Insurance headache

[RRoller123]

Technically, you are not supposed to use it for commuting, going to get groceries, etc. But you are allowed to drive at any time to attend a show, look for parts, test out a new tuning, or test repairs, installed devices, check tires that you just put air in, etc. So there is always a valid reason for driving it, regardless of the destination. I keep a list of cruise shows and parts stores in the glovebox.

And we are always out just exercising it because they rot if they just sit around. So there really is no issue, but I would NOT go back and forth to work in it, they would likely decline a claim in an accident in that event. "What were you doing out in the fast lane on 128 at 8:15??" But since I am retired, that is not a problem! Hahahah!

I also think there is a requirement that it be GARAGED. I do that anyway, so never paid much attention to that, but that could be very important! I would not try to finagle around that.

[TheBender]

In my market I pay $265 for $11,400 value coverage. I was unaware of the need to be only driving for the need of the car (repairs, parts, shows, etc). I took a quick glance at the policy and it said no coverage if you receive payment for renting or a ride and no coverage if preparing for, or racing. I thought I filled in my expected mileage of 1-200 miles a month but it’s been a few years since I filled all that out. Bottom line is Hagerty is the way to go for sure.

[DieselSpider]

And we are always out just exercising it because they rot if they just sit around. So there really is no issue, but I would NOT go back and forth to work in it, they would likely decline a claim in an accident in that event. "What were you doing out in the fast lane on 128 at 8:15??"

Connecting with the Massachusetts Turnpike for a drive up to a cabin on the Mohawk Trail or a Concert in the Berkshires.

[RRoller123]

Nice! And the average speed on the pike out there is 80. A mere pittance. But traffic is light on that Western section.

It is also a STATE requirement here that antique plated cars only be used for specific purposes, so the issue goes beyond Hagerty. We should all probably check our state regulations, if one has antique plates, as I do.

[aj81spider]

I insure mine (and register it) as a standard car on Amica and they charge me $400. It is my third car, and I get a low mileage discount. As a point of reference for people in other parts of the country, this is about half of what I pay for my primary driver (an Accord). This also keeps me covered under my overall umbrella policy when driving the Fiat.

I could save a few bucks by putting it on inactive status (protects it against theft, but no driving) during the winter, but I never remember to do that.

The pros of this are that anyone can drive the car (Haggarty and the like would not let me let my kids drive us when we go for ice cream) and there are no restrictions on where or when I can use it (I have driven it to work on occasion).

The con is that I don't have an agreed value, so I would likely get less in the event of an accident. This means I might not get back what I've put into the restoration - but I'm never getting that back. It would likely be enough to replace the car with an equivalently good driver.

I can see the attraction of Haggarty and definitely have considered it (and will continue to consider it). However right now the $100 I'd save isn't worth jeopardizing the umbrella coverage and preventing me from letting other people drive. I bought the car as something fun to do and like to share the joy.

[DieselSpider]

Nice! And the average speed on the pike out there is 80. A mere pittance. But traffic is light on that Western section.

It is also a STATE requirement here that antique plated cars only be used for specific purposes, so the issue goes beyond Hagerty. We should all probably check our state regulations, if one has antique plates, as I do.

No antique plates for me since I have the roadster to enjoy when and where I want to without restrictions. Its not a museum piece stored behind velvet ropes where people pay admission to see it or a parade/exhibition car but a fun motor vehicle to be driven every day the weather is appropriate for it.

I'll even take it to the drive through on T-Mobile Tuesdays to get a free burger to eat while parked out on one of our car beaches where you can park on the sand and take in a Florida Sunset.

[RRoller123]

The antique plate here in MA makes inspection easy. Only safety, brake lights, turn signals, ball joints. And generally far lower insurance cost. MA is pretty high without it. But you do get the various minor restrictions, which are not restrictions for me anyway! But MANY folks at the various cruises here, register their cars as regular, just depends what you prefer. A lot of them think it is more authentic, old school, and a lot of the antique platers like to let people know it is an antique. Arguments for both sides, I suppose.

