Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Driven to Protect: Jim Kruse on the Art of Insuring Automotive Passion

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Driven to Protect: Jim Kruse on the Art of Insuring Automotive Passion · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from
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  all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors,
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  designers, and everything in between.
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  Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrolheads that wonder.
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  How did they get that job or become that person?
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  The road to success is paved by all of us, because everyone has a story.
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  The following episode is brought to us in part by Garage Style Magazine.
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  Since 2007, Garage Style Magazine has been the definitive source for car collectors,
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  continually delivering information about automobilia, petroleana, and more.
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  To learn more about the annual publication and its new website, be
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  sure to follow them on social media at Garage Style Magazine or log on to www.
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  garagestylemagazine.
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  com.
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  Because after all, what doesn't belong in your garage?
• 0:57
  Indianapolis, Indiana is home to a great many automobile lovers.
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  Known as the crossroads of America, the city rumbles at the heart of four
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  interstate highways and six US highways.
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  It's where the Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosts the most attended
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  single day sporting event in the world.
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  The Indianapolis 500!
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  Yeah, um, I hate to interrupt your monologue, but...
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  Indianapolis is also home to Classic Automobile Insurance Agency, a family
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  business built on a love of classic cars that drives truly inspired service for
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  collector and classic car enthusiasts.
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  You're absolutely right, Don.
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  And that's why we have Jim Kruse, the vice president of Classic Auto
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  Insurance, on with us tonight.
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  So let's welcome him to the show and talk about protecting your pride and joy.
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  So welcome to Brake Fix.
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  Thank you.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  Happy to be here.
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  Like all good Brake Fix stories, tell us about your petrolhead origin story.
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  The who, the what, the where, the when of Jim Cruisey.
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  How did you come up through the hobby?
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  Was it by way of your family or was there a vehicle that
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  caught your attention as a kid?
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  I'm probably one of the luckiest guys in the world when it comes to
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  the car hobby because I was able to not only grow up through the hobby.
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  But I've made it my vocation for the last 30 years.
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  My father restores cars and specializing in pre 1915 cars.
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  My earliest memories were riding in my mom's lap in our 1908 brush when I
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  was, you know, nine or 10 years old.
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  But before I could drive, they started me with bicycles.
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  So I was into early turn of the century bicycles, and then I
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  was old enough to add motors.
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  We jumped up to Whizzer motorbikes.
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  When I was able to get a driver's license, they jumped into Indian motorcycles, had
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  an Indian, an emblem with two wheels.
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  Then I had figured out that it's hard to take a date with you on a motorcycle.
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  So then we jumped into cars with my father through our restoration shop.
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  We restored a 1913 Renault together, a little two cylinder model AX.
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  Which ended up being my honeymoon car with my wife.
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  Actually, we did a week long rally in it.
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  So I'm in it by pure family.
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  And my heart has always been with turn of the century pre 1915 cars,
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  which is unusual for anybody who isn't taking social security.
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  It's more of a, an era that you see, you know, the older folks that like it,
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  but I always have enjoyed cars that.
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  You know, there aren't a million experts on, I've got a 1908 Cesar Nalden, which
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  is a one cylinder Grand Prix racing car.
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  There's only just a few left in the world.
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  And so when people start pointing out what's wrong with it, my first
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  question is, what does yours look like?
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  And obviously they don't know.
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  So that's always been my, uh, fall back on having cars that
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  most people haven't seen before.
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  So I came up through it naturally and restored quite a few cars and very
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  lucky to fall into the business side of it with the insurance angle, you
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  know, 30 years ago when I graduated from college, it's been a lot of fun to
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  say the least not a lot of nice people.
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  So back in the green room, you mentioned you had to take the
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  Lamborghini poster down off the wall that you had since you were 11.
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  So it sounds like you might like some modern cars too.
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  So let's talk about that poster on your bedroom wall.
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  I'm a true car fan, which is what's great about the car hobby is, is that
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  if you like cars, you like all cars.
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  Some of you like more than others.
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  You know, you can't say which is your favorite kid, but we all know we
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  have one and cars are very similar.
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  My newest collector car.
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  I drove in high school was a 69 SS Camaro 396.
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  That was my daily driver back then, but all the way up through
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  today, I'm a huge Corvette fan.
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  The new C8 is just an amazing automobile.
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  Lambo's never owned one.
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  My wife wouldn't let me have one, even if I could have one, she
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  knows me better than I do, so she keeps me honest by not letting me
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  have it, but now really all cars.
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  That's what's great about the industry and the hobby.
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  If you like them, you like them all.
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  And then the best part is the people that come along with them because
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  we all know what a Corvette owner's like or a BMW owner, a Porsche owner.
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  The stereotypes are true and that's what makes it fantastic.
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  Just absolutely love it.
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  Just love it.
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  So for petrolheads of a certain age, there's two different Lamborghinis
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  that could have been on your wall.
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  You're either in the Miura camp or a Countach kid.
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  Countach, 84.
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  So that begs the question, sexiest car of all time.
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  See, I fall back into the classic era and I'd have to go with a
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  teardropped Bugatti Type 57.
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  That's where my heart falls back in the custom era.
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  I mean, I'm a big street rod fan too.
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  In my world, the high point of street riding was 1930s.
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  where they were taking chassis and you could build anything you want.
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  You took it to your custom bodybuilder, like making a dress,
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  and they would do it for you.
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  That's the epitome of custom cars.
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  And so I, any European car from the 1930s, custom body, Pininfarina, whatever it
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  might be, it's just absolutely fantastic.
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  And the opposite of that, something you go, eh, not so much.
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  Or ugliest car of all time.
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  That's actually a tough one.
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  I've never been asked that question before.
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  Well, I can tell you my least favorite that I've ridden in.
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  How about that?
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  I was in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1993, and we were driving to Cappellari, Bulgaria.
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  We had to take a Trabant.
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  Are you familiar with those?
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  Yes.
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  As we were leaving Sofia, there was a checkpoint.
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  We had to show them your ID.
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  Something we're not familiar with in the U.
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  S., but there you had to.
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  I swear the guys at the checkpoint, because I knew my friend that
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  was with me, we were both Americans with our two drivers.
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  They almost felt sorry for us that we were in this car.
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  You could just see it in their eyes, but that was probably my least
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  favorite car I've ever ridden in.
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  Let's put it that way.
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  It was about four hours of agony in a two cycle Trabant.
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  We'll talk about the Turkish toilets we had to use later along the way,
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  but that's a whole nother story.
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  Probably my least favorite is that.
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  I mean, there's nothing worse than a bad fiat that you make, even more terrible.
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  And they did.
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  They did.
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  But if you didn't know any different, that was the best they had.
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  You know, better than a horse.
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  Let's put it that way.
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  I'd rather be in that than a horse.
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  So.
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  Classic auto insurance has been around for 25 years.
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  Yeah.
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  How did it get started and how did you get involved in the insurance business?
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  It sounds like it just came naturally from your family, the restoration shop, etc.
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  It just sounds like it's in the DNA.
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  Yeah, it is.
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  And in fact, I was fortunate that My father, before he was able to quit,
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  he was a service manager for a BMW dealership in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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  I worked my way through college as first a car jockey on the lot, because it
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  was cool driving other people's BMWs.
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  And then into the sales portion, I was given great advice at one point.
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  Cause when I was in college, I went to Purdue university.
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  I didn't know what I wanted to do.
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  And the F& I sales manager, when I was just moving cars around the lot, and
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  I was having a conversation one day, said, if you want to get a job, hang
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  out where people who hire people are.
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  And in that case, it was at selling BMWs.
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  Who buys BMWs?
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  But people who own businesses.
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  The year that I was graduating from college.
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  I actually sold and delivered a BMW to the CEO of a local insurance company,
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  which happened to be K and K insurance.
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  And for anybody out there that's familiar with K and K, goes back
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  to the old racing days, the number 71 Dodge Daytona, historical
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  name in the motorsports industry.
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  Basically at delivery, I asked, I told him I was graduating
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  from college and I needed a job.
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  And I started there about three days later.
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  That's a true story, but I had no clue what I wanted to do.
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  Never thought about going to the insurance industry, but I was a car guy.
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  Got into it from that perspective, was in the collector car portion,
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  worked in the motorsports area for insurance, which involved IndyCar.
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  Offshore powerboat racing, anything with a motor, let's put it that way.
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  We insured.
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  Again, that was my start 30 years ago.
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  And since then been through a couple iterations of my own
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  companies, which I've sold.
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  And then the most recent company, Classic Auto there in Indianapolis,
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  Dan and Drew, the father and son owners of the company I've known for going
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  on 20 years needed something to do.
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  And they needed somebody to come in and kind of shepherd them to
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  the next stage of the company.
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  It's worked out perfectly.
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  It's a great family business, heart of the country in Indianapolis.
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  car capital of the world as far as I'm concerned.
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  It's a great opportunity for everybody involved.
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  So let's dig in a little deeper.
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  But for those of us that are learning about classic car insurance for the first
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  time, we got to start with the basics.
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  So let's answer the most obvious question for our audience.
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  How does classic car insurance differ from regular car insurance?
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  Yeah, so several ways.
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  First, everybody always dives right to the valuation.
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  If you've been involved in an auto accident, I'm sorry to hear that, but
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  it happens, there's always a question as far as what the car is going to
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  be valued at at the time of loss.
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  Either a partial loss where you're forced to go to a repair shop that the
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  insurance company dictates, or a total loss where all of a sudden you find
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  out that you owed way more on the car than they're going to pay you for it.
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  There's always a big question at settlement time.
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  The biggest difference is here with classic collector
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  car insurance like we offer.
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  That's predetermined up front.
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  So in the event of a total loss, let's just say a fire, you know, immediately
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  how much you're going to be paid.
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  It's 50, 000, whatever the number might be.
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  There's no question at that point.
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  In the event of a partial loss, it's equally as easy.
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  Most people have a good idea of where they want to take the car for repair.
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  The guy who restored the car or somebody that they know it's up to their choice
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  where they want to take it, which makes it very easy for the client at that point
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  also makes it easy for the insurance company because they're not trying
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  to hunt down or scout down a company in the area or whatever it might be.
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  So that's really the biggest difference.
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  Is that side?
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  Beyond that, auto insurance is one of the most heavily regulated
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  insurances there are in the world.
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  A lot of the coverages are mandated by the state, no liability, which
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  pays if you hit somebody else.
