[Cardo]

No mileage limit or restrictions on stopping at the store per their home page. https://www.grundy.com/classic-cars/

[JLMounce]

I spoke with my Agent at SF about this and they checked with claims specifically.

It is true that on the Stated Value, ultimately claims will make final valuation decisions. However, there's a big caveat here because even with a stated value policy, underwriting won't write it for more than an approved value. When I got my policy I had to provide them the vehicle's specifications, pictures, literature etc.

So that all being said, the only time that you're really going to run into an issue with a stated value policy through State Farm is if the vehicle has been altered after the policy was written, you're involved in some fraudulent activity or somehow you got them to believe (and you yourself likely) that the car is not worth what you stated it was worth to begin with. Bottom line the issue would only really come up if the value you were trying to insure was way off to begin with. No, it's not an agreed value that will be paid regardless, but as long as you're not trying to make the car something it's not, you should be fine.

She did state they know that there's some type of merger going on with Hagerty and SF, but that it's not active yet and they don't have a tone of information on what that will look like.

[64speed]

Originally Posted by Cardo

No mileage limit or restrictions on stopping at the store per their home page. https://www.grundy.com/classic-cars/

I’m just telling you what the man said. Specific example was that if it was hit by a shopping cart I’d have to eat it

[64speed]

Plus at the bottom it says pleasure use only. That gives them wide legal berth when a claim comes. I’d rather pay Hagerty more and have the guy say drive it till the wheels fall off.

[The Champ]

Jason

Collector car values change - both up and down. If you have a 'Stated Value' of (insert value here) based on an appraisal when you insured the car and then have a claim 5 years later when the market is soft for your (insert car here), the 'Actual Cash Value' would be less than your appraised value and that is how the claim could (should) be paid for a 'Stated Value' policy.

One only has to look at auction reports to see how values can go up and down.

So your claim that, 'the only time that you're really going to run into an issue with a stated value policy through State Farm is if the vehicle has been altered after the policy was written, you're involved in some fraudulent activity or somehow you got them to believe (and you yourself likely) that the car is not worth what you stated it was worth to begin with', is incorrect.

Take the risk out and buy an 'Agreed Value' policy that apparently State Farm now has available if you want to stay with State Farm.

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by The Champ

Jason

Collector car values change - both up and down. If you have a 'Stated Value' of (insert value here) based on an appraisal when you insured the car and then have a claim 5 years later when the market is soft for your (insert car here), the 'Actual Cash Value' would be less than your appraised value and that is how the claim could (should) be paid for a 'Stated Value' policy.

One only has to look at auction reports to see how values can go up and down.

So your claim that, 'the only time that you're really going to run into an issue with a stated value policy through State Farm is if the vehicle has been altered after the policy was written, you're involved in some fraudulent activity or somehow you got them to believe (and you yourself likely) that the car is not worth what you stated it was worth to begin with', is incorrect.

Take the risk out and buy an 'Agreed Value' policy that apparently State Farm now has available if you want to stay with State Farm.

I'm not saying your wrong. However I think it's important to point out that several people here with actual policies on hand have essentially been told the exact same thing, by their agents. Mine went as far as to talk with claims to get information directly from them.

I've worked for State Farm in their auto subrogation unit, in the past. I can tell you that at least at that time SF wasn't in the business of screwing people over. The largest component of SF's marketing is word of mouth. Telling people one thing and doing the other is bad for that.

[The Champ]

I'm simply saying there is a reason why State Farm is changing the contract language of their policy. They wouldn't do it if there weren't problems with their previous policies.

[Formulajones]

I've been a State Farm customer for almost 40 years. Not always with classic cars, but with house and other newer cars in the past.

I've never had a claim in all that time until last year, with the house. While the house is a different circumstance, the BS I went through for the past year trying to get that claim paid has left me with a bad taste to the point we are dropping them completely.
The fact they didn't want to pay the claim, had 5 different adjusters out here over a year span, all the while the roof was leaking and causing more damage, adding to the bill, just doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling that they would take care of a classic car properly if something were to happen.

