M Coupe owners - How do you insure your car?

[E368 S52]

Fellow M Coupe owners (Roadster folks, feel free to respond too), I just wanted to know how you guys are insuring your vehicles.

I've just recently decided to look into this after 5 years of owning my Coupe. I'll go ahead and explain the dilemma but most of you are probably familiar with it, which is why I'm seeking your comments and advice.

As you know, the value of our cars according to Edmunds or KBB is very low as it doesn't take into account that they're limited production vehicles that are unique and hard to find. With my car being on the high mileage side (150k) since it's a daily driver, the value is somewhere around $7k. This wouldn't be an issue for me if in the event of a total loss I can get another 99-00 M coupe for $7k but I know I can't. Last I checked I would have to pay twice that just to get one with 120k -150k miles.

So I've looked into Hagerty's insurance (just the website info, didn't speak to anyone) and it doesn't seem like I qualify since I daily drive the vehicle and my 2nd and 3rd vehicle are older vehicles as well.

I'm currently under Allstate with full coverage but I'm sure they're looking at the car as just another regular BMW. I called the agent describing my concern and asked whether they do agreed-value insurance. His response was that they do but that my car is sort of in a tough situation because it's not considered a classic car and then combined with the high mileage. He basically gave me two options:
1) Get an appraisal for the car, hope that it appraises higher than $7k. Do it once a year to keep it up-to-date and in the event of a total loss, they can use the appraisal to help determine the replacement value.
2) Get an appraisal for the car, hope that it appraises higher than $7k. Use the appraisal to determine an agreed-value insurance policy. May or may not result in higher premiums.

I would love to hear how everyone else is going about this. Are you like me currently and just taking a risk if the car gets totaled? Do you have agreed-value insurance? Can I get agreed-value insurance without an appraisal (Allstate told be "no" because of my high mileage)? Has anyone been a victim of this issue either with your Coupe or another car with similar status? Was it ever resolved or did you just take the hit?

I apologize for such a long post. I appreciate any and all comments. Thanks.

[jrmartin03]

I have agreed-value insurance with Allstate. PM me for the name of an appraiser who I know has done several M Coupes.

[Bear Grylls]

In solid gold ingots

[cleanerPA]

I have agreed value insurance on my Coupe and recommend that anyone with an unusual car like this do the same. I also think it is best to use a specialty insurer because they are generally more familiar with the concerns and issues that arise with this type of policy and are better equipped to answer questions and handle claims.

Of course, this type of policy is not available if you daily drive your car, don't have another car to daily drive or do not have a secured garage with exclusive access (meaning a condo parking garage with gated card access is no good, but a garage on your property of a single-family home with a locking door is fine).

[325bob]

I can relate,I won my 99 on E-Bay and paid over book $, with a salvage title, luckily, repairs were simple and cheap.

[mehig]

I have an agreed upon value ($18,000) with KY Farm Bureau Insurance on a 98 m roadster for a cost of $350 yearly, with no mileage restrictions. To date the car has 24,000 miles. I have 3 other cars, 2 of which are newer than the roadster. I did have to negotiate with my agent several days and provide pictures and quotes from several of the collector car agencies. The collector car agencies had yearly mileage restrictions and one company had a no driving the car to work restriction. Due to the fact I have 4 cars and a home insured my agent was willing to work with me. I do have another friend locally who has several muscle cars(1960's models)also insured by Farm Bureau. I'm not sure that Farm Bureau operates in every state.

[ingalls89]

I go through Anpac. They have been great to deal with and will do a agreed value policy on your daily drivers as well.

I insure a 71 Camaro and a 69 Morris Mini through "Chrome" their specialty insurance. Then I have my 00 M Coupe on their regular insurance.

[Bcar]

USAA, bank and insurance one stop shop.

Several years back a friend totaled a car we had, they low balled us big time so we showed them several ads of similar cars/mileage and they matched the average.

Some will do stated value.

If you're at all eligible for usaa if HIGHLY recommended them!

[paul4223]

There is a significant and critical difference between "stated value" and "agreed value."

Agreed value is the only way to go if you're fortunate enough to be able to get it. Stated value can leave you at the mercy of your insurance company when it comes time to settle a claim.

[stamosenvy]

Have you checked KBB lately? I recently put in my 2000 M coupe with 88K on the clock and it came back surprisingly high (higher than what I paid for it one year ago at 83K miles). Or maybe I'm missing something...

[jajou318]

KBB price listing has gone up. I don't think the OP has recently checked.

[E368 S52]

I have agreed value insurance on my Coupe and recommend that anyone with an unusual car like this do the same. I also think it is best to use a specialty insurer because they are generally more familiar with the concerns and issues that arise with this type of policy and are better equipped to answer questions and handle claims.