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  There's coverage like uninsured motorist coverage, because yeah, you
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  can get hit by some with no coverage.
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  All that stuff's mandated.
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  And then there's always little bells and whistles that companies put in towing
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  and labor, things like that on top of it.
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  The biggest thing is the valuation.
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  And then maybe the second most important thing is the price because
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  our cards are driven very little.
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  The premiums are significantly less.
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  So typically.
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  Maybe half to 60 percent less than a normal auto policy, but that's
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  taking into consideration that you're not driving into work every day.
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  I mean, it's not what we typically do with our collector cars.
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  You mentioned that there are declared value policies, but how do you
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  come up with that declared value?
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  Yeah.
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  We've talked with track day insurance companies before.
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  We'll touch more on that later valuations.
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  So in this case with class and collector card, does it require an appraisal or
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  does the owner come to the table and say, this is what I think the car is worth.
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  Plus all the receipts I have, how do you put together that to clear value?
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  All of our underwriters, we call them concierge underwriters at our company.
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  Everybody is highly involved in the car hobby.
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  So let's start there.
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  Not very.
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  Typical that someone will present a vehicle that we're not familiar
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  with from evaluation perspective.
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  We don't use guidebooks auction results.
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  If there's something very specific that someone wants to compare their car to,
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  you know, bring a trailer right now.
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  I mean, they're selling more cars than anybody.
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  And that is, it's incredible.
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  The real time data that you can get on there, just searching their results.
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  But normally that's how it is.
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  Our company, we don't require appraisals.
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  And in fact, the only time that we would is if the value of the car
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  is based off the authenticity, i.
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  e.
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  matching numbers for a Hemi Barracuda convertible, you
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  know, they made what 11 of them.
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  There's a big difference between.
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  Just a stock crate motor and a 318 and a Hemi that's original.
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  So we might want some additional documentation there.
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  If somebody wants 2 million for a car, but that is very, very unusual.
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  95 percent of the cars that we see are ones that we're pretty familiar with.
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  So it makes it very easy, no additional costs for the customer.
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  But again, that's just for us.
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  I do tell people though, appraisals are incredibly valuable
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  from an estate perspective.
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  If you're leaving them to your kids or whatever it happens to
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  be, if there's an estate, it's going to get dolled out someday.
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  It's good to have an updated appraisal just so there's no
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  question as far as that goes.
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  We see that a lot.
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  When there isn't an appraisal, people will ask what the car was
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  insured for and that all of a sudden sometimes become the legal amount.
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  In valuing estates and how things get broken up amongst families, but
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  that's not the best way to do it.
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  To be honest with you.
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  That's what we look at as far as like on track physical damage.
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  Not sure you're talking there.
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  They see a lot more partial losses hitting the wall, things like that.
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  They might require a little more if somebody's got a rear end that's
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  wearing out in their Porsche.
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  Okay, you're not going to get a brand new one if the old ones wore out.
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  One of those kinds of things.
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  Back in the day, we actually wrote policies for IndyCar on track when
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  they first split off from CART.
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  And that was a big issue, trying to figure out somebody touches the wall.
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  They want a whole new everything.
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  Well, no.
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  You still got parts that you can use again.
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  That's a difficult thing to adjust, actually, the on track physical damage.
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  So I'm sure they've got different requirements than we do.
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  But for us, normal road going cars, not an issue, not a problem at all.
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  You mentioned you have these concierge underwriters.
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  Does that imply that Classic Car Insurance underwrites their own policies, or
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  are you using a third party provider?
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  We are an agent for American Modern Home Insurance.
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  That is our main company that we use.
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  We have others that we do for policies that don't fit with what their profile is.
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  We basically act as the insurance company from an underwriting
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  perspective, but we don't pay the claims.
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  So they've got an incredible claims department.
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  When I say concierge, I mean the person that you're talking to on the
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  phone can manage the entire process.
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  There's no, let me go talk to my manager.
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  You want too much for your car.
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  Got to get a second opinion.
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  It makes it very easy for the process and also makes the client comfortable
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  that the person they're talking to understands what they're doing.
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  No one wants to call somebody and thinks that they're talking to
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  somebody that's the decision maker only to find out 20 minutes in the
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  conversation that, Oh, hold on.
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  I can't help you.
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  It's above my pay grade.
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  I got to go talk to somebody else and separates us from a
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  lot of companies out there.
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  The person you start the conversation is the one you're going to end
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  the conversation with and probably be a friend going forward.
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  I mean, we have got clients that have been on the books for 20 plus years
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  and they're still talking to the same person, which is kind of nice.
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  How do you define a classic car?
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  There's official designations.
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  The Classic Car Club of America has their definition, but from our
• 14:53
  perspective, as far as what's insurable, kind of the generic way to look at it
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  is the car has to be worth more than just the transportation that it is.
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  A new Chrysler Pacifica minivans worth 25, 000.
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  But it's utilitarian, a new Porsche, it's worth more as a Porsche and
• 15:10
  having fun with it as it is just a driver to go back and forth to work.
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  So in our world, if it has more value than just utilitarian mode, it's a collector,
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  which means it qualifies for our program.
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  A lot of states, it says that car has to be at least 25 years old to get
• 15:25
  a classic plate, things like that.
• 15:27
  But that's not what we, we look at here.
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  We really look at whether the car has some intrinsic value
• 15:32
  beyond just driving it every day.
• 15:34
  And that's actually a lot of cars now.
• 15:35
  It's incredible how many newer cars.
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  Uh, just straight up hot, cool collector cars right off the line.
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  And people are treating them as such too.
• 15:43
  Got a lot of cars coming in to maturity from the nineties, even the
• 15:46
  earlier part of the new millennium.
• 15:47
  I mean, I got to tell you, I've got friends all over Facebook who
• 15:50
  are generally younger than me.
• 15:51
  And it's really interesting, the cars that are turning them on.
• 15:54
  I mean, they're literally looking at minivans.
• 15:57
  It's in the nineties and the eighties that they are, they're
• 15:59
  just blowing their minds.
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  And I always kind of think, yeah, they were kind of cool.
• 16:02
  We overlooked them.
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  Cause as you say, they're just utilitarian.
• 16:05
  They're the mom mobile to get us to school, to soccer, et cetera.
• 16:08
  That's all those cars did.
• 16:09
  But now the survivors that are still with us that are in nice
• 16:13
  shape, that is pretty impressive.
• 16:15
  You look back at some of the APVs that General Motors produced and you know,
• 16:18
  they have that dustbuster shape, which really, it does give them a unique image
• 16:23
  and look at pickups for crying out loud.
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  Oh my gosh.
• 16:26
  They have always had a strong point in, you know, the heart of collectors,
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  but now it seems even more than ever.
• 16:33
  Did you see any of the numbers from the most recent Barrett Jackson auction?
• 16:36
  1990 pickup trucks that are going 100, 000 plus.
• 16:39
  I would believe it.
• 16:40
  It's a different marketplace than I think any of us would have
• 16:42
  predicted, but none of them survived.
• 16:44
  I mean, you use pickup trucks, so you threw them away, right?
• 16:47
  And so you get a good quality pickup truck.
• 16:49
  And actually one of the cars that we have in our collection at
• 16:53
  Classic is a beautiful white C10.
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  We just had that down at a show in Nashville for the
• 16:58
  C10 Nationals down there.
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  Beautiful truck.
• 17:01
  But yeah, very unusual to see things like that.
• 17:04
  But you're right about the cars that folks are collecting now.
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  When was the last time you saw a nice 84 Plymouth minivan?
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  Like never.
• 17:11
  Right.
• 17:11
  That was first year Ford.
• 17:12
  It is unusual to see those cars at events and there is interest in them because
• 17:16
  historically that changed the world.
• 17:19
  84 Plymouth minivan.
• 17:21
  That was a complete game changer.
• 17:23
  That was the model T of 1908 in 1984 when they put that on the road.
• 17:27
  One quick story there at that time, my dad, I said, he's a service manager.
• 17:31
  It's a Chrysler Plymouth BMW dealership.
• 17:33
  I'll never forget one day I was sweeping the floors and all the mechanics came in
• 17:38
  and we're looking at this 84 Plymouth.
• 17:40
  2.
• 17:40
  2 turbo minivan.
• 17:43
  It was a five speed.
• 17:44
  Plymouth never made a five speed minivan.
• 17:48
  No one could figure out how this car made it to the street, and she said
• 17:52
  she just bought it at a used car lot, and all we could figure was is
• 17:56
  that it was one of those cars that escaped from the factory somehow.
• 18:00
  Somewhere on this planet, there's a five speed 2.
• 18:03
  2 turbo minivan.
• 18:04
  It belonged to Wally Swift.
• 18:06
  Do you know the car?
• 18:06
  I mean...
• 18:07
  And with their stories of it.
• 18:09
  And we had a member who recently passed away who actually drove that minivan.
• 18:13
  And he talks about, guess what Wally gave me for the weekend because he worked
• 18:17
  in Chrysler's motor sport division.
• 18:18
  He's the one that brought me on to SCCA.
• 18:22
  Okay.
• 18:22
  So this is a very cool story then.
• 18:24
  I mean, this is an absolute fact that car was in Fort Wayne, Indiana
• 18:28
  at point set Chrysler Plymouth.
• 18:29
  And everybody's looking at it saying they never built that car.
• 18:32
  I'll build on both your stories.
• 18:34
  And I don't know if we're all talking about the same car.
• 18:36
  It has to be.
• 18:37
  But what you're describing was up for sale about a year ago.
• 18:40
  Okay.
• 18:41
  One of those online, but I can't remember if it was a Plymouth or a Dodge.
• 18:45
  I really can't remember that.
• 18:46
  But I do remember reading the ad thinking, my God, I've got a manual transmission.
• 18:50
  I don't know that I'd ever seen one with it.
• 18:52
  They always have the seven.
• 18:53
  Well, the little front wheel drive automatic.
• 18:54
  I didn't know that I'd ever made one.
• 18:56
  And then.
• 18:57
  That buddy I was telling you about, who's looking at the APVs,
• 18:59
  he sends me one through text message and says, check this out.
• 19:02
  It's a manual transmission.
• 19:03
  You know, Eric, I don't know if that's the same one you're talking about.
• 19:06
  And to your point, are we all talking about one or are there a few little
• 19:10
  unicorns out there running around?