After more than a year they finally did pay for "most" of the damage, but not all of it. I still had to pay out of pocket to fix the house properly, and that's just not what I have insurance for. When you have an isolated wind storm that rips the roof off several houses on your street, and they all get repaired within a months time, and your the only one left on the street that hasn't been repaired, and that lingers on for an entire year, you know something is wrong with your insurance company. Ironically I was the only one on the street with State Farm. Just my luck.

We'll be dropping them completely once everything is finalized. Even the roof guys that are in the business told me State Farm is absolutely the worst insurance company to deal with, and they deal with all of them. Wasn't just one of the employees that said that, there were a few of them that really wanted to make a point to me how bad State Farm is and I was told on several occasions during this whole process to get rid of them as soon as possible.

I only hope that lack of service doesn't rub off on Hagerty, if what I'm reading is correct and they in fact merged together. That doesn't give me a warm fuzzy either.

[vertigto]

State Farm did the same to us after a hailstorm claim that required 8 new windows and a roof. They would only replace 75% of the roof and had to foot the rest...bad taste indeed. The storm also totaled my car and $10K damages on my wife's SUV.

FWIW...my GTO is insured with Grundy.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by vertigto

State Farm did the same to us after a hailstorm claim that required 8 new windows and a roof. They would only replace 75% of the roof and had to foot the rest...bad taste indeed. The storm also totaled my car and $10K damages on my wife's SUV.

FWIW...my GTO is insured with Grundy.

Sorry to hear that. I'm not surprised after what I've been through and how the roofers (who were fantastic by the way) rarely let a week go by without reminding me how bad they are to deal with.
In fact the owner told me when quoting jobs often times will turn the job away when he finds out state farm is the insurer, lol

I was lucky he wanted to take mine, he felt compelled since he was already here fixing 4 other houses on my street. He really did go to bat and fought for a year to get state farm to do something, and was present every time a new adjuster was put on the case.
My agent wouldn't do chit about it and had no interest in helping to get it resolved quicker. So much for agents.
Guess ya gotta find a good agent that gives a damn too.

[The Champ]

The above two posts validate my personal experiences with State Farm and that of friends that were insured with State Farm.

Your results may vary.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

I've been a State Farm customer for almost 40 years. Not always with classic cars, but with house and other newer cars in the past.

I've never had a claim in all that time until last year, with the house. While the house is a different circumstance, the BS I went through for the past year trying to get that claim paid has left me with a bad taste to the point we are dropping them completely.
The fact they didn't want to pay the claim, had 5 different adjusters out here over a year span, all the while the roof was leaking and causing more damage, adding to the bill, just doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling that they would take care of a classic car properly if something were to happen.

After more than a year they finally did pay for "most" of the damage, but not all of it. I still had to pay out of pocket to fix the house properly, and that's just not what I have insurance for. When you have an isolated wind storm that rips the roof off several houses on your street, and they all get repaired within a months time, and your the only one left on the street that hasn't been repaired, and that lingers on for an entire year, you know something is wrong with your insurance company. Ironically I was the only one on the street with State Farm. Just my luck.

We'll be dropping them completely once everything is finalized. Even the roof guys that are in the business told me State Farm is absolutely the worst insurance company to deal with, and they deal with all of them. Wasn't just one of the employees that said that, there were a few of them that really wanted to make a point to me how bad State Farm is and I was told on several occasions during this whole process to get rid of them as soon as possible.

I only hope that lack of service doesn't rub off on Hagerty, if what I'm reading is correct and they in fact merged together. That doesn't give me a warm fuzzy either.

That's not how State Farm works now. They don't hire contactors and pay them. They write the owner a check with a hold back to be sure the work is completed and the damage is repaired which is released pending a final inspection by the adjuster who estimated the cost to restore. Throughout the process, there is ample give and take for "unseen/pre-existing conditions" which could not be anticipated which could affect the estimate.

The following incidents occurred in the past two years, in both cases, State Farm compensated the property's owner for the damage and let them manage the repairs.