[DieselSpider]

Wonder what folks would think about the 2" receiver hitch on mine and either the boat trailer, utility trailer or cargo bar with lumber, etc loaded on it and over the top of the roll bar or the Swagman bike rack with 4 bicycles on it.

I do use it as a car, grocery getter, etc. With the diesels great fuel economy its got the longest range of any vehicle in my stable being capable of over 400 miles on a fill up.

[tima01864]

I would of liked to keep my car insured with Mapfree, I didnt anticipate paying insurance on both cars at the same billing cycle. So I got socked paying over 1500.00 for the year, Too much in one payment. I did the payments in three pays, The thing is I got charged a bit more for doing that. Haggerty was half what Mapfree charges, Will pay the value of the car, I pegged it at 8,000. Mapfree would total it at 1500.
Makes sense, I just filled out a form and answered some questions, Car insurance in Massachusetts was not always this easy, Was regulated by the State. I think if had done this years ago I would of had to register the car again

[DieselSpider]

I would of liked to keep my car insured with Mapfree, I didnt anticipate paying insurance on both cars at the same billing cycle. So I got socked paying over 1500.00 for the year, Too much in one payment. I did the payments in three pays, The thing is I got charged a bit more for doing that. Haggerty was half what Mapfree charges, Will pay the value of the car, I pegged it at 8,000. Mapfree would total it at 1500.
Makes sense, I just filled out a form and answered some questions, Car insurance in Massachusetts was not always this easy, Was regulated by the State. I think if had done this years ago I would of had to register the car again

I really got tired of dealing with the DMV when I lived in Massachusetts decades ago. Too easy to waste a whole day from sunrise to sunset and then be told at the window in line 12 that there was a mistake made in the paperwork from window 2 and that tomorrow you'd have to come back and start over again in the waiting line for the first window which was usually out the door if you didn't get there to be waiting at the door at least 30 minutes before the DMV opened.

My insurance agent there started taking care of this for you and would also research the best policies for us to pick from every year and would send us a packet with his recommendations before renewal time. He and his son were real blessings and I was never able to find better on my own than the three he would send me to choose from.

Here in Florida the first trip to the DMV/Tag Office in the early 1990's was unreal. Once you tell the receptionist what you were there for, you were issued a number and directed to a seat in the waiting area and when you got called it was one window to go to where they took care of everything. When the clerk at the window told me there was an error on my paper work, which would mean tearing everything up where I lived before and starting over, she just scratched it out, wrote in the correct info and had me initial the change which she also initialed stamping everything through, took my payment and sent me on my way all nice a legal in less than 30 minutes from the time I walked in the door. Dealing with the DMV in Massachusetts was really bad when I lived there.

[RRoller123]

Amen to the MA DMV issues, Diesel. Used to be torture, we quite unfairly used to call the person at the desk the Gestpo Ladies. BUT they have improved incredibly well the past few years. Not joking! In and out in less than an hour now for me in Plymouth, and most of the time a little less. Amazing, and a surprise too.

[DieselSpider]

Amen to the MA DMV issues, Diesel. Used to be torture, we quite unfairly used to call the person at the desk the Gestpo Ladies. BUT they have improved incredibly well the past few years. Not joking! In and out in less than an hour now for me in Plymouth, and most of the time a little less. Amazing, and a surprise too.

And having all commercial registrations for businesses due at the same time was horrific too. One year when I went to the local registry which was in Lawrence Massachusetts I was told I would have to go to the office in Lowell to finish renewing because they were the closest office that handled what I needed to do and then when I got to Lowell after they took care of the unique circumstance they made me go back to the Lawrence office to finish the process. It use to be a very extremely painful process.

Dealing with the Special DMV Officers out on the road could be fun too. I had an old style Dodge Power Wagon from the 1960's when the factory muffler with the big V8 was a straight through tapered baffle round can muffler and it got so I needed to carry proof to show it was the standard DOT Approved OEM Muffler and not an Illegal Aftermarket Muffler since I had a W200E20 Special with the 440 cu in V8.