• 19:12
  I can remember cause in an 84 I would have been.
• 19:15
  But a freshman sophomore in high school, I can remember back then, let's face it
• 19:19
  in a new car dealership, there wasn't anything that was really all that much
• 19:22
  interesting and they have mechanics all huddle around a minivan of all things.
• 19:27
  And it was like a silver blue.
• 19:29
  It was a light blue color, no wood grain.
• 19:31
  So it wasn't like the grand caravan or anything or the grand Voyager.
• 19:35
  That's what they said back then.
• 19:36
  Now, as soon as you say, it's the only one.
• 19:38
  There'll be 50 that come out.
• 19:39
  I realize how this works, but in my mind, as far as I was concerned, these
• 19:43
  guys had seen everything that was it.
• 19:46
  Interesting story, small world on this thing.
• 19:48
  I'm glad to hear it might be still around.
• 19:49
  You always wonder where this stuff ends up.
• 19:51
  So the punchline on this is through classic auto insurance, there's really
• 19:56
  no limit to what could be considered.
• 19:58
  Oh, yeah.
• 19:59
  A classic or collector car.
• 20:00
  So it doesn't have to be low volume Hispano Suiza or something like that.
• 20:04
  Something super rare.
• 20:05
  It could be, as long as you can find a way to insure it, it can
• 20:09
  be insured under one of your guys classic and collector policies.
• 20:12
  Oh, yeah, absolutely.
• 20:13
  And in fact, go back to the truck things.
• 20:14
  They made millions of trucks.
• 20:15
  There's hardly any left.
• 20:17
  So as far as production goes, rarity does not equal value.
• 20:20
  That's a sad fact for a lot of people that they assume it's one of one.
• 20:24
  So it must be worth a lot of money.
• 20:25
  Nope, not necessarily.
• 20:27
  It only means they hated it back then too.
• 20:29
  That's true.
• 20:30
  Normally, if there's not many of something, it wasn't
• 20:32
  a good car to begin with.
• 20:33
  That's all there is to it.
• 20:35
  And I will throw.
• 20:36
  50s Ferraris and all those cars in there with all those
• 20:39
  carburetors that never match up.
• 20:40
  I mean, they're beautiful.
• 20:41
  That's why they gave you a toolbox with the car when you bought it
• 20:44
  because you needed to have it.
• 20:45
  But no, you're right.
• 20:46
  Pretty much any car, especially depending on how the people keep it and protect it.
• 20:51
  I mean, let's face it, AACA now they've got 20 year old cars now
• 20:54
  that are showing up at their shows that are part of the car show.
• 20:57
  Again, I'm not saying that they're for me, but I think it's fabulous that there's
• 21:01
  entry points really at any level for anyone to get involved with the car hobby.
• 21:05
  Sometimes we get accused of being car snobs looking down our nose, other people
• 21:09
  have, and I think that's a shame because the love of cars is the love of cars,
• 21:13
  whether it's a 10, 000 car or a 10 million car, most of them go down the road.
• 21:18
  Equally as well, and everybody's having just as much fun when
• 21:21
  you're sitting on the seat.
• 21:22
  See, that's exciting news for all the Aztec owners out there that can
• 21:26
  now claim their cars as collectors.
• 21:29
  That's all I'm going to say.
• 21:30
  And if you own an Aztec, you're going to have to own a Cybertruck.
• 21:32
  I mean, that's all there is to it.
• 21:34
  You're going to have compatriots in pain.
• 21:36
  As you have those two cars in your garage, but you got to have
• 21:39
  the whole tent kit for the Aztec.
• 21:41
  You got to have the whole camping portion for that.
• 21:43
  You're not really in the game otherwise.
• 21:45
  So, well, I'm happy to hear that there isn't an age minimum.
• 21:49
  There isn't a brand specific thing that you have to jump through all
• 21:52
  these hoops to get these cars.
• 21:54
  That's a very open policy.
• 21:55
  So that begs the question then, is there some sort of limitation that
• 22:00
  classic and collector owners are up against when they register their
• 22:03
  vehicles with classic auto insurance?
• 22:05
  Yeah, there is.
• 22:06
  If you're going to drive your car every day, that's not what we do.
• 22:08
  Rates are not set up for that 8 o'clock in the morning traffic.
• 22:12
  Sadly, and this breaks my heart, I learned to drive in a 1927 Model T.
• 22:16
  That was the first car I ever drove in our side yard of our house.
• 22:19
  If you're a young driver, 15, 16 years old, it's incredibly
• 22:22
  difficult to get insurance.
• 22:24
  It's just the way that it goes.
• 22:26
  All of us have kind of Gone through that pain until legal in our world, which some
• 22:31
  companies it's five years experience.
• 22:33
  Some companies it's 10.
• 22:34
  I've always told people with that, that if you're young and you're a car person,
• 22:37
  don't screw up because it'll just make it that much more difficult for you when
• 22:41
  you do want to join the hobby officially.
• 22:44
  But believe it or not, from a car perspective.
• 22:46
  As long as you're not driving it every day, we really like and prefer
• 22:50
  that cars be kept in a fully enclosed lot garage, which typically isn't
• 22:53
  a problem for a collector cars.
• 22:55
  I mean, it's funny.
• 22:56
  You'll see the old car in the garage and the new car in the driveway.
• 22:59
  So that's kind of the way the world works where, you know, they're more concerned
• 23:03
  about their old stuff than their new stuff that really defines a collector.
• 23:07
  They want to protect them and take care of them.
• 23:09
  Mileage wise, I mean, most people don't drive the cars more than
• 23:12
  a couple of 3000 miles a year.
• 23:14
  If they drive more than that.
• 23:16
  That can be accommodated.
• 23:17
  I was fortunate enough to take a 1910 Oldsmobile on a three week,
• 23:21
  3, 000 mile rally, which under most circumstances would be way more than
• 23:25
  that car would ever be driven in a year, and we did it in three weeks.
• 23:28
  There are circumstances where people are going to drive more, but we
• 23:31
  can accommodate that kind of stuff.
• 23:32
  Not a big deal.
• 23:33
  Not every state is the same way, but here in the DMV, we have historic titles.
• 23:38
  When we convert the cars over to collector status, to that point,
• 23:42
  there is a minimum number of years.
• 23:43
  Sometimes it's 20, sometimes it's 25 in Virginia.
• 23:46
  Antiques have to be 50, you know, things like that.
• 23:49
  Does your policy require what we would call here a brown title or a
• 23:53
  historic title to make sure that it's not a car that's driven every day?
• 23:56
  Because the stipulation with those titles, if they're not daily drivers,
• 23:59
  they're not insured the same way.
• 24:01
  Believe it or not, in some states, there's actually requirements that you
• 24:03
  like keep a log book of your miles.
• 24:05
  If you have a historic plate.
• 24:07
  I've never known anyone to have pull that out and show a stopping officer in
• 24:11
  theory, they could know our policy doesn't require that some states in order for you
• 24:17
  to get a collector plate, they do require you to show collector car insurance.
• 24:21
  So it'll say right on the ID card when you hand it to him.
• 24:24
  So you're right.
• 24:24
  Every state is different myself.
• 24:26
  I've never had historic plates on a car.
• 24:30
  I'm a bit of a conspiracist from the standpoint that someday
• 24:33
  when they say that our old cars.
• 24:35
  admit too much smoke and things.
• 24:37
  It'll be very easy to just pull up all the historic plates and say,
• 24:41
  we're taking these cars off the road.
• 24:42
  So I kind of think that if I've got a normal license plate, it's
• 24:46
  going to make it difficult for them to say, get that car off the road.
• 24:49
  But that's just me.
• 24:50
  That's just my weirdness of the world.
• 24:52
  So, but beyond that, yeah, there are state differences as far as licensing goes.
• 24:55
  So I remember back 914, they required him to log his miles.
• 25:01
  Every year to keep the policy going is the same true with classic auto insurance,
• 25:06
  or do you have a different mechanism?
• 25:07
  No, not required for us.
• 25:08
  And again, there's going to be individual differences between the
• 25:12
  agencies and the companies that are out there that offer these things.
• 25:15
  And that's why, you know, we always tell people.
• 25:18
  Write down the top three or four things that are most important to you.
• 25:20
  And those are the questions that you want to ask when you
• 25:23
  call whoever you're calling.
• 25:24
  The dirty little secret is there aren't that many of us.
• 25:27
  There's only a handful, maybe half a dozen companies like us that are out there.
• 25:30
  So you're not going to spend weeks calling around, but just
• 25:33
  whatever's important to you.
• 25:35
  If you are going to drive, let's say 10, 000 miles a year, you're
• 25:38
  going to want to find a company that says that's not a problem.
• 25:40
  We can do that for you.
• 25:41
  And there's companies out there that can do that.
• 25:44
  Most people don't.
• 25:45
  Little differences here and there.
• 25:46
  For sure.
• 25:47
  Can you kind of walk us through a claims process?
• 25:49
  What happened?
• 25:49
  My car just got whacked.
• 25:51
  What do I do?
• 25:52
  And this is just good advice, whether we're talking classic
• 25:54
  or just standard auto.
• 25:55
  The biggest thing is everybody's got cameras now on their phones.
• 25:58
  Take pictures, document things, take a lot of pictures.
• 26:02
  Can't hurt.
• 26:03
  You know, in the old days, you had to go back after the facts and they
• 26:06
  try to guess how things happened.
• 26:08
  Like any accident, make sure you get everybody's information.
• 26:10
  From that point going forward, you can drive the car home.
• 26:13
  Great.
• 26:13
  If you can't, you get it towed.
• 26:15
  Most people in our situations, they have the cars towed home.
• 26:18
  They don't have them taken to a lot.
• 26:20
  You know, if it's a newer car, a lot of times they'll take it to just
• 26:22
  a wrecking lot next to a tow yard.
• 26:25
  And from that point forward, depending on the severity, it's
• 26:28
  just a matter of one finding a shop.
• 26:30
  If you don't know of a shop, and that certainly can happen depending where
• 26:33
  you're at, you buy a car at an auction.
• 26:34
  It might be your first collector car.
• 26:36
  You don't know anybody.
• 26:37
  We absolutely can get you in touch with.
• 26:39
  an expert in that field.
• 26:41
  What you want to avoid from a claims perspective is working with a company
• 26:45
  that are just sheet metal hangers.