As an example, a buddy of mine had a guest bathroom on the first floor with a toilet that would "run" and unfortunately, his wife used the bathroom, clogged the toilet and left it running over a weekend while they were away. Flooded the first floor and basement, took down his basement ceiling, soaked all his drywall and door bottoms and all his baseboards and soaked a couple kitchen cabinets. An adjuster came out and did a complete take-off noting all material, and labor by LF and SF and the $'s allowed for each. When it came to the cabinets, they provided $'s to replace all the cabinets with new since matching the existing would be impossible and they also made an allowance for new countertops since they were laminate and glued and would be damaged if removed and reinstalled. They wrote my buddy a check and he used their take-off as a bid document and secured bids for all the labor and purchased his own materials. When he was done, he basically had a new kitchen, dining and hall flooring, all new trim and doors, new bath and new finished basement ceiling, and flooring and trim, a paint-out and around $5K left over. State Farm inspected the completed work and released the hold-back to the owner.

My son's upstairs neighbor (condo) attempted to install his own water heater. It leaked and damaged my son's ceilings with some drooping drywall, water spotting and some nail pops. State Farm's adjuster wrote him a check for a complete ceiling replacement. The drywall contractors he hired did one small patch, supported the drooping drywall and re-screwed it, skim coated and completely painted the ceilings, his walls, doors and trim for less than the State Farm amount estimate for the drywall replacement. State Farm released the hold-back immediately after the work was completed and inspected.

State Farm did not hire the contractors nor did they pay them directly. They compensated both owners for their loss and paid based on their estimate, which in both cases was a generous amount and in excess of the actual restored cost.

There are, of course, deadbeat contractors who prey on homeowners and convince them to enter into an agreement where they become the insured's "agent" and manage the process for them. Some people fall for it and wind up with delayed projects, poor quality work and poor communication from these General Contractors who all the while blame the insurance company for the delays while they weasel more money out of the insurance company and become the real roadblock. Whenever a contractor attempts to get between you the owner and your insurance company, a scam isn't too far behind.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by NeighborsComplaint

That's not how State Farm works now, they don't hire contactors and pay them, they write the owner a check with a hold back to be sure the work is completed and the damage is repaired.

The following incidents occurred in the past two years, in both cases, State Farm compensated the property's owner for the damage and let them manage the repairs.

As an example, a buddy of mine had a guest bathroom on the first floor with a toilet that would "run" and unfortunately, his wife used the bathroom, clogged the toilet and left it running over a weekend while they were away. Flooded the first floor and basement, took down his basement ceiling, soaked all his drywall and door bottoms and all his baseboards and soaked a couple kitchen cabinets. An adjuster came out and did a complete take-off noting all material, and labor by LF and SF and the $'s allowed for each. When it came to the cabinets, they provided $'s to replace all the cabinets with new since matching the existing would be impossible and they also made an allowance for new countertops since they were laminate and glued and would be damaged if removed and reinstalled. They wrote my buddy a check and he used their take-off as a bid document and secured bids for all the labor and purchased his own materials. When he was done, he basically had a new kitchen, dining and hall flooring, all new trim and doors, new bath and new finished basement ceiling, and flooring and trim, a paint-out and around $5K left over. State Farm inspected the completed work and released the hold-back to the owner.

My son's upstairs neighbor (condo) attempted to install his own water heater. It leaked and damaged my son's ceilings with some drooping drywall, water spotting and some nail pops. State Farm's adjuster wrote him a check for a complete ceiling replacement. The drywall contractors he hired did one small patch, supported the drooping drywall and re-screwed it, skim coated and completely painted the ceilings, his wall, doors and trim for less than the State Farm amount estimate. State Farm released the hold-back immediately after the work was completed and inspected.

State Farm did not hire the contractors nor did they pay them directly. They compensated both owners for their loss and paid based on their estimate, which in both cases was a generous amount and in excess of the actual restored cost.

Where in the world did you get the idea that State Farm hires contractors?

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Where in the world did you get the idea that State Farm hires contractors?

I think I stated pretty clearly that they don't ... twice.

That was in response to you stating your roofer worked directly with State Farm to get your roof replaced. Your roofer is a third party to a two party agreement between you and the insurer and has no bearing.

You made a blanket statement that "all" the roofers hated to work with State Farm when in fact, they don't work with State Farm at all. They only hear from confused homeowners who think they are entitled to a new roof when the insurance stipulates a pro-rata cost for the replacement based on the age and condition of the damaged roof.

