Insurance and the lifted, modified, 'wheeled XJ....

[YELLAHEEP]

As if I didn't have enough crap going on....

State Farm sends me a letter telling me that after review of all of my insurance policies (and probably seeing the recent pictures I sent them of my XJ) they've decided they don't want to insure my rig anymore.

"We're sorry that we cannot continue this insurance after a thorough review. The reason for this action is: This risk is ineligible due to the vehicle's limited production, customized or modified construction, or is of exceptionally high value that it may pose unusual problems, or are not certified to safety and/or emissions standards."

Ain't that a bitch? Now I gotta shop insurance.....

 

[hadfield4wd]

I know GEICO has provisions for modified vehicle. Being that GEICO actually stands for Government Employees Insurance Company you as a Police Officer may be entitled to a discount. By the way why did you send them pictures?

Matt

 

[CanMan]

Ive never had to send State Farm any pics of any new vehicle I add. Is it maybe a state req'd. law? They don't ask, I don't tell.

 

[steelmen]

lets see the pics you sent them?

 

[red91]

"We're sorry (No were not, but we cant tell you otherwise) that we cannot continue this insurance after a thorough review (we looked at it for 5 minutes). The reason for this action is: This risk is ineligible due to the vehicle's limited production (although we realize it was probably the most mass marketed jeep of its period and millions of them were made) , customized or modified construction (that doesn't look like our neighbors jeep at all) , or is of exceptionally high value (note: we insure only BMW's that have a value of 6500.00 or less, and no Mercedes PERIOD.) that it may pose unusual problems (when you can pull up next to us and see the crack pipe on the seat), or are not certified to safety and/or emissions standards."

Ain't that a bitch? Now I gotta shop insurance.....I sincerly hope you have all of your insurance needs through them...house, vehicle, life...and anything else...

Hopefully they will see the errors of their ways. Made a claim recently Troy?

Sincerly,

Subliminal Guy

 

[Elfwizard1975]

As if I didn't have enough crap going on....

State Farm sends me a letter telling me that after review of all of my insurance policies (and probably seeing the recent pictures I sent them of my XJ) they've decided they don't want to insure my rig anymore.

"We're sorry that we cannot continue this insurance after a thorough review. The reason for this action is: This risk is ineligible due to the vehicle's limited production, customized or modified construction, or is of exceptionally high value that it may pose unusual problems, or are not certified to safety and/or emissions standards."

Ain't that a bitch? Now I gotta shop insurance.....

If you have anything else insured with them I would call them and DRop everything!! Tell them to {use your imagination}. What state are you in? my father inlaw is a insurance agent.

 

[YELLAHEEP]

LOL! Red, you crack me up!

I've had this insurance agent since I was 18 and she's been AWESOME where my collector cars are concerned. She'd allow me to insure them in the summer with an auto policy, then transfer them to my homeowners during the winter. I have a stated value policy on my '46 Olds that only costs me $8 a month.

The XJ's have always been the problem. I've always carried full coverage just because of the possibility of a passenger getting hurt, or if the XJ got stolen. My agent's advice was to keep a record of all modifications, additions and send pics occasionally when more investment was made so that if a claim needed to be made, things would be current and documented. My agent said that State Farm wouldn't do a stated value policy on the XJ, so full coverage was my best option. I even asked my agent - way back when I got my first lifted XJ - about the buy-back option if the XJ were to be totaled. She said it wouldn't be a problem at all - that's what the receipts and pictures were to help with. She said they'd value the XJ as a stock vehicle, total it at market value, and not take into consideration the improvements, which I'd be removing from the wreck when bought back.

The other thing that my Agent has been cool about is removing rate increases when I contest them. I have a message in to talk to her to see if she can do something about this letter. If not, yeah, I'll seriously be considering moving ALL my insurance to another company. I've always considered GEICO and if they give discounts for LEO's and have a good collector car policy, they may get my business.

I'm kinda getting the impression that the insurance companies - State Farm in particular are getting "wise" to hardcore 'wheeling vehicles and are singling them out. If you don't have a lien or loan on the vehicle, they want nothing to do with it.

 

[macgyvr]

I had a little trouble with state farm. Its not the local agent, its the corporate company.

My Story:
I totaled my lifted/modified XJ in a rollover in April of 2001 (its been that long...dang), I was with another insurance company and at the time still on the parents (looking for other insurance, just hadn't changed and recently graduated from college at the time), the other insurance company rather impolitely told me to go to another company. Had a buddy with a good state farm agent. Went to him with my old Bronco and the totalled Jeep. State farm picked me up and both car (i did pay dearly for the frest accident), but no complaints. They just wanted to see the jeep after it was repaired. Didn't have trouble till a couple of years later when I picked up a small policy on my car trailer (coveres vandalism when parked). They wanted a pic of the trailer. Problem was at the time where I was living the only place that I had to park the trailer...was under the jeep. They saw a pic of the jeep (lifted, beat, 38s) and corporate told them to drop me. I was only carrying PLPD and comprehensive at the time. The agent called me and asked if I raced the jeep or competed in it. I told him that it was a rockcrawler that everyonce in a while was driven on the street. They told me that they could still cover it for PLPD but not for comprehensive as they would not be able to determine a value for the XJ (a problem that I ran into when i rolled it with the adjusters with the other insurance company.) So I ran with that until I took it down for the axle swap/suspension rebuild. They couldn't put storage insurance on it because once again they could not determine a value. So I dropped the policy while it sat for a while (ok two years whatever). Anyways got it back together this summer and talked to my agent. My state farm agent put it back on the policy and told me NOT to give him a picture of the Jeep. So far corporate hasn't asked and hasn't noticed the same VIN from before (and I only have PLPD on it). My agent has been good over the years in taking care of me with insurance. I will say tho that since 2001 and the accident, I have not had a claim (knock on wood).