• 26:47
  And that's really what bump shops are today, a body shop.
• 26:49
  There's no letting, there's no filling, there's nothing.
• 26:51
  They hang sheet metal on and that's it.
• 26:54
  We make sure that people that you go to that they're familiar with
• 26:58
  what it takes to bang out a fender.
• 27:01
  I mean, an English wheel, there's skill sets for certain
• 27:03
  cars that you have to have.
• 27:05
  Fortunately, one of the nice things about these programs are, and this
• 27:09
  relates back to the lower premiums, claims, they don't happen that often.
• 27:13
  And when they do, typically they're not that severe.
• 27:15
  It does happen.
• 27:16
  We all know stories.
• 27:17
  There's plenty of pictures on the internet and videos of having
• 27:21
  issues, but generally the claims.
• 27:24
  They're infrequent compared to standard auto.
• 27:26
  The cars aren't used that much.
• 27:28
  The biggest thing is documentation.
• 27:30
  If the car's hurt, we can fix the car.
• 27:32
  It's hard to fix people that are hurt.
• 27:33
  So it's always good if there's no injuries.
• 27:35
  If there are, you treat it just like a normal accident.
• 27:38
  Go to the hospital, whatever you need to do.
• 27:40
  The claims are, I think, sometimes the easiest part of this whole
• 27:43
  process, believe it or not.
• 27:44
  It's not a big deal to get managed.
• 27:46
  So there's always two sides to every claim, right?
• 27:48
  There's the, I came out of the cars and coffee and just...
• 27:51
  Took out a telephone pole with my Mustang, and then there's the Mustang
• 27:55
  that hit you as it crossed traffic coming out of the cars and coffee.
• 27:58
  So the question becomes, we know our standard insurance policies have that
• 28:04
  personal injury protection or the PIP.
• 28:06
  There's the liability, there's the other thing, so does the classic
• 28:09
  auto insurance operate the same way or does it only cover the car?
• 28:13
  Yep, and you're in Maryland, so you've got personal injury
• 28:15
  protection, that's why you know that.
• 28:16
  A lot of your listeners that are listening right now have no clue what you're talking
• 28:19
  about because it's medical payments in other states, but you're exactly right.
• 28:23
  When I said what makes collector card insurance different, and when I talked
• 28:26
  about the agreed value of the policy, everything else is pretty much dictated
• 28:31
  by the state, what ends up happening is, and at least for us is that when we have
• 28:35
  a new client come on board, we match all those coverages, your PIP coverage, your
• 28:40
  liability with their standard autos.
• 28:42
  So it's exactly the same coverage as everything else they have.
• 28:45
  The other reason why that's important is, is that if someone has an umbrella
• 28:49
  policy or an excess policy, in other words, a policy that goes over all
• 28:53
  of your insurance, our policy would be under that umbrella as well
• 28:56
  because the limits are the same.
• 28:58
  A lot of companies will want you to give them a copy of the policy.
• 29:01
  They can see it to make sure it's a legitimate company that they're
• 29:03
  going over, but we try to match that with the other policies.
• 29:06
  So it is identical.
• 29:07
  Coverage to what you would have on your standard auto, let's say
• 29:10
  here in the DMV where things are a little bit more expensive because we
• 29:13
  have extra riders on our policies.
• 29:15
  What does the average cost look like?
• 29:17
  If you could just say maybe normalizing it for the country, let's talk about a
• 29:21
  70 challenger or a late sixties Mustang.
• 29:24
  What would that cost to cover for a year from a valuation perspective?
• 29:28
  The biggest part of your premium is the value of the car.
• 29:30
  The liability is pretty inexpensive, really.
• 29:32
  Because again, Odds are you don't drive it that much.
• 29:35
  There's not a big liability where you're going to hit somebody else.
• 29:37
  So that's pretty cheap.
• 29:38
  Most of our claims come from comprehensive claims, fire, theft,
• 29:42
  roof collapse in the winter in Minnesota from too much snow, like a
• 29:46
  50, 000 Dodge Challenger, a Mustang.
• 29:49
  You're going to be in the 450 to 500 range for the year.
• 29:54
  Exactly.
• 29:56
  And you compare that to a new 50, 000 two series BMW is going
• 30:01
  to be 1, 200, 1, 500 a year.
• 30:03
  I mean, it's significantly less than a new car.
• 30:05
  And then you get all of the benefits associated with it
• 30:08
  that you don't have with that.
• 30:09
  New BMW policy, meaning if your car catches on fire and burns up,
• 30:13
  we cut you a check for 50, 000 and you go out and buy another one.
• 30:16
  That's the peace of mind that you get with policies like ours.
• 30:20
  Let's just say your daily driver's down and you have to use the collector
• 30:24
  card to scoot around in and you're putting some excess miles on it.
• 30:28
  You did a couple of long distance car shows because you
• 30:31
  didn't feel like towing it.
• 30:32
  And you go over, let's say this high water mark that we've created, at
• 30:36
  least for this episode of 3, 000 miles, let's say you do 4, 000 miles or 5,
• 30:39
  000 miles in a year with the vehicle.
• 30:41
  What happens if anything?
• 30:43
  Really nothing.
• 30:44
  One thing I would say, if it turns out to be your backup vehicle.
• 30:47
  What's going to happen this day and age, when you're talking late model collector
• 30:50
  cars, now it's not a big deal to have a, you know, a C5 Corvette be your backup
• 30:54
  for in the summer for a week, let's say.
• 30:57
  I can't speak for everybody, but I can tell you, we do have
• 30:59
  occasional use for things like that.
• 31:01
  We can actually endorse the policy to make sure that you're covered.
• 31:05
  I would say for anybody listening, if you're ever in that situation,
• 31:09
  I would call the company and tell them what you're going to do.
• 31:12
  And they'll work out a solution for you.
• 31:14
  So there's no question.
• 31:15
  What you don't want to do is have a potential claim figure out afterwards.
• 31:19
  If you have coverage, I can tell you there's coverage for exactly
• 31:22
  what you're talking about.
• 31:23
  Let's put it that way, but you're gonna want to understand that policy was sold to
• 31:27
  you as a limited use collector car policy.
• 31:30
  If your car's in the shop, it starts out as a week, but then with supply chains.
• 31:35
  It's three weeks and then, and then, and then very well could be an issue for you.
• 31:39
  More communications, the better.
• 31:41
  It's very easy to reach out and just say, this is what I'm doing.
• 31:44
  We'll document the file.
• 31:45
  You'll be just fine.
• 31:46
  So, and also from a mileage perspective, we actually have 6,
• 31:50
  000 unlimited mileage on our policy.
• 31:52
  So you have people that do.
• 31:54
  We call them transcontinental rallies, coast to coast, Portland, Maine,
• 31:57
  Portland, Oregon, drive both ways.
• 31:59
  Not a problem.
• 32:00
  You just need to be able to rate, or in other words, charge
• 32:03
  for that kind of an exposure.
• 32:05
  If we sell you a policy or if anybody sells you a policy with the understanding,
• 32:08
  you're not going to use it that much.
• 32:10
  And then it turns out, you know, you're going to drive it 50, 000 miles.
• 32:12
  Well, that's not what you paid for.
• 32:15
  Bottom line, if I'm hearing you correctly, is no matter what, if
• 32:18
  you're going to start using that car a little more, call the insurance guy
• 32:21
  and say, Hey, this is what's happening.
• 32:22
  How do we make sure my policy still covers me?
• 32:25
  Absolutely.
• 32:26
  And anytime there's a question that we all know, all of our
• 32:29
  customers know exactly what they said when they bought the policy.
• 32:34
  Give you another great example.
• 32:35
  Happens every April and May, prom time.
• 32:38
  I can't be there for the prom, but my neighbor is going to drive my son and
• 32:43
  my daughter in my car for the prom.
• 32:45
  Is that covered?
• 32:46
  Probably is.
• 32:48
  It's best to then call the company and say, I've got another driver who's
• 32:52
  going to drive my car for this event.
• 32:54
  Is it covered?
• 32:55
  Always better more communication than not.
• 32:57
  That's just the gold rule.
• 32:58
  Have a conversation with somebody.
• 32:59
  That'll work out.
• 33:00
  Having a bunch of cars myself, I've taken the route of, well, the
• 33:04
  car's really not worth that much.
• 33:05
  So I'll just do liability only.
• 33:07
  Yep.
• 33:07
  In this case, it's a trade off.
• 33:09
  I could actually get more probably pay less overall and have a better experience
• 33:15
  than just that liability only that I say, well, if somebody hits me, I'm
• 33:18
  just going to walk away from the car.
• 33:19
  I'll build another one or we'll get something else.
• 33:22
  I guess is liability only an option in the classic car world as well,
• 33:26
  or it's not, it's just a more comprehensive plan altogether.
• 33:28
  One, it really isn't from the standpoint that most collectors are
• 33:32
  concerned about the physical damage.
• 33:34
  The first person that calls up and says, I don't care about the car.
• 33:37
  I just want liability.
• 33:39
  They probably don't qualify as a collector because we all do.
• 33:42
  The old joke is when we used to have photographs in our wallets, which we
• 33:46
  don't have anymore because we have phones, but if you ask for pictures
• 33:48
  of the guy's kids, he doesn't have them, but here's my cars, right?
• 33:51
  That's a collector.
• 33:52
  These policies are so inexpensive.
• 33:54
  It doesn't make any sense to shortchange yourself on the physical damage at all
• 33:57
  and just do a liability only policy.
• 33:59
  It's not like standard auto where your policy is 2, 000 a year.
• 34:03
  And now all of a sudden you got to make a choice, right?
• 34:06
  It's not that way.
• 34:06
  It's not that expensive.
• 34:07
  And actually, Jim, I'm one of your non collector collectors.
• 34:10
  Back in California, we just recently moved here to Texas.
• 34:14
  We had normal liability coverage on all the cars except the daily drivers
• 34:20
  because they had payment behind them.
• 34:22
  And then we got that DeLorean.
• 34:22
  The financer.
• 34:25
  Was a classic car financer.
• 34:27
  That's all they loan money on.
• 34:29
  And they insisted on having collector insurance.
• 34:33
  And they gave me a choice.
• 34:34
  They said, you're going to go with this company or this company.
• 34:37
  And that's it.
• 34:38
  And when I thought, okay, well, what do I get now?
• 34:41
  You got to call them.
• 34:42
  Okay.
