Classic Car Insurance Basics for Dummies

Classic Car Insurance - A Beginners Guide For New Classic Owners
By Dave Healey

If you've just bought your first classic car you will need to consider not just where, but also how you are going to insure it.

As a classic car owner it matters not if you drive a perfect condition Ford Capri 3 litre from 1970, a beat up old Morris Minor from the Sixties or a sleek E-type Jaguar in British racing green, it is essential that you find the best classic car insurance cover for your cherished motor, that covers your individual risks at prices that won't break the bank!

If you have not owned a classic car before it is important to realise that there are basic differences between what is known as a standard car insurance policy and the cover offered under one defined as classic, from a specialist car insurer.

The first thing to establish is whether your car is eligible for cover under a classic policy. One way you could do this is ask the previous owner whether it was covered under a classic car insurance policy and with which insurance company.

Different car insurance companies have different definitions of the age and type of vehicles that can be covered under this type of cover.

What might be easily covered with one provider may be excluded by another. Fortunately most online classic car cover providers provide this information on the first page of their websites, so it is fairly easy to surf around and check your eligibility with different insurance companies.

You should check that both the eligibility of the age of the car in question and also whether there are policy restrictions for your individual driving circumstances, such as your age that would prevent you from applying for cover.

The major variation between a standard policy and those offered by the classic car specialists is in the way that you use your classic vehicle, and in particular, how much you drive it. The large mainstream insurers and price comparison sites will offer cover for older cars but will charge an additional premium because of its age. They will also load the premium if replacement parts for the vehicle type are known to be expensive.

More importantly you will only be offered the current market value replacement if the car is covered under a mainstream policy and is deemed to be a write-off when you claim.

With a standard car insurance policy on a replacement like for like basis, the value of the car is often set by the market value at the time of a claim, typically taken from one of the car price magazines such as the UK's Glasses Guide. The amount you will be probably receive for a write-off will be at the current market value of your car which is an annual depreciating amount. Inevitably, if you own a classic car and insure it under a standard policy contract, this leads to under valuation and under insurance of the true value of the car. You will also probably not be offered the salvage and a repairable classic car may often be deemed a write-off because the cost of repair is uneconomic to the Insurer.

If you purchase a specialist classic car policy you will be offered a choice of either an agreed valuation of the classic cars worth or a policy based on market value.

An agreed valuation amount is the amount that the insurance company will pay out in the event of a claim that results in a write off. This is a major benefit of insuring classics under specialist policies because it ensures that you are not just properly covered but will also receive the specialist repair services that your classic will require should you claim. It should be noted that even agreed valuation polices can change and you should ensure that the value is guaranteed for a certain period of time to avoid fluctuations in market values.

Classic Car insurance polices are therefore tailored to the needs of cars considered to be collectable and effectively the valuation is a rating factor for the condition of the car.

The other major difference between standard and classic policies is in the way that you are allowed to use your car under the terms of the agreement. Originally this type of vehicle insurance was designed for drivers who do not use their classic cars much.

All classic car policies have a limited mileage clause which only covers the vehicle for an agreed amount of miles per year. Depending upon which specialist car insurance company you use, there will be a limit to how far you can drive your classic. Some providers will only cover a couple of thousand miles per year under the policy, but many specialist providers are now offering cover up to ten thousand miles per year. These policies reflect the fact that many drivers now use modern day classic cars as their main form of transport.



As with all car insurance it is important to compare both covers and prices when shopping around. There are many specialist classic insurance providers available online today and many specialist schemes that are targeted at particular classic owners.
Compare Classic Car Insurance premiums offered by these with those from the price comparison sites, but if you want to avoid disappointment if you need to make a claim, be sure to understand the difference in policy covers.

The Internet has made it very easy to compare specialist Classic Car Insurance that was previously only available from specialist car insurance brokers on the high street. You can find those offering special deals and bespoke schemes for your particular classic by searching for your model type classic car insurance.

Original Article:

The Austin Healey 3000 is Fifty Years Old! - Classic Car Insurance

Austin Healey Celebrates Fifty Years

Donald Healey the designer of the Austin Healey range led an amazing life.
He was born in Perranporth in Cornwall in 1898 and worked for a while with Tommy Sopwith on early aircraft development such as the Sopwith Pup. During the First World War, he became one of the first pilots to join the newly formed Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the present day RAF, and immediately saw action over France.



