Finding Classic car insurance
Posted by Carl King - 29/11/06 at 09:11 amMy Wife and I bought a 68 VW from our neighbor. I knew the car qualified for classic car insurance since it was a 68 so I called Geico. They said they no longer offer classic car insurance and had deferred to a subcontractor to return my call. They never did call back. I had to call them to find this out.
I decide to shop the internet for the best insurance rate. There really are a lot of odd requirements to classic car insurance, and each of these oddities seems to be unique to each classic car insurance company. I found a classic car insurance company that had an online quote tool at Classic Auto Insurance. The online tool gave me a rate of $101 for the 68 bug and my 64 Impala on the same policy with the same coverage levels as our daily drivers with Geico.
That’s a good deal because it saves me almost $200 a year and covers both cars.
A bit about the car.
The car was in excellent driving condition, had receipts in the glovebox for all kinds of work, brakes, front end, etc so I thought it was a good deal for $500. It ran but barely. Even though the engine was fairly clean it was running like it needed some work. No biggy for me.
I fixed the engine problem. It turned out to be a loose intake manifold and the alternator and battery were bad. The alternator wasn’t charging, and the battery wasn’t holding a charge. I removed the intake manifold, cleaned and painted it, then put it back on. Even though the VW originally came with a generator, someone had converted it to an alternator. I found a local electrical shop that had a replacement on the shelf, installed it, and ran to Sears to get a new battery.
Now it runs like new. We are calling it our “date car”. We’ll probably drive it on weekends for trips to the coffee shop, bookstore, movies, and who knows what else.
Look around and you'll find articles on my 64 Impala restoration activities, how-to articles, a motor book section, and product reviews.