• 34:42
  So you're forcing me to do business with one or the other.
• 34:44
  I got to do all the legwork on it, but I called them.
• 34:47
  I like Haggerty the best.
• 34:48
  So we went with Haggerty.
• 34:49
  They were happy.
• 34:50
  I was blown away because here we were, we had, and I think it's like
• 34:52
  what you said, I forget the exact amount, but it was like full coverage.
• 34:56
  Car gets whacked by one of those crazy Mustangs.
• 34:58
  Car blows up driving down the road.
• 35:00
  Car just catches fire.
• 35:01
  And let's face it, DeLoreans love catching fire for no reason.
• 35:04
  They just cut me a check for the agreed value.
• 35:07
  That's it.
• 35:07
  Car's done.
• 35:08
  I'm done.
• 35:09
  I get a check.
• 35:09
  I walk away.
• 35:10
  I buy something else in California.
• 35:12
  And this is where that state thing comes in.
• 35:13
  All three of us are from different States and we have different
• 35:15
  rules we have to work within.
• 35:17
  In California, we actually could not afford all of the collector cars
• 35:21
  to be on a single Hagerty policy.
• 35:23
  It was just too expensive.
• 35:25
  And the broker who was actually out of Florida of all places, the broker
• 35:28
  actually said, yeah, California has some very, very high rates because
• 35:31
  the way he put it was bottom line year around a lot of people all the time.
• 35:35
  So your chances of getting hit by an honest to God accident.
• 35:39
  The guy did not see you.
• 35:41
  He bumped into you.
• 35:42
  You've got a stainless steel car, man.
• 35:44
  That thing is not cheap to fix, but let's talk about the Mustang.
• 35:47
  Parts are coming off the shelf.
• 35:48
  You got parts everywhere for the Mustang.
• 35:50
  Yes.
• 35:50
  I have a Mustang, but I don't have one of those Mustangs.
• 35:52
  I have a 65 Mustang.
• 35:53
  So I'm not one of those guys who's going to pull out of cars and coffee.
• 35:57
  But the bottom line was.
• 35:58
  We were a very litigious state and I lived in Orange County over by Disneyland,
• 36:02
  which is considered one of the most litigious counties in California.
• 36:07
  This is all new to me.
• 36:08
  I born and raised there.
• 36:08
  I had no idea.
• 36:09
  I knew we all love to sue each other.
• 36:11
  We're from California.
• 36:11
  That's what we do.
• 36:12
  It's a hobby, but that was what pushed the insurance so high.
• 36:16
  So then we relocate to Texas.
• 36:18
  Cars are paid off, everything's done, and we're still status quo.
• 36:21
  We still have the Mustang, the Caprice, everything is still with.
• 36:25
  The Honda and the flex.
• 36:26
  So we get new insurance out here for the DeLorean.
• 36:28
  And the lady says, you have all these other cars.
• 36:30
  Why don't we go classic?
• 36:31
  And I said, well, how much does that going to cost?
• 36:34
  Unbelievable.
• 36:35
  I think for the DeLorean in California, and I'm stretching my long memory
• 36:39
  cells here, but I think we were paying right around 600 for a full
• 36:42
  year, full coverage on a DeLorean, we got here, all of the cars.
• 36:47
  On one collector policy, it was like 700 for all of them.
• 36:50
  Full coverage, everything done.
• 36:51
  It was, it was beautiful.
• 36:53
  It really, really was.
• 36:53
  So Jim, this brings up a really good point.
• 36:55
  Don mentioned it again, the declared value.
• 36:57
  Is there a minimum declared value necessary to put a car on an insurance
• 37:02
  policy with collector auto insurance?
• 37:04
  So technically there is, we'd like to stay at least 5, 000, but then
• 37:09
  you got parts cars and things.
• 37:10
  I mean, this is where the conversation comes into play with the, with
• 37:13
  the concierge underwriters.
• 37:15
  Let them know what you're doing.
• 37:16
  You might have two cars.
• 37:17
  You know, you talked about your 914, you might have your
• 37:19
  914, you got a 914 parts car.
• 37:21
  So the 914 is worth 22, car might be worth 10, or 3, 000, whatever
• 37:26
  the number happens to be, right?
• 37:27
  Those can both go on the same policy.
• 37:29
  They can.
• 37:30
  You just want to have a conversation.
• 37:32
  On these types of things for valuations, there truly isn't
• 37:35
  anything written in stone.
• 37:37
  It's a negotiation as far as things go.
• 37:39
  Don's point there is exactly right.
• 37:41
  You move from Anaheim to Texas and the whole world changes
• 37:45
  as far as The liability side.
• 37:48
  Now what he's got in Texas, which he didn't have in Anaheim, is hail
• 37:52
  storms, major rains, flooding.
• 37:55
  So no matter where you go, there's issues.
• 37:56
  The difference is you can kind of protect your cars from storms.
• 38:00
  It's very difficult to protect them from crazy drivers in California.
• 38:04
  It's just crowded.
• 38:05
  So yeah, there are differences in rates depending on where you
• 38:07
  are around the country, for sure.
• 38:08
  We mentioned earlier that we've interviewed some track day insurance
• 38:11
  companies on this show before, and we definitely have an understanding
• 38:15
  of how they work and how they get applied in the claims process there
• 38:18
  and why and when you would purchase those track day insurance policies.
• 38:21
  So I'm starting to wonder though, there's a subsection and an
• 38:24
  intersection between the classic car world and the motor sports world.
• 38:28
  And you mentioned it at the top of the conversation.
• 38:30
  It's the vintage and classic motor sports guys.
• 38:33
  So some of these old race cars are sitting in collections and whatnot, you
• 38:38
  know, maybe collecting dust or maybe getting fired up every now and again,
• 38:41
  just to run gas through the carburetors.
• 38:43
  But then there's the guys that take them to the Monterey historics or
• 38:47
  take them to road Atlanta or different places, you know, with like, that.
• 38:53
  Does the classic auto insurance policy cover them or do they need to also
• 38:59
  purchase track day insurance on top of, and if something were to happen,
• 39:04
  how do you guys work together or not?
• 39:06
  Any timed event, track event on a policy like ours is excluded.
• 39:10
  We don't charge enough for it.
• 39:13
  I come from the world that if you can't afford to fix it,
• 39:16
  you can't afford to erase it.
• 39:17
  That's my background.
• 39:19
  That being said, it also makes people much quicker to remember there's
• 39:22
  more than just the gas pedal to push if they're paying for the damage.
• 39:26
  So I've always thought there's a little bit of.
• 39:28
  Moral hazards here when you know that there's a potential
• 39:31
  policy to fix the damage.
• 39:33
  That being said, there's always significant deductibles to pay.
• 39:36
  It's not like you get away scot free.
• 39:37
  And I can't tell you specifically because it's not what we sell.
• 39:40
  HPD insurance.
• 39:42
  If you're gonna go to a track event.
• 39:44
  Where it's timed.
• 39:45
  I know there's some gray areas when you talk about driving schools and a lot
• 39:49
  of them say that if there's any passing that it doesn't count as a driver school,
• 39:53
  there's guys that have tried to get away with racing by calling it driver education
• 39:58
  and the companies are becoming a lot smarter about those types of things.
• 40:01
  It's why today.
• 40:03
  I hate to say it, but there's cars out there.
• 40:04
  You almost can't get insurance for just because of the accidents that have been
• 40:08
  caused not all on tracks either, by the way on the road as well, but there's
• 40:12
  high performance cars with people who just get out of their Honda and
• 40:15
  then go jump in their 400 horsepower rural drive, 1600 pound Cobra replica.
• 40:21
  That's a disaster waiting to happen.
• 40:23
  It just is.
• 40:24
  I mean, let's talk about it this way to collector cars in general.
• 40:27
  It's a niche of a niche because there's a very small percentage of
• 40:30
  cars that are really collectors.
• 40:31
  50 million cars on the road.
• 40:33
  There's what, 10 million collector cars.
• 40:34
  So if you start talking about racing, Monterey Historics,
• 40:38
  everywhere you go, you pretty much see the same guys at every event.
• 40:41
  SVRA, same guys going around the country.
• 40:44
  You got a few that do all the races and you got some regional guys.
• 40:46
  It's a very small subset of the community.
• 40:48
  Anybody that's doing that, they've got the fighter suits.
• 40:51
  They're all the cars has to go through check.
• 40:53
  I'm not going to tell them anything here that they don't already
• 40:56
  know as far as the coverage goes.
• 40:58
  10 years ago, very difficult to find.
• 41:01
  It's much more common today.
• 41:03
  I'm still surprised that it is, but it is, you can buy it today.
• 41:06
  So let's just say I've got an old Triumph, you know, e prepared car.
• 41:10
  It's collecting dust in my garage, even though it's not road legal, that could
• 41:15
  be covered under classic car insurance.
• 41:18
  I just want to make sure that that caveat is okay.
• 41:21
  As long as I'm not using it at a track day, I could be taking it to a
• 41:24
  show, something like that, where it's basically static, it could be covered
• 41:28
  to protect it in case of an issue.
• 41:30
  Absolutely.
• 41:31
  Hemmings did a story on one of my cars a few years ago.
• 41:34
  It's up in the Auburn Core Duesenberg Museum right now.
• 41:36
  It's a 1938 Bowles dryer race car.
• 41:40
  It was that junk formula for IndyCar.
• 41:41
  It was right in between dirt and IndyCar.
• 41:44
  And it came out with a Spana Suiza engine.
• 41:46
  It's got a dual overhead cam, Model B Ford in it right now.
• 41:49
  But that's on a collector car policy right now.
• 41:51
  It's my car, but I'm not racing it.
• 41:53
  But at the same time, I could still drive it if I wanted to.
• 41:56
  But as long as I don't take it on a dirt track.
• 41:58
  It's no problem at all.
• 41:59
  So yes, we have lots of race cars that are on policies.
• 42:01
  They just aren't covered when they're on the track.
• 42:03
  Let's unpack this a little bit more.
• 42:05
  There is a discipline inside of motorsports known as road rally
• 42:09
  used to be called Gymkhana, not the Ken Block Gymkhana that
• 42:12
  we're all accustomed to today.
• 42:14
  It's an SCCA sanctioned.
• 42:16
  Quote unquote motor sport event, but it's not timed.
• 42:19
  It's more like touring and some of the things that the classic car guys do.