[dataway]

The Wikipedia on Hagerty makes no mention of State Farm ownership. In fact Hagerty just went public with a multi-billion dollar stock offering.

Maybe State Farm operates like Progressive that's offers vintage car coverage THROUGH Hagerty, but has no stake in Hagerty .. they just get a cut when they send a customer to Hagerty.

I've got State Farm for House and auto, never had a claim. Don't care for the whole "agent" thing ... just seems like a middleman that costs me more money. I noticed when my house was going way up in value they kept pestering me to increase my policy, which I did not do. If I did I can promise you they would not have been pestering me to lower coverage back down when the housing bubble burst... which it did.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by NeighborsComplaint

I think I stated pretty clearly that they don't ... twice.

That was in response to you stating your roofer worked directly with State Farm to get your roof replaced. Your roofer is a third party to a two party agreement between you and the insurer and has no bearing.

You made a blanket statement that "all" the roofers hated to work with State Farm when in fact, they don't work with State Farm at all. They only hear from confused homeowners who think they are entitled to a new roof when the insurance stipulates a pro-rata cost for the replacement based on the age and condition of the damaged roof.

My roofer did work with state farm directly to get the roof replaced but he wasn't a hired contractor by state farm. No where did I say that.
Read it again

[PAUL K]

I had one claim with State Farm on my home. If I remember correct they paid me direct and I paid the contractors. Everything was fine and it accomplished what I wanted.

There seems to be a lot of dislike for State Farm in this thread. I'm good with that but to be frank, I dislike all insurance companies equally. I really don't feel any of them are "your friend". I still have this thought in my head, at the end of the day they "have" to honor a contract both parties have signed. I'm thinking the "I got screwed" feeling is coming from not understanding the details of the signed contract.

I'm certainly not disagreeing with any of the posts in this thread. I admit to knowing little about insurance, claims and contracts. I realize there are some very well versed folks that seem to know more about the insurance business than I. With that being said, can anyone give an example of "getting screwed" by their insurance company that clearly went against the grain of their contract?

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by PAUL K

I had one claim with State Farm on my home. If I remember correct they paid me direct and I paid the contractors. Everything was fine and it accomplished what I wanted.

There seems to be a lot of dislike for State Farm in this thread. I'm good with that but to be frank, I dislike all insurance companies equally. I really don't feel any of them are "your friend". I still have this thought in my head, at the end of the day they "have" to honor a contract both parties have signed. I'm thinking the "I got screwed" feeling is coming from not understanding the details of the signed contract.

I'm certainly not disagreeing with any of the posts in this thread. I admit to knowing little about insurance, claims and contracts. I realize there are some very well versed folks that seem to know more about the insurance business than I. With that being said, can anyone give an example of "getting screwed" by their insurance company that clearly went against the grain of their contract?

I agree that I dislike the idea of all insurance companies and also how it's forced on you to have it. I've never considered them my friend either, but I do pay premiums for a service they are supposed to provide in the event something happens, and I expect that service. Everybody does.

Now I don't feel I got screwed in the pure sense of the word, but I do feel the way they handled things was in poor taste, especially compared to other insurance companies for the same repairs at the same time for the same damage.

I tried to keep my post short and sweet but I guess I'll explain a little deeper since some seem to have difficulty comprehending what I've posted about my recent experience.

We get a lot of wind in Arizona and sometimes it can be strong. Most of the time the strong stuff is very concentrated in small areas, so it doesn't happen often. In my case last year we had gusts on my gauge measured at 74 mph with sustained 60 mph. This blew a bunch of shingles off. It also got my neighbor next door, my neighbor across the street, and the house next door to him. It also went the next street over and got another 4 houses over there. About a 1/4 mile square radius. This happened around March of 22.

I don't know how things were handled on the street over but I can for sure tell you how things went on my street. Frank, Walt, and Tony were the neighbors affected and all 3 of them have different insurance. Walt was the first to call and the contractor he used was the same one that did all four houses including mine. He is well known in Arizona and absolutely fantastic to deal with. So while he was at Walt's I had him come over and quote my house, as he did the other 2. He then contacted the respected insurance agents for the home owners and dealt with all of that personally.