Of course, this type of policy is not available if you daily drive your car, don't have another car to daily drive or do not have a secured garage with exclusive access (meaning a condo parking garage with gated card access is no good, but a garage on your property of a single-family home with a locking door is fine).

I have a garage but I do daily drive my car and my commute to work is 45 miles one way so I do rack up those miles pretty quickly. I think that was the issue with Hagerty for me.

I have an agreed upon value ($18,000) with KY Farm Bureau Insurance on a 98 m roadster for a cost of $350 yearly, with no mileage restrictions. To date the car has 24,000 miles. I have 3 other cars, 2 of which are newer than the roadster. I did have to negotiate with my agent several days and provide pictures and quotes from several of the collector car agencies. The collector car agencies had yearly mileage restrictions and one company had a no driving the car to work restriction. Due to the fact I have 4 cars and a home insured my agent was willing to work with me. I do have another friend locally who has several muscle cars(1960's models)also insured by Farm Bureau. I'm not sure that Farm Bureau operates in every state.

24,000 miles is very low which is probably why they were more willing to work with you. My Allstate agent said it would be easier for him if I didn't have 150k miles. I agree with him but the car was made to be driven!

I go through Anpac. They have been great to deal with and will do a agreed value policy on your daily drivers as well.

I insure a 71 Camaro and a 69 Morris Mini through "Chrome" their specialty insurance. Then I have my 00 M Coupe on their regular insurance.

I'll check out Anpac. Don't know much about them.

USAA, bank and insurance one stop shop.

Several years back a friend totaled a car we had, they low balled us big time so we showed them several ads of similar cars/mileage and they matched the average.

Some will do stated value.

If you're at all eligible for usaa if HIGHLY recommended them!

Unfortunately, I'm not eligible. I've only heard great things about USAA.

There is a significant and critical difference between "stated value" and "agreed value."

Agreed value is the only way to go if you're fortunate enough to be able to get it. Stated value can leave you at the mercy of your insurance company when it comes time to settle a claim.

Can you please elaborate on the difference? I would really like to know what the difference is.

KBB price listing has gone up. I don't think the OP has recently checked.

I checked KBB, Nadaguides, and Edmunds recently. KBB values have gone up and is indeed much closer to what it should really be for our cars. However, Nada guides and Edmunds is still showing extremely low values for our cars.


I appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions!

[MR1 Zig]

One of the things insurance is supposed to do is put you back where you were. The price guides are about worthless for low production cars and very accurate for high production cars.

What you should do is find out how the insurance companies you are looking at makes their decisions on value? Do they exclusivly look at pricing guides? Do they look at comparables? Comparables from how far away? Do they cover modifications? Etc.

In Ca. the insurance companies are required to look at comparables and put you back in the same financial place you were in before the crash. I'd demand they put a car of equal value in my driveway.

I did have a bike wreck and didn't have a problem. I use State Farm Insurance.

[jwpettit]

My first post on bimmerforums...hey everybody!

I want to revive this thread because I am beginning to consider purchasing an M coupe within the next couple years (probably when I finish college) and I'd like to get everything ready before hand.

I'm interested to know how people who daily drive their coupes (or roadies) and use them as their primary car insure them. I understand that most people have another car thus they are eligible for some sort of agreed value policy. But there seems to be enough people out there who don't, or at least that's the impression I've gotten from all of the forum stocking I've been doing lately.

As it is, and will be for a while I have pretty much everything against me. First off I'm a young male (though once I decide to bite the bullet on a coupe I'll be willing to deal with those high premiums), and I'm not, nor will I likely be for some time a homeowner so no garage. The one thing I have been able to find is that Grundy has a daily driver agreed value policy but they require a garage. Best I can do is what I believe is considered "private parking lot".

So yeah I'm at a loss for what to do because there really seems like no good option. You would think insurance companies would let you insure your car however you want so long as you are willing to write the checks to compensate but it doesn't appear so. Maybe some do if backed up by appraisals as suggested by jrmartin? I can't imagine gambling with regular insurance with these things since they are worth so much, and I really don't trust any of them (nor drivers around here) as some lady backed into the side my Honda last year and her stupid USAA refused to pay as apparently all the pictures I sent them of the damage "weren't sufficient proof".

Info from any owners with experience is very welcome. Like I said, probably a while off yet but starting to look.

[vanne]

Mines only insured for property damage, ie if I smash into someone else, their car gets payed, but mine doesn't.

It's a cheap car, realistically. My jeep on the other hand is fully compo insured, but its worth 55k us

[Ronan1]

I have an agreed value policy for both coupes, since I do less than 2500 miles per year in them. The M Coupes are one of the few modern cars they insure.

Their top limits were a little lower than I used to paying with Liberty Mutual (who were excellent by the way, but they didn't offer AVP) but I got an umbrella policy to make up the difference.

