How to Get Insurance on a Sports Car

Getting insurance on a sports car or collector car is much like the process of getting insurance on a regular passenger vehicle. You provide information on yourself, your car and your area, and the insurance company gives you a price.

 However, the special nature of sports cars means that not all insurance companies want to offer sports car policies.

On the other hand, there are numerous companies that specialize in insuring classic, collector, exotic, and sports cars. These specialty insurers can offer a great degree of customization to meet your specific needs.

Choosing between Specialty Insurance and Conventional Insurance

Gather information about your sports car. This will include make, model and year. Typically, a new or late model stock sports car would not qualify for specialty insurance, but that’s not an ironclad rule.

 Some models are exotic enough that they qualify even if they are of recent model year.
You can research approximate values for your collector car in several places.

Estimate the number of miles you will drive the car per year. If you drive your sports car daily, you should probably look for conventional insurance. Companies that specialize in insuring collector cars typically don’t like to insure a daily driver.

The reason for this is that the value of a collector car is agreed upon by the insurer and you. In other words, it’s a negotiation. If you put a lot of miles on a car with collector value, then it can depreciate in value.

Determine if your car will qualify for collector’s insurance. As you might expect, specialty auto insurers have their own criteria to determine whether or not they will insure your car.

 If you qualify, the specialty insurers will typically insure your car for a lower premium than a conventional insurer. While the specific insurance companies may have requirements that differ, they generally include:

Driver’s requirements, such as having a good driving history, being older than 25, and owning another car for a daily driver.

Usage requirements, such as mileage limitations, storage in a locked garage, and not being used as a general use vehicle.

Automobile requirements, such as being kept in good condition and degree of modification—racing vehicles and some hot-rods will need to carry a different kind of insurance.

Determine if your car requires racing insurance. If your vehicle is extensively modified and/or you use it for racing at all, you will probably need to get racing-specific insurance. Racing insurance (also called motorsports insurance) is marketed differently than either conventional or collector’s auto insurance. It is highly specialized, but there are two broad categories:

Off-track insurance, which covers activities not on the track, including street driving, storage, trailering, and transporting.

On-track insurance, which includes any type of racing activities. This includes policies that specifically cover drag racing, injuries to spectators, Porsche Club Racing, sponsor liability, participant liability, and many others. If you plan on racing, you should confer with the licensing body and your insurer to determine what’s best for you.

Picking an Insurer

Get your information together. Unless you insure your sports car with your current insurer, you will need to gather various pieces of information about yourself and your car, including:
Make, model, and year.

Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), which can be found on the dashboard or doorjamb.
Name, contact information, age, Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers for all of the vehicle’s drivers.

Information on where you store the vehicle
An approximate current valuation of the vehicle.

Request estimates from at least 3 different insurance providers for insurance on your sports car. Doing this online is probably quicker than getting quotes directly from the insurers.
Work with specialty insurance companies for your other estimates. These companies specialize in insuring sports, collectible and vintage cars. They understand that your relationship with your sports car is different from your relationship with a commuter car, and will treat your sports car policy accordingly.
Some of the larger specialty collector insurers are Grundy, Hagerty, and Heacock.

Look carefully at the valuation method listed for each sports car policy you consider. When you get insurance on your sports car, the valuation method says a lot about how much good the policy will do you.
"Actual Cash Value" will assign a value to your sports car at the time of your loss. Your insurance company makes this decision with no input from you, and they will usually incorporate depreciation into the value, negating the unique value of your car as a collector's item.

"Stated Value" bases the value of your car on a value you set. You must provide justification for this value, (based on appraisals, rarity, condition, prizes in car shows, among other metrics) when you buy your sports car policy.

"Agreed Value" sets the value of your sports car policy based on a negotiation between you and the company when you sign up for your coverage. This is a pure negotiation. The insurance company has a value, you have a value, and based on persuasiveness and willingness to compromise, you agree on a consensus value.

Keeping Costs Down

Bundle your coverage. Talk with the company that provides you with the rest of your insurance, such as a homeowner's policy, renter's insurance, or insurance for your regular cars. The company may offer a multiple-policy discount, which may or may not make it competitive with specialty insurers.

Even if the premium for the collector car might be a little higher than other insurers, you might get a discount on the other policies that compensate for it.

Agree to usage restrictions on your sports car to reduce the price of your policy. If you agree in advance with your insurer to keep your car out of riskier situations, they will typically agree to lower the premium. Some common restrictions include:

Mileage limitations. Accepting a mileage limitation means you'll agree not to drive the car more than a certain number of miles per year. A car that's on the road less is less likely to get into a collision.
Most policies limit mileage for collectors to 3500 miles per year.

Driving only in car shows and rallies. That's going to mean that you'll need to trailer it when you take it from show to show, which will also mean that you'll probably need a specific policy for transportation.

It probably won't be very much, but you'll want to keep it in mind.
Specific methods for maintaining and storing your vehicle, such as keeping it garage kept and installing a security system. You’ll want to make sure that these specifications match how you want to care for your vehicle.

Agree to a higher deductible. If you're concerned about the monthly premium, you can always agree to pay pay a higher deductible. The deductible is the amount of money that you personally pay in the event of a covered occurrence before the insurer has to pay.

So if you get into an accident that costs $2000 total, if you have a $500 deductible, you'll pay $500 while the insurer will pay $1500.

Buy a policy that covers less. Like a conventional insurance policy, a policy for an exotic car will have many coverage options, from liability only to full coverage plus roadside assistance.

Many owners might determine that options like roadside assistance aren't worth the extra money, especially if there are stringent usage restrictions on the policy already.

Other owners, who won't be driving their vehicle, might only want to purchase comprehensive coverage.

Accept a lower valuation. Before you and the insurer actually enter into a policy, you will need to come to an agreement about the value of your car.

While it's easy to determine the value of a new car, exotic cars, sports cars, and classic cars are more difficult to value. If you are comfortable with the risk, you can accept a lower valuation in order to keep your monthly premium down.