• 42:23
  If you're at one of these Dominion Packard club or SCCA road rally or
• 42:27
  something like that, one of these sanctioned events, it's not timed.
• 42:31
  Are you still covered public roadway?
• 42:34
  There's no issue.
• 42:35
  My mom and dad did that in the fifties with a DKW of all things.
• 42:39
  I've never heard of a DKW before.
• 42:40
  One of the four rings of Audi.
• 42:42
  Yeah, that's exactly right.
• 42:43
  That's good.
• 42:44
  Yeah.
• 42:44
  Typically, that's not an issue.
• 42:46
  Again, if there's any question, I would always say, call your company real quick,
• 42:50
  send them an email, whatever you need to do and ask, but anything that's on the
• 42:53
  road, if you're breaking the road laws.
• 42:56
  There's a problem.
• 42:57
  Poker runs, things like that.
• 42:59
  That's not an issue.
• 43:00
  You're just using the roads.
• 43:01
  Speed limits are the speed limits.
• 43:02
  That's it.
• 43:02
  We potentially get in trouble is if it's a timed event.
• 43:05
  Now, how many high school parking lots turn out to be
• 43:07
  an SCCA solo two type event?
• 43:10
  That's a different thing.
• 43:12
  And I would tell you the guys that are doing that, they pretty
• 43:14
  much understand how that works.
• 43:16
  If there's a newbie coming along, it just doesn't happen.
• 43:19
  People know.
• 43:20
  I've seen it because I've been in these events.
• 43:22
  The folks that bring their vehicles to these tours, to these gymkhanas,
• 43:26
  these road rallies, by way of trailer, either open or enclosed.
• 43:30
  We've asked this of the track day insurance companies as well.
• 43:34
  Is the car covered while in transit, if it's on a trailer or in a trailer?
• 43:39
  I would tell you in our policy, it would be.
• 43:41
  Not a problem.
• 43:42
  Comprehensive coverage, trailer upset.
• 43:44
  If you're towing your race car, your on track physical damage,
• 43:47
  your HPD insurance is different than your off track and storage.
• 43:51
  If you've got a race car and you've got a trailer, you've got tools and
• 43:54
  equipment, you can get what they call an off track and storage policy, which is
• 43:57
  strictly physical damage, no liability.
• 44:00
  Trailer upset trailer stolen.
• 44:02
  That's where that coverage comes from.
• 44:03
  You think about the insurance world, everything siloed, you got road, you
• 44:07
  got a garage, you got a racetrack.
• 44:09
  There's coverage for all of these different areas.
• 44:12
  It just might mean you have to combine a couple of policies.
• 44:15
  That's the big thing.
• 44:17
  So that also implies if you don't keep your cars at your house, say they're
• 44:21
  on loan to a museum or in a storage facility or something like that.
• 44:24
  Classic auto insurance covers that as well.
• 44:27
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 44:27
  Yeah, though, we'll want to know like what the other storage location is.
• 44:31
  And a lot of times if it's at a museum, the museum is going to want to see
• 44:34
  where there's proof of insurance anyway.
• 44:36
  We'll send certificates to those locations to say, yep, it's covered.
• 44:39
  It's fine.
• 44:40
  You got a good museum.
• 44:41
  So alternate garaging locations aren't an issue.
• 44:44
  So one last question.
• 44:45
  You brought it up.
• 44:45
  You talked about bad behavior on the public roads.
• 44:49
  So what happens in an instance where Maybe you were doing something silly
• 44:53
  in your classic car and you were pulled over, given a citation or whatever,
• 44:57
  have you, obviously the points still apply to your license to you as a
• 45:02
  driver and all the reciprocity between states and all that kind of stuff.
• 45:05
  But how does that affect your policy in any way?
• 45:09
  It could be significant depending on what it is.
• 45:11
  I mean, we'll take the most extreme example of DUI.
• 45:13
  I hate to say that it happens to people.
• 45:16
  Typically, it's not intentional, but that means at least with us,
• 45:19
  you won't get a policy next year.
• 45:20
  That will affect your other policies as well.
• 45:22
  I mean, that's a felony.
• 45:23
  If just a speeding, depending on the severity, everybody's policies, your
• 45:27
  MVRs or your motor vehicle records are run through a system each year.
• 45:32
  And if there's been any activity on there, they actually drill
• 45:35
  down to see what it was.
• 45:36
  If it's a reckless driving, a hundred and a 65, again, that's
• 45:40
  another reason to lose your policy.
• 45:42
  Some companies, they can charge you a higher rate.
• 45:45
  If it's not so severe that they have to like stop your policy and cancel it at
• 45:50
  renewal, they can charge you additional.
• 45:52
  But needless to say, nothing ever good comes from getting stopped.
• 45:55
  Bottom line, you're never going to get a congratulations.
• 45:58
  You got a 20 mile an hour ticket.
• 46:00
  Thanks for being in our customer card.
• 46:01
  That's not going to happen.
• 46:02
  Just try to avoid those situations the best you can.
• 46:05
  Well, the opposite of that, is there the good driver discount?
• 46:08
  Yeah, that's true.
• 46:09
  Uh, there, there are, and uh, that's kind of built into the base rate.
• 46:13
  I would tell you.
• 46:14
  That the best drivers on the planet are clients and your listeners,
• 46:18
  because the last thing you want to do is lose your license, what you love.
• 46:21
  You can't do, we actually find that poor driving among true collectors is
• 46:26
  never an issue where it isn't issues.
• 46:28
  You've got somebody who just got a big bonus and now they go out and
• 46:31
  buy a 96 Viper for 40 grand, you know, same price as a Toyota Camry.
• 46:36
  It lasts about a month.
• 46:39
  And then go on Copart, and there it is, right?
• 46:42
  Those folks, in my mind, they're not true collectors.
• 46:45
  This year it's a hot rod car, next year it might be a boat, two years
• 46:48
  from now it might be a helicopter.
• 46:49
  But your average car collector, the last thing they want to do
• 46:52
  is have a bad driving record and not be able to use your toys.
• 46:55
  That's bad.
• 46:56
  Like you, I get my speeding out of my system by going to the track.
• 46:59
  So that's an easy solution.
• 47:01
  You're exactly right.
• 47:01
  And I will tell you, you mentioned cars and coffee a couple of times.
• 47:04
  I do a lot of speaking engagements at events.
• 47:06
  What I always leave with is there's no better police than peer pressure police.
• 47:10
  And when you see people leaving cars and coffees or whatever it happens
• 47:14
  to be, and they're being stupid, understand that their actions are going
• 47:17
  to affect everybody else that's there.
• 47:20
  We've all been at these shows now where they.
• 47:22
  Talk about no peeling out when you leave and those types of
• 47:24
  things, because it's true.
• 47:26
  If you see anybody being stupid with a car, it's very fair to go
• 47:30
  up and say, not cool, not cool.
• 47:32
  Because if you screw up, it's going to affect all of us at that point.
• 47:36
  And not to continue to beat that drum, but coming from the autocross world
• 47:39
  myself, it's always something that we told people is when you're leaving here, first
• 47:43
  of all, the cops are waiting for you.
• 47:45
  And second of all, what you do within the vicinity of the autocross lot.
• 47:49
  Jeopardizes our ability to continue to have those events.
• 47:52
  Just be mindful of the rules of the road when you're not at those events.
• 47:56
  That is exactly right.
• 47:57
  That's the downside of our hobby.
• 47:58
  And again, the newer, faster, more affordable cars that we have today,
• 48:03
  it makes it very easy to have that right foot go all the way to the floor.
• 48:07
  Nothing good comes Copart is.
• 48:11
  Go to copart sometime and just click on exotics.
• 48:14
  It'll break your heart when you see all those beautiful cars that are just
• 48:17
  sitting in parking lots, collecting dust, you know, 2000 miles on these
• 48:21
  cars and destroyed makes me want to cry.
• 48:24
  I hate to break up the party here.
• 48:25
  You know, Jim, you and I came to meet each other through a press release.
• 48:30
  And it was about a new venture your company is getting into called Carnection.
• 48:34
  So why don't we talk about that a little bit?
• 48:35
  Why don't we tell the listeners what Carnection is?
• 48:38
  Why don't you educate us about it?
• 48:39
  All we've got is that little press release.
• 48:41
  Carnection Advisors is a company that I started about three years ago.
• 48:44
  I would tell you after, again, 30 years in this business, one of the
• 48:47
  most frequent phone calls that I would get is someone who inherited a car.
• 48:52
  They didn't know who to talk to.
• 48:53
  All they had was the insurance ID card and the glove box or under the seat.
• 48:57
  And what do I do?
• 48:59
  Throughout the years, I've referred people to dealer friends and
• 49:01
  auction houses and things like that, that people didn't want it.
• 49:04
  And so 3 years ago, I thought the opportunity is here to pre
• 49:08
  plan what's going to happen to these cars down the road.
• 49:11
  So everybody else pre plans for everything else in their life, but
• 49:14
  they don't talk about their cars.
• 49:16
  And what I mean by that is, I'm not buying and selling.
• 49:19
  But just sitting down and making sure that all the documentation is done for a car.
• 49:24
  There's nothing worse than a car that I know is an incredibly special
• 49:28
  car that tons of money was spent lots of time, but no one ever
• 49:31
  documented what was special about it.
• 49:33
  You go to an auction and they can't get a car started.
• 49:36
  And then you go over and show them, well, because there's a toggle switch under the
• 49:39
  dash that the guy put there 20 years ago.
• 49:43
  There, now you could start, well, that can mean world of difference
• 49:46
  in the sales price on a car.
• 49:47
  I mean, valuation goes.
• 49:48
  So what I do is what I did was you work with folks.
• 49:52
  Typically the wife is the most happy about this because unfortunately,
• 49:56
  gentlemen, in this world, we're going to be the first ones to go.
• 49:58
  The spouses are then left with what the hell do I do now?
• 50:02
  You know, the obituary hits within 24 hours.
• 50:05
  The calls start hitting.
• 50:06
  Unfortunately, the people that are left don't know what to do.
• 50:09
  So literally we come up with basically a drop dead book.
• 50:12
  In case something happens to me, here's all the information on the cars.
• 50:15
  Fred, the next door neighbor, I loved him.
• 50:17
  He's going to get the 63 Corvette as opposed to Fred, the next door
• 50:22
  neighbor, who your husband actually hated is going to come over and say,
• 50:25
  you know, he promised me that car.
