Organise agreed value insurance

Valuing a modern that has met its doom is simple; there are many similar cars, the trade values them accurately and what the insurer needs to pay is obvious.

It’s not so clear with classic cars. Condition varies, there may be few comparable examples, plus history, sentimental attachment – hell, even the fact that it was the last one made in lime green with purple goatskin upholstery – all skew the value. Besides, what’s important is its worth to you because you weren’t intending to sell.

What you need, then, is what every specialist classic-car insurer offers: an agreed-value policy. You decide what your car is worth, you send photographs so the insurer can check that valuation is reasonable, you agree not to exceed a certain mileage during the year, and you’re insured. If the car is written-off, the agreed value is paid. And, depending on the policy, you might even get to keep what’s left of it.

There can be conditions and complications, though. The insurer might ask for an independent valuation and proof that the car is kept securely overnight. The greatest contention comes with ‘modern classics’, for which mileage restrictions – 3000 is typical – discourage use as a daily driver even though the car can handle such use. Business use, too, is rarely covered.

The paradox is that people who choose a modern classic over a mere modern for all their driving might want their much-loved, well-looked-after car to be covered at an agreed value. But such cover is all but impossible to obtain, so cover is at ‘market value’, which can be deemed very low if there’s still a sizeable number of tatty examples of the model around to drag values down.

In the event of a claim the onus is on the owner to prove their car is worth more – via photos, records of work, references and classifieds. Precisely the hassle that agreed-value insurance is meant to avoid. An opportunity for an enterprising broker?