Ronan

[cleanerPA]

My first post on bimmerforums...hey everybody!

I want to revive this thread because I am beginning to consider purchasing an M coupe within the next couple years (probably when I finish college) and I'd like to get everything ready before hand.

I'm interested to know how people who daily drive their coupes (or roadies) and use them as their primary car insure them. I understand that most people have another car thus they are eligible for some sort of agreed value policy. But there seems to be enough people out there who don't, or at least that's the impression I've gotten from all of the forum stocking I've been doing lately.

As it is, and will be for a while I have pretty much everything against me. First off I'm a young male (though once I decide to bite the bullet on a coupe I'll be willing to deal with those high premiums), and I'm not, nor will I likely be for some time a homeowner so no garage. The one thing I have been able to find is that Grundy has a daily driver agreed value policy but they require a garage. Best I can do is what I believe is considered "private parking lot".

So yeah I'm at a loss for what to do because there really seems like no good option. You would think insurance companies would let you insure your car however you want so long as you are willing to write the checks to compensate but it doesn't appear so. Maybe some do if backed up by appraisals as suggested by jrmartin? I can't imagine gambling with regular insurance with these things since they are worth so much, and I really don't trust any of them (nor drivers around here) as some lady backed into the side my Honda last year and her stupid USAA refused to pay as apparently all the pictures I sent them of the damage "weren't sufficient proof".

Info from any owners with experience is very welcome. Like I said, probably a while off yet but starting to look.

With the age of these cars and their "book value," I don't think it's a good idea to use a conventional insurance policy for these cars. Reason being that the values are too low to get a comparable replacement car.

If you have a normal policy, be prepared to pay quite a lot. At the time I had my car on a normal policy, it cost me $1600/yr. for 100/300 liability, 50/50 under/uninsured, 500 comp/collision deductible with $40/day rental car coverage. That's with two other cars on the same policy and me being the only driver on all three. Late 30s, clean driving record, in the suburbs with a locked private garage in a single family home.

Under 25 is going to cost you a lot more. Not having a secure garage is going to cost you a lot more- less than street parking, but not much less. Collector car policy is much, much cheaper and I don't have to worry about what the car's value will be appraised at in the case of a total loss.

[jwpettit]

Thanks for all the answers guys!

I hate to say it but I'm beginning to wonder if I just need to rule these cars out and look something more "conventional". I'm mainly interested in protection since based on looking at the mcoupebg.com listings it seems that insurance companies have a really easy time writing them off as total loss cars after relatively minor accidents. I'm not worried about my driving but I don't trust anybody else or their insurance. And unfortunately if I ever buy one of these it'll be my only car (at least for a few years while I'm young and single) so most of the agreed value policies are just not an option, or at least all of the ones that I have been able to find. Probably when I start thinking more seriously about this I'll ring up my agent and see if he has any ideas. Currently on Erie insurance

[adonnan]

I'm glad to know that USAA does a fair job for agreed value. We just joined and are very impressed. It saves my inlaws over $100 a month and will save us a good bit, with better service/coverage

[jwpettit]

From what I have heard USAA is fantastic for those who have them. Personally I'm not eligible and I kind of loathe them every time I look at the big dent in the rear quarter panel of my car

Do they offer agreed value for main transportation/daily driver cars? Maybe I should join the military before I buy my car

[wsin]

Even though this thread is dead I just wanted to comment, I am insured with metromile, your bill adds up by how many miles you drive per month. The base rate for my m roadster is 43.20$ and .12$ per mile.(I am 18 yrs old btw). My bill came out to be 88$ this month driving 337 miles this month. This insurance is good for storage with the temptation of taking it out for a date night. The insurance company will ship you a obd plug, they track your miles and the vehicle location. The annoying thing about it is that the obd plug is always sticking out in the open in the passenger footwell.

[kbollox]

FWIW - Hagerty's Guaranteed Value coverage only cost me $435 for the year @ $15K valuation for my 2001 Z3 Roadster with 34K miles.

https://www.hagerty.com/insurance/classic-car-insurance

[wsin]

I did a quote with hagerty, finding insurance is hard being young. 1800$ per year @16k valuation. Although hagerty has great coverage, I will consider this company in the future.

[cyberman]

Hagerty's Guaranteed Value coverage only cost me $435 for the year @ $15K valuation for my 2001 Z3 Roadster with 34K miles.

Similar here, with a 96 Roadster with 96k miles, Haggerty gave me $14k coverage after I started rattling off a bunch of parts I'd added to it such as a new top. But, it's not my daily driver and I have a garage, so it's probably not an option for wsin. Before Haggerty, I think I got more normal coverage from State Farm.

[IndianaRoadster]

At eighteen years old the insurance company is going to charge him more. Because us old guys drove like crazy when we were young and drove insurance prices for young people through the roof!