He became the first person to make a wireless broadcast from a plane and later designed the first aircraft radio made by his own Perraphone Company. Between the wars he returned to his beloved Cornwall and started to develop hand built cars in his Perranporth garage, before moving up to new premises in Warwick in the heart of the UK car manufacturing region, The West Midlands, where 20 hand built cars were produced. Donald became a prolific racing driver and in 1931 he won the Monte Carlo Rally.

He took a prototype of what was to become Austin Healey 100 to the 1952 London Motor Show in Earls Court where Leonard Lord the then boss at Austin Motors, took one look at the beautiful Austin Healey 100, and said to Healey, "We can make them!" The rest is history and the Austin Healey 100 was born. They were called 100's because they could exceed 100mph and a six cylinder version was produced - the Austin Healey 100/6s.

Austin started production of the first Austin Healey 3000 with their distinctive grills, exactly fifty years ago in 1959. They were sleeker and much more powerful than the 100’s and became an immediate hit with UK sports car fans and became a best seller.

The 3000 eventually became the MkIII which had the luxury of wind-up windows, a convertible top, 124 bhp and was capable of 120mph.
The Healey 3000 became world famous as a competition car, and two women drivers, Pat Moss and Anne Wisdom were amongst those who won many trophies driving them.

The Austin Healey 3000 was produced from 1959 up until the model being discontinued in 1967, Over 40,000 cars were made with the cost of the final production car in 1967 being GBP 1,106. today a similar car in good condition will set you back in excess of GBP 35,000!

Car-Insurance.TV is honoured to be able to offer the cheapest Austin Healey Car Insurance available in the UK through the official Austin Healey Classic Car Insurance Scheme. We are proud to help keep this car on the road for at least another fifty years!

For more information on the excellent insurance covers offered for classic Healeys visit:
Austin Healey Insurance
Sports Car Insurance

New Classic Car Insurance Products

Classic Car Insurance Company Launches New Specialist Policies

The UK's leading online classic car insurance company Car-Insurance.tv has announced the launch of classic car policies designed to offer cheaper cover for women driver insurance and young drivers with age and gender related car insurance schemes.

PRLog (Press Release)- Aug 04, 2009 - Online UK classic car insurance comparison company Car-Insurance.tv ( http://www.car-insurance.tv ) has announced the launch of a range of new products and schemes specifically aimed at young drivers, lady drivers and senior drivers who own classic and collectors cars.

Marketing Director Dave Healey said, "Our online classic car insurance comparison system, is the largest in the UK and is particularly designed to make large premium savings with cheaper premiums for owners of classic and collectors cars."
"We are particularly good at finding you the best cover by your car type make and model, with our car marque insurance schemes, however many of these schemes did not offer tailored cover for women, older and young drivers."

"We recently undertook a survey and comprehensive review of our online customers which has revealed to us that we were missing out on some large segments of the market, in particular classic car insurance covers for young, old and lady drivers. The addition of the new products means we can now provide a much better Internet experience for these groups of people and we can satisfy the buying intentions of more of our customers, which include some large niche segments of the UK car insurance buying population"

Mr Healey added "Our classic car insurance schemes already offered fully comprehensive, all risks policies to young drivers over the age of twenty three. The addition of the new schemes and policies will allow us to offer classic car insurance to drivers aged twenty-one or over.
Many older cheaper cars, which are particularly favoured by this younger age group, are now eligible for classic car insurance cover."

"Our lady and women driver customers will also gain from the introduction of the new classic schemes." Mr Healey stated.
"Statistics have long shown that women drivers make fewer claims than their male counterparts. The survey showed that many of our more expensive performance and sports classic car policy holders were women."
"In order to offer these female drivers the range of covers that are available under standard cover, we have incorporated many classic car insurance schemes and policies that are designed exclusively for women drivers. They offer discounts found on standard covers and a range of benefits including agreed valuations"
"Classic car owners over fifty will also benefit from comparing schemes that offer large discounts for mature drivers with a decent driving history."

More information about all these classic car insurance products can be found on the company's Classic Car Insurance website,