Glad to hear things have improved! Still I understand they just had a shakeup due to some budget cuts leading to a commercial driver hauling cars not having his drug offense processed so that he did not get his license pulled and ended up killing a group of Marines on their motor cycles up in New Hampshire.

[RRoller123]

Yes, that was a huge scandal here this past year, and Gov Baker was ripped about it. A few heads rolled, but our guess is that they were just transferred. The hackarama always wins here. Always. Howie Carr is right. (btw, he lives very close by to where I grew up, in Wellesley, lol)

What was going on was this: When an infraction is issued out of state, the driver's home state is informed, and they can take action or not, depending upon the infraction. For serious offenses, DWI, DUI, Vehicular Homicide, etc, the MA license would be pulled, of course. Well..... The DMV personnel took every single incoming letter from these out of state agencies and put them, UNOPENED, into large plastic tote bins in a back room in the Quincy office, did this for apparently at least months, possibly years. Piled them up by the thousands. And of course, it worked until the fellow killed the group of motorcyclists in NH. Unbelievable, but that is the logic and thinking in our public sector. That being said, the DMV is MUCH better than years ago, it is frankly amazing how much improvement has been made, and other than this obvious nonsense, they should be commended for the improvement.

Now to the MBTA (Mister Bulger's Transit Authority) that is an entirely different story.....

It is quite trying to live in a one party state. MA may be the worst, even more so than CA. No balance, no give and take, no discussion, no compromise, just edict after edict after edict. VA (we have a lot of family in VA) is there now too, it seems, although they look like they face a political insurrection.

[DieselSpider]

Yes, that was a huge scandal here this past year, and Gov Baker was ripped about it. A few heads rolled, but our guess is that they were just transferred. The hackarama always wins here. Always. Howie Carr is right. (btw, he lives very close by to where I grew up, in Wellesley, lol)

What was going on was this: When an infraction is issued out of state, the driver's home state is informed, and they can take action or not, depending upon the infraction. For serious offenses, DWI, DUI, Vehicular Homicide, etc, the MA license would be pulled, of course. Well..... The DMV personnel took every single incoming letter from these out of state agencies and put them, UNOPENED, into large plastic tote bins in a back room in the Quincy office, did this for apparently at least months, possibly years. Piled them up by the thousands. And of course, it worked until the fellow killed the group of motorcyclists in NH. Unbelievable, but that is the logic and thinking in our public sector. That being said, the DMV is MUCH better than years ago, it is frankly amazing how much improvement has been made, and other than this obvious nonsense, they should be commended for the improvement.

Now to the MBTA (Mister Bulger's Transit Authority) that is an entirely different story.....

It is quite trying to live in a one party state. MA may be the worst, even more so than CA. No balance, no give and take, no discussion, no compromise, just edict after edict after edict. VA (we have a lot of family in VA) is there now too, it seems, although they look like they face a political insurrection.

Actually the registrar at the time due to budget and personnel cuts shifted the workload from original DMV offices to another office on a different budget sheet however they just started sending them the digital and paper before the computer systems were installed and staff was trained on what to do with it so they just had to keep boxing it up until the infrastructure was installed and people were trained on how to process it. Since they did not have the applications to receive the electronic notices those appear to have been lost for some time and then when the deaths occurred they had to send in investigators and staff to get everything straightened out.

Basically due to poor management by Erin Deveney they stopped the processing the out of state notices too soon at the original DMV office and never verified if the other office had been set up with the equipment and the staff trained before doing so. Deveney resigned when this was uncovered and Mr Zhukovskyy was charged and then pleaded not guilty. Jamey Tesler became acting registrar and was then tasked with reviewing how this all came to be and fixing it.

I have lost the links to the follow-up articles covering all this however it was quite unsettling to see how it all came about. Just start forwarding all the mail to another office before telling them what to do with it and without providing them with the tools needed to get the job done is not good management. Sure it cleaned up her budget but...

[RRoller123]

The Hackarama. It is really sad, in a very disturbing sort of way.