Insurance Coverage Issues with T Tops?

[kkim]

I had a very interesting discussion with my insurance company tonight. I called to see what my rates for a 96 NSX would be and they told me they would not insure it!

I then asked to see if they would insure a 94 and he said there would be no problem.

Seems the issue is the insurance industry rating the T tops get due to them being a convertible, among other factors, which puts them at a higher "rating" . My insurance company will not insure cars with a certain rating or higher. Seems 94, being a coupe, passes their criteria based on the solid roof. I've been specifically looking at 95 and up cars due to the T top, which I happen to really like.

Sounds totally bogus to me, but has anyone else run into this problem with their insurance company?

 

[White92]

That's the first time I've ever heard of anything like this. I'd look at other insurance companies.

 

[NSXFreak00]

I've never heard of such thing. There is so much competition with insurance firms that I wouldn't stick around with a company so stringent on such issues.

 

[docjohn]

You may have less choice being in Hawai,that said you may have to show them the car as it is not a convertable,it has a fixed built in roll bar behind the seats.A targe type car is not a convertable :wink:

 

[kkim]

It is a pretty selective national insurance company, AARP Hartford, and is very conservative with their coverages. In Hawaii, we do have a lot of companies to select from and I have been happy with them for many years until now.

I'm just trying to get a feel on how much of a problem others are having before I call them back to discuss this matter with one of their "supervisors".

 

[NSXT]

Will they insure a '99 Z? Might be interesting to find out whether they are basing coverage on model year or pop top.

 

[kkim]

Will they insure a '99 Z? Might be interesting to find out whether they are basing coverage on model year or pop top.

Yes, I will be posing similar questions to them, but first wanted some sort of idea on