• 50:27
  I want it now.
• 50:28
  Cause that happens all the time.
• 50:29
  So you set all this stuff up front.
• 50:31
  You decide the guy's got a 65 Mustang GT three 50.
• 50:36
  They're going to want to sell it.
• 50:37
  Dana does a great job selling American muscle cars.
• 50:40
  Oh, and they're in Florida.
• 50:42
  Let's sell that at the semi auction.
• 50:44
  So whoever is left when the time comes, they know exactly what to
• 50:48
  do with those cars, as opposed to.
• 50:50
  A dealer calling up and saying, Hey, I'll take all those cars off your
• 50:53
  hands and I'll give you X for them.
• 50:54
  And this is their job.
• 50:55
  This is not belittling anybody.
• 50:56
  And they're actually doing them a favor.
• 50:58
  My idea was to make sure that the cars that are left, it's a
• 51:02
  maximum payout for the family.
• 51:04
  And also thinking about the guy that did the restoration.
• 51:08
  You kind of owe it to him, especially for good cars, they get enough money for them.
• 51:12
  Because all at once, if a car doesn't run, when it crosses the auction
• 51:15
  block, everybody's like, I thought Larry's car, Eric's car, Don's car.
• 51:19
  I thought it was a better car than that.
• 51:20
  I can't believe it doesn't run.
• 51:21
  I'm really surprised.
• 51:22
  Well, you're not there to tell them it doesn't run idiots because
• 51:25
  you didn't flip my safety switch, you know, things like that.
• 51:29
  So we document all that stuff.
• 51:30
  And then we do what we call our virtual garage.
• 51:32
  We actually build an app.
• 51:34
  For each one of the cars, so it's actually on their phone.
• 51:37
  So at the same time, all their information is ready to go.
• 51:40
  So if you want to share your car and all the information and all the documentation,
• 51:44
  it's right there on your phone.
• 51:45
  You can email it to people.
• 51:46
  You can show them at the car show as opposed to scrolling
• 51:50
  through all your pictures.
• 51:51
  To try to find pictures of your cars or your favorite cars.
• 51:54
  And so it's a complete package.
• 51:56
  It could be a package they hold on for a year, 10 years, 20 years.
• 51:59
  I mean, like any will you want to pre plan all these types of things?
• 52:02
  Because I know we're all going to live forever, but guess what?
• 52:04
  We're not going to.
• 52:05
  It's a tremendous amount of stress on the people left
• 52:08
  behind to deal with this stuff.
• 52:09
  So basically what Carnection is, it's helping people organize their automotive
• 52:14
  properties for the next of kin.
• 52:17
  When we depart, you mentioned the wills, do you work with wills, trust, estates?
• 52:22
  I mean, do you bring in the family attorney?
• 52:23
  I mean, we're going to assume you're the insurance guy of the family.
• 52:27
  So is there a banker?
• 52:28
  Is there a lawyer?
• 52:30
  Because obviously sometimes if you set up your trust, if you set up
• 52:33
  your will, that can conflict with what you're doing here on the side.
• 52:37
  So how do we stop that?
• 52:38
  I want my 65 Corvette to go to my neighbor, Bob, because
• 52:41
  he always loved that car.
• 52:42
  And he was always good to me and my dog and my wife and all that.
• 52:45
  But, oh God, I forgot about my will, which said I'm leaving it
• 52:48
  to cousin Tony back in Jersey.
• 52:50
  Back to the silo idea, most financial advisors, most attorneys,
• 52:54
  the cars and things like that are kind of in all other category.
• 52:57
  And so basically what we prepare, then that's presented
• 53:00
  to whoever their advisor is.
• 53:02
  And again, you have two, you've got your attorney for the legal side.
• 53:05
  I'm not an attorney.
• 53:06
  Thank goodness.
• 53:07
  But then you also have financial side.
• 53:09
  You look at people's balance sheets, you know, they've got their
• 53:12
  401ks, their savings, their stocks.
• 53:14
  And over here, they've got other another could be guns or whatever else.
• 53:19
  A lot of times it's cars and the financial advisor says, and what's that car worth?
• 53:23
  Oh, I know.
• 53:23
  I bought that car in 1967.
• 53:26
  I guess it's probably worth.
• 53:28
  I don't know.
• 53:28
  I paid 30, 000 for it back then.
• 53:30
  I haven't been paying attention.
• 53:32
  Let's just say 200, 000.
• 53:33
  Okay.
• 53:34
  And then it turns out to be a 67275 Ferrari 4 cam, you know, for 3 million.
• 53:39
  That actually has happened.
• 53:41
  When people get older, sometimes they forget and they don't
• 53:44
  pay attention to values.
• 53:45
  We do because it's the business that we're in.
• 53:47
  Some people don't.
• 53:48
  So all at once.
• 53:50
  This all other number over here, which is 200 grand might be worth
• 53:54
  double what the rest of the estate is, which changes everything from
• 53:57
  a financial planning perspective.
• 53:59
  At that point, that's what gets missed.
• 54:02
  Stocks, bonds, real estates, gold.
• 54:05
  Easy.
• 54:06
  I can tell you spot gold right now.
• 54:07
  1, 697 an ounce.
• 54:09
  It's much more difficult to value the stuff that we like.
• 54:12
  You're better off doing that earlier rather than later.
• 54:15
  Part of that also is videos.
• 54:18
  We all want history, right?
• 54:19
  There's no better history than the guy that restored the
• 54:21
  car to tell you what he did.
• 54:22
  This is all part of it.
• 54:23
  You're hearing their words.
• 54:24
  This is what I did.
• 54:25
  My car.
• 54:26
  This is why I love it.
• 54:27
  So eventually when you end up with it, that continues on with it.
• 54:31
  This is the story as much as anything.
• 54:32
  And that also helps you in a world perspective.
• 54:34
  Yeah.
• 54:35
  I love this whole estate planning for the cars and the vehicles.
• 54:38
  I mean, it obviously incorporates motorcycles and everything else along
• 54:41
  with it, but it brings up a really good question because as we rewind
• 54:45
  the clock and look back over the year, we've seen the Gene Ponder collection.
• 54:49
  We've seen the Jim Taylor collection.
• 54:51
  We've seen a lot of other ones come to the table and it's not just the cars.
• 54:56
  It's the collection.
• 54:57
  So say you have a Lotus, you have all the Lotus paraphernalia and memorabilia
• 55:03
  and everything that goes with it.
• 55:05
  Is that included in that package as well?
• 55:07
  Is that documented in the process?
• 55:08
  It certainly can be.
• 55:09
  And I would tell you that a memorabilia person and that's not my expertise, but
• 55:13
  there's people out there that aren't that.
• 55:14
  I mean, you're talking signatures and all the rest of these
• 55:17
  things that you got to document.
• 55:18
  It's the car side, which typically is the biggest piece of those collections.
• 55:23
  I mean, you can get into toys.
• 55:25
  All the Petrolina stuff.
• 55:26
  I mean, it's incredible.
• 55:28
  The majority of the people though, honestly, that this is an issue for are
• 55:32
  people with probably five cars or less.
• 55:34
  The big auction houses aren't knocking down their doors because
• 55:36
  they kind of don't know about them.
• 55:38
  It's people that haven't been involved in the hobby for a while because they've
• 55:41
  gotten old, which is, I hate to say it, a big part of our hobby right now.
• 55:45
  It's an aging.
• 55:46
  Either have the very young folks or very old folks, but all that
• 55:49
  stuff can be incorporated where right now, typically it's not.
• 55:54
  And when you fill out your asset liability and balance sheet, the person you're
• 55:57
  handing this stuff to is just taking your word on those valuations and then.
• 56:02
  When you do need to dispose or develop your succession plan, it's
• 56:07
  just too hard when the person who put the collection together is gone.
• 56:10
  And for a lot of people, four or five cars, that's a significant collection.
• 56:15
  The average owner owns one and a half cars.
• 56:17
  When you start dividing things up, about one and a half is
• 56:19
  what most collectors have.
• 56:20
  But then you've got huge collections, right?
• 56:21
  But at the end of the day.
• 56:23
  It's the little guys that need the help with this.
• 56:25
  And sadly, they're the ones that a lot of times it's too late to get any help
• 56:28
  for them, just the way that it goes.
• 56:29
  And that breaks my heart.
• 56:31
  Again, we all know stories of someone getting, whether it was a neighbor,
• 56:34
  whatever it happens to be, that kind of got taken advantage of by someone.
• 56:38
  It's just sad.
• 56:39
  Is the Carnection app, let's call it that, included when you buy a classic
• 56:45
  auto insurance policy or is that something separate you got to get?
• 56:48
  What does it cost?
• 56:49
  Yeah, it's a separate business, completely separate business.
• 56:51
  You do not have to be a classic customer for this.
• 56:55
  And typically it's a percentage.
• 56:56
  It's a fee based.
• 56:57
  Model, just like you would go with a fee based financial advisor, you're
• 57:02
  looking at anywhere from, you know, a half to one and a half percent
• 57:06
  as a valuation of the collection.
• 57:08
  So you've got 100, 000 in cars, let's say might cost you 1500 total, but
• 57:13
  with that, you'd get the whole peace of mind of what's going on and, uh, what's
• 57:18
  the rest that's going to go someday.
• 57:19
  That's huge.
• 57:20
  The other side of it is.
• 57:21
  It makes you a very attractive prospect for a dealer or an auction
• 57:25
  house because they don't need to do any research done on the cars.
• 57:27
  It's done.
• 57:28
  You hand it to them.
• 57:29
  Typically, if they're going to bring in a car or cars, especially special cars,
• 57:34
  they're going to go through and do all the documentation and pull all the paperwork.
• 57:37
  Well, that's kind of what we do.
• 57:38
  We scan it in, build your own file for you, and it's all ready to go.
• 57:42
  It's amazing how many times we've heard about people when somebody dies,
• 57:46
  they know the car's worth a lot of money, but there's all this paperwork.
• 57:49
  Just pitch it.
• 57:50
  It's just old receipts and things.
• 57:52
  Well, that was everything that was ever done to those cars.
• 57:56
  Back to the story of what we like.
• 57:58
  You just threw away 10 of the 12 chapters.
• 58:01
  Of that vehicle because you didn't know, but once you
• 58:03
  digitize it, it's there forever.
