty much the same limits the previous person posted are the limits I have. No mileage limits, no deductables, agreed value. You must own another car and the Elky cannot be your primary vehicle and you must be over 25 years old and it must be garage kept.