If you still with me...I'm almost done. My buddy that had the same agent ended up with one too many claims (on his f150) not his jeep (tho he had some crazy claims there) and corporate told the agent to drop him. My agent went so far as to help my buddy shop around and eventually helped him find another insurance company to cover his vehicles.

With the amount of time you have been with your agent, I'd say they will go to bat to keep you on board.

But don't send them pictures...

mac 'always the corporates that get ya' gyvr

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Macgyvr, your experience is almost identical to mine. When I first insured this XJ, it had 35's, but a straight body, brand new paint, was driven as a secondary vehicle. I imagine they look at those old pics compared to the more recent ones where damn near every body panel is wavy, and there's rock rash all over...

I do think my agent will offer to start a liability only policy on the XJ, but over all, I think we're still paying too much insurance for all our vehicles. This might just be the time to jump ship.

 

[ILLXJ]

I have read (don't know first hand) that GEICO will not cover vehicles used off-road. Might want to check exactly what that means. I have had good luck with Country Companies. But you must be a member of Farm Bureau. I had my agent double check their off-roading policy & I am covered unless the vehicle is used in competition. He also told me to keep the receipts of any upgrades(not modifications:roll: ) so that they would be covered too. JIM.

 

[mavinwy]

I had state farm for years. Switched to Geico when I was a govt. employee, but when I left there.....the rates went up (despite no claims etc)

So we looked around and ended up with AIG. They were not necessarily the chepaest we found, but the agent was straight with us and got us better rates than Geico had before I left the Govt.

Since then, our rates have actually gone down. It is certainly worth checking out.

Jim

 

[midnightrunxj]

Working in the collison Industry Id have to say that state farm is the way to go. State farm will only used new or used FACTORY parts. Any other company will replace parts with the CHEAPEST aftermarket parts available. Even thou I have NationWide because they are the cheapest!!

 

[scorpio_vette]

i have state farm. my agent told me never to mention any kind of off-roading around any insurance people.

as far as value, they said that i could get my jeep apraised, and that we might be able to do a "agreed value" on the jeep, but that would obviously also raise the insurance price. which is ok with me if it bumps the vehicles value enough.

they also told me to keep all the receipts for everything i put on it. as far as value re-embursement, they said that if i got into an accident, to take it to a high quality jeep dealership (i go straight 5star dealership) and have them write up an estimate.

this last winter the jeep ended up getting hit and i did that. the insurance ended up not wanted to cover some of the parts that the dealer said needed to be replaced. so we called the agent over and showed him the new parts next to the damaged parts for visual comparison, and then they approved it. as far as my bushwackers go, they "couldn't replace them with bushwackers" cuz they only use "stock identical" parts. so they ended up pricing out whatever company makes the rubicon flares, and the price ended up being the same as the bushwacker price. so they did basically pay for them. and for my AGR steering box it was the same story, but the factory steering box ended up costing basically the same as the AGR box. so factory prices really aren't that bad since they usually cost equal if not more than some aftermarket parts...........(unless it's a bumper.lol)

generally when there is an accident with my jeep, i take it to the most expensive jeep dealership in town and have them do the estimate. then a little arguing with the insurance company, and then i have them cut me a check. and take the jeep home. it's much easier to do whatever you want with the vehicle when it's in your garage. all i had to do afterwards is take it back to the dealership and get it aligned and checked so the insurance could clear it. they didn't even come by to see what the jeep looked like.

 

[johnnyc]

I've mentioned this in other "insurance" threads. I am insured with Mercury and they didn't blink an eye when I filed a claim on my rollover.

At first, they said they would send a tow truck to take the Jeep to a body shop for an estimate. I told them "No, it's totalled". They said, "Really? Okay, we'll send someone out to take some pictures".

They came to my place and took pictures of my "non-stock" Jeep. They called with the settlement a few days later and I bought it back for $500.

I was concerned that my rates would go up at my next renewal. But it only went up $40 on a 6-month policy. And I still have the good driver discount.

Mercury always takes a picture of a vehicle when it's added to a policy. They asked me to come by so they could take a picture of my new replacement Jeep. Of course, now it doesn't look anything like it did when they took the picture.

And the same was true of my old Jeep. They had a picture of it when I first got it in 96...completely stock. And they now had a picture of it after the rollover.