Walt's house was done and paid for that week. Frank's house was done the week after. The only house that took a little longer was Tony. He had some type of veterans insurance through the government. They were a little reluctant to pay but did finally come through. He had his roof a month later.
Mine on the other hand was a nightmare. I was the only one out of the 4 houses with State Farm. The contractor knew going in it was going to be a battle, and he was right.

First adjuster came out and he wanted to just do a repair. The contractor had to physically show how a repair was not possible, shingles too brittle and the fact that this particular shingle was not easily obtainable in the local area anymore, etc... That particular adjuster never even turned in the paperwork to State Farm. He went missing, I was told located to another state. We found out a couple weeks later when things went silent and had to contact State Farm myself. They had no records of it.

So second adjuster comes out. He was friendly enough but still wanted to go the repair route. The contractor had to go through all the usual steps again to show it needed a whole roof replacement. By now it's been 2 months and we've had some rain showers. A leak started in one room of the house.

More time goes by and they send out a 3rd adjuster. A lot of the same BS.
A 4th adjuster and then finally a 5th adjuster. I'm shortening this story up a bit as to how each adjuster came and went. Now I don't know what the hell was going on with State Farm and why so many adjusters had to keep coming out but the 4th adjuster went as far as taking shingle samples off of each structure on the property and sending them to some lab several states away for analysis. This is turning into a big pile of BS. Nothing ever came of that by the way.

By now we had 4 different leaks in the house and a year had gone by. The first leak that started a year ago actually started to mold. The damage was growing and as a result the cost of the repair kept going up thanks to State Farms inability to act on this sooner.

5th adjuster is now looking at all the drywall damage and when he comes to the first leak that started a year ago the first words out of his mouth was....We aren't covering that, that's an old leak and has mold" and that's when I just went off.. Told him that's because this claim as been going on for a F-N' year, and the contractor had to step in and calm me down. Told me it was best I didn't say anything more and let him handle it LOL. So I went to another room. Now even after all that State Farm was still fighting. They finally agreed to pay enough for a full roof replacement but didn't want to pay for all the water damage inside the house. The contractor went back and forth and kept me up to speed. After a lot of push State Farm finally came through with enough money for the drywall and paint work needed. They still won't pay for the damages on the shop roof however (a second dwelling on the property)
As of right now the roof has been completed on the house, I'm still waiting for the drywall work to begin inside the house, and the shop is out of my own pocket. Thanks State Farm It's now nearing the end of July 23!!!! That's Bullchit. It never should have taken that long and that's my whole issue with this deal. I expect better service than that, especially after a 40 year stint with them, and never a claim. And after all that, they still aren't fixing everything. Absolutely poor service, no excuse for that at all.

It's been nothing but a complete struggle from start to finish with this deal, all the while the contractor (the actual owner) telling me State Farm is the worst to deal with and he highly suggested once the claim is all signed off and done I should seek out a new insurance company. He said State Farm has been this way for years and he prefers to avoid jobs when State Farm is the provider.
After what we've been through and the fiasco it took to get the house repaired I'm definitely taking the contractors advice. I'm chomping at the bit to get the green light from the contractor so I can go tell State Farm to F.... off.

[Elarson]

From the Hagerty website home page:

Guaranteed Value® through Hagerty
You tell us what your classic is worth and we agree upon that value. In case of a total loss, Hagerty cuts a check for that amount. No games, no hassle**.

Compared to other's Stated Value
Standard insurers typically determine what your vehicle is worth. You have little to no input. In the event of a total loss, this leaves many people unable to replace their classic.

**Less any deductible and/or salvage value, if retained by you. Guaranteed Value includes all taxes and fees unless prohibited by state law.



I checked my Declaration page and it also says "Guaranteed Value".

FWIW,
Eric

[Elarson]

A quick Google search reveals some detail about State Farm & Hagerty; as of January 2023. It could be different now.

"Fintel reports that State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance has filed a 13G/A form with the SEC disclosing ownership of 50.00MM shares of Hagerty Inc - Class A (HGTY). This represents 60.09% of the company.

In their previous filing dated December 10, 2021 they reported 59.00MM shares and 64.60% of the company, a decrease in shares of 15.25% and a decrease in total ownership of 4.51% (calculated as current - previous percent ownership)."

Eric