You’ve got a classic car that fills you with so much joy, and you don’t want it to sit inside a garage all the time. It’s unlikely to be your daily driver, though you’ll probably take it out on the weekends now and then. As a result, you still need to insure it – but what’s the best way to do that?
What normally goes down is you hit the usual price comparison websites and compare quotes from the regular providers. It works for your main car, so why wouldn’t it work here? Well, insurance companies view classic cars differently because they’re older. Rather than going down the traditional route, you should opt for genuine classic car insurance. It might sound like a bit of a con or just one of those things that’s the same as normal car insurance, only it has a different name.
In reality, if you want to drive your classic car and keep it protected, classic car insurance is the best way to go about it.
The Differences Between Classic & Regular Car Insurance
Classic car insurance providers might have slightly different classifications, but most will deem your car a “classic” if it is:
- 20 years or older
- Not your daily driver
- Usually travels under 5,000 miles
When you put car details like this through a regular insurance comparison site, it doesn’t always factor in the car’s classic value. It just sees it as an old car – and that impacts your premiums. You’ll often end up with stupidly high quotes, and here’s why:
Classic Insurance Gives Your Car A Fixed Value
Because your car is older, it could be worth a decent amount of money. Car insurance providers don’t care about that; if you write off your vehicle in an accident, your insurance provider will pay its market value at the time. You best believe they undervalue your classic car, so you get less money than it’s worth.
The big difference with classic car insurance providers is that they agree on your car’s value when you take out the policy. They don’t lowball you either; they often get second and third opinions to provide a true value if the vehicle is written off. This stays the same throughout your policy and gives you as much financial protection as possible.
Most Classic Car Insurers Are Modification-Friendly
Realistically, even if you look after your car as best as you can, you’ll need to make some modifications. Many classic cars were made in the 70s, 80s or 90s, so they’re getting on now. Parts rust, engines fail and this calls for general upkeep. You may have to modify your car with new parts to keep it going – and sometimes these mods are essential for the car to pass an MOT test.
This creates a problem for your usual car insurance providers: they hate mods.
Regardless of whether you’re making positive modifications to improve the car’s safety, a normal insurer will see this and ramp up your premiums. With dedicated classic car insurance, modifications are expected. These insurers know that a classic car needs to be tweaked, so they won’t raise your premium just because you replaced the exhaust or modified the engine to be safer in a modern environment.
Classic Cars Need Key Cover
What happens if you lose the key to your modern car? Not a lot, to be honest. You usually get given a spare set anyway – and replacements aren’t that costly. But what if you lose a set of keys for a classic car – or worse, they break?
Suddenly, this becomes much harder to deal with as classic car keys can be difficult to replace or repair. Depending on the car you’ve got, replacements could cost over £1000! What’s more, even your usual comprehensive car insurance won’t cover broken or lost keys; most either don’t cover this at all, or only cover stolen keys.
This is, again, something that classic car insurance thinks about and covers for you. It’s easy to add key cover to a policy like this, whereas regular insurance providers won’t even include it as an option.
When Classic Car Insurance Doesn’t Make Sense
Should every single classic car be insured this way? No. It doesn’t make sense in a couple of situations:
- Your classic car is the only car you drive
- You drive over 6,000 miles a year in it
In either of these cases, classic car insurers won’t always take you on, and it can be just as affordable to get regular insurance anyway. That’s mainly because you’re driving your car too much – classic insurance is mainly for very low-mileage classic vehicles.
On that note, you should now know how to insure your classic car, and what type of insurance makes the most sense given your situation.