• 58:05
  You brought up a lot of the big collections of big collectors, etc.
• 58:08
  And you said the little guys are the ones who normally need the most help with this.
• 58:12
  And I kind of agree.
• 58:14
  Let's take my cars, for example.
• 58:15
  Yeah.
• 58:15
  None of them are what you would call important collector cars.
• 58:18
  The DeLorean and the Mustang might have a little bit, the DeLorean
• 58:21
  would, but the Mustang might have a little say in something.
• 58:24
  But all the rest of my cars are pretty darn basic.
• 58:27
  Is that a customer that you would want to have?
• 58:30
  Or are we looking for the guy who has the Corvette with the racing provenance
• 58:35
  or the Bugatti that was shown at the Paris something or other show in 1940?
• 58:39
  When we talk about Bugatti, for example, there's no issues.
• 58:43
  Everybody knows those cars.
• 58:44
  No matter what he says, all those cars are known.
• 58:47
  Sure.
• 58:47
  They might find it cause it's been 30 years since it's been shown, but people
• 58:51
  know those cars, the cars like you have.
• 58:54
  Depending on your situation.
• 58:55
  Yeah, it could be.
• 58:56
  I mean, if you don't want from an estate perspective, your spouse,
• 58:59
  your kids, whatever, hassle.
• 59:01
  And again, sadly, the other reason why this has come up is because
• 59:04
  most families, the children want nothing to do with the cars.
• 59:06
  All they want is the money.
• 59:07
  I'm unique in that I'm a second generation person.
• 59:10
  It just doesn't happen.
• 59:11
  All the kids I grew up with in the car hobby.
• 59:14
  I don't think any of them stayed involved.
• 59:16
  They got burnout.
• 59:17
  Their parents drug them to every car show when they were under 18.
• 59:19
  And as soon as they got out of high school, they lived a
• 59:21
  lifetime of cars in 18 years.
• 59:24
  They never want to see him again.
• 59:25
  Even your cars, if it's nothing more than just to formally establish
• 59:29
  where your DeLorean is going to go, you know, it's a 40, 50, 000 car.
• 59:33
  Depending on your state, that's significant.
• 59:36
  That's a lot of money.
• 59:37
  And it makes it easier for whoever might be left to dispose of those
• 59:40
  cars to know right up front.
• 59:41
  This is what it's worth.
• 59:42
  This is where it's going.
• 59:43
  Here's an offer.
• 59:44
  Or it could be the neighbor or it could be a grandkid, but you want
• 59:48
  to establish that stuff up front.
• 59:50
  It's really not even a value perspective, peace of mind on where these things go.
• 59:54
  And it may not seem like a lot of money to you 10, That's a boatload
• 59:59
  of money for a lot of people.
• 1:00:01
  And there's a big difference between 15.
• 1:00:03
  You mentioned this is where this car is going to go.
• 1:00:05
  You said that is their hand holding.
• 1:00:08
  I'll just call it that from your company.
• 1:00:10
  Like, let's say I croak right now drop dead.
• 1:00:12
  You and I fortunately went through and documented all my cars.
• 1:00:16
  We got them all in video and books and receipts and all this
• 1:00:19
  digitizing and all this other stuff.
• 1:00:22
  So my wife and my daughter, what do they do now?
• 1:00:24
  There's a book, there's an app, there's a phone number.
• 1:00:27
  It's amazing how strong spouses can be when they at least have some direction.
• 1:00:32
  What they'll have is a guide of exactly who they need to call when, you know,
• 1:00:37
  sometimes the best thing to do is don't do anything for a year or six months.
• 1:00:40
  I mean, and you tell everybody that calls nothing's happening, whatever.
• 1:00:44
  We absolutely can shepherd them through that process.
• 1:00:47
  But the idea is if I get hit by a bus.
• 1:00:50
  Or someone else who's worked with them gets by a bus, they
• 1:00:52
  literally can open that book.
• 1:00:54
  And we decided upfront that 65 Mustang is going to get sold at the sale
• 1:00:59
  because it makes the most sense.
• 1:01:01
  Whether it's a Mecham January auction or whatever happens to be,
• 1:01:05
  let's say, then they just pick up the phone and call and say, Hey,
• 1:01:08
  Carnection put this together for us.
• 1:01:09
  Here's where we're going to sell the car.
• 1:01:11
  They'll be thrilled to talk to them at that point.
• 1:01:13
  It's not difficult.
• 1:01:14
  I mean, those folks are very good at managing that process
• 1:01:18
  of then shipping the car.
• 1:01:19
  At that point, they might have to do a little spit and polish and
• 1:01:22
  maybe they haven't run for a while.
• 1:01:23
  That's what those groups do for you.
• 1:01:25
  But it's very simple.
• 1:01:26
  But we can do as little or as much as they want.
• 1:01:28
  But in the end, they can do it all themselves.
• 1:01:30
  That's the whole idea.
• 1:01:31
  Your company would be there for them if they needed a little
• 1:01:34
  help or a lot of help or no help.
• 1:01:35
  They can make that decision.
• 1:01:37
  Absolutely.
• 1:01:37
  I told a lot of people this, I'm doing this for total selfish
• 1:01:39
  reasons, because someday I'm going to have to do this for myself.
• 1:01:42
  I already have.
• 1:01:43
  It's probably my wife someday going to have to put up with this stuff that
• 1:01:47
  I've forced upon her our whole lives.
• 1:01:50
  It's just the way that it goes.
• 1:01:52
  It's kind of paying it forward here a little bit.
• 1:01:54
  And honestly, from our perspective, we're not talking a lot of money.
• 1:01:56
  This is not a big moneymaker for us.
• 1:01:59
  It's more helping the community.
• 1:02:00
  As much as anything, only because we know it's just a tough spot for those
• 1:02:06
  people left behind to have to deal with and have a disinterested third party.
• 1:02:10
  You're going to have no interest in the cars.
• 1:02:11
  They're not helping selling.
• 1:02:12
  We don't get anything.
• 1:02:13
  Many of you refer them too.
• 1:02:14
  It doesn't make any difference.
• 1:02:15
  It's just, in our opinion, it's the best place for them to get
• 1:02:18
  rid of those cars or do whatever they want with them at that point.
• 1:02:21
  I want to remind our listeners though, that even though Carnexion
• 1:02:24
  is an awesome service, I love this whole concept and this whole idea.
• 1:02:27
  It is not And I'm going to say it again is not a replacement for your will
• 1:02:33
  trust or a state plan and you still need to pay your state taxes, your probate
• 1:02:37
  or however you want to set that up.
• 1:02:39
  It's not going to get taken care of for you through this ancillary service.
• 1:02:43
  This is an augmentation of your existing will or trust or a
• 1:02:49
  state plan or whatever it is.
• 1:02:50
  That's exactly right.
• 1:02:51
  We're not attorneys.
• 1:02:52
  All we're doing is helping people get pointed in the right direction because
• 1:02:56
  there's a lot of directions they can go.
• 1:02:58
  And it can make a huge difference financially for them where they
• 1:03:02
  choose to manage that process.
• 1:03:04
  That's it.
• 1:03:05
  All right, Jim.
• 1:03:05
  Well, we've come to that point in the episode where I get to ask you if you
• 1:03:09
  have any shout outs, promotions or anything else you'd like to share with our
• 1:03:13
  audience that we haven't covered thus far.
• 1:03:15
  If you're thinking about an insurance decision, always think about us at
• 1:03:18
  Classic Auto Insurance in Indianapolis.
• 1:03:20
  If you're ever in the Indianapolis area.
• 1:03:21
  Got a neat office, stop by, got a lot of cool cars in our back room that
• 1:03:25
  you're more than welcome to show to you.
• 1:03:26
  I appreciate the opportunity to come here and tell our story.
• 1:03:29
  The truth of the matter is, everyone should be using classic
• 1:03:32
  and collector car insurance instead of their generic carriers.
• 1:03:35
  Classic auto insurance offers specialized classic car insurance coverage
• 1:03:40
  you just won't find anywhere else.
• 1:03:42
  Their goal is to offer clients a tailored insurance policy that is as unique as
• 1:03:47
  the collection in their possession.
• 1:03:49
  Coverage which will help them protect and pass on the legacy
• 1:03:53
  they have worked so hard to build.
• 1:03:55
  To learn more about Classic Auto Insurance or get a quote
• 1:03:58
  online, be sure to log on to www.
• 1:04:00
  classicins.
• 1:04:04
  com.
• 1:04:04
  Dot com.
• 1:04:05
  That's classic IN s.com, or follow them on social at classic auto ins on
• 1:04:12
  Twitter, at classic auto insurance, on Facebook, at classic ins on Instagram,
• 1:04:19
  as well as on LinkedIn, Pinterest.
• 1:04:21
  And don't forget about their YouTube channel.
• 1:04:24
  That's right, Don.
• 1:04:25
  And Jim, I can't thank you enough for coming on Brake Fix and sharing
• 1:04:29
  your story, telling us about classic auto insurance and carnexion.
• 1:04:33
  And you know what?
• 1:04:33
  I'm going to add this to the column of things I didn't know existed, but
• 1:04:39
  I am sure glad I do now know about it.
• 1:04:42
  So thank you again for sharing your knowledge.
• 1:04:44
  educating us and our audience.
• 1:04:47
  I think it's important to both of our worlds, right?
• 1:04:49
  Don's bringing the classic car guys from GSM.
• 1:04:52
  I'm bringing the motorsports guys and here we are all sitting at the table
• 1:04:55
  together having a great conversation.
• 1:04:57
  And you know, what's really special about this is that when you call
• 1:05:00
  classic auto insurance, you're talking to car people, not a bunch
• 1:05:04
  of math nerds that are just looking at amortization tables and whatnot.
• 1:05:09
  So it's nice to know that you can pick up the phone.
• 1:05:11
  Have a conversation with car people from car people to car people.
• 1:05:14
  So that's pretty awesome.
• 1:05:15
  These are fun.
• 1:05:16
  And if you ever need anything else or anything more specific, don't
• 1:05:19
  ever want to talk about brass cars.
• 1:05:21
  Call me.
• 1:05:22
  Thank you very much.
• 1:05:23
  It's been great.
• 1:05:23
  Appreciate the time.
• 1:05:24
  Thanks, Jim.
• 1:05:30
  The following episode is brought to us in part by garage style magazine.
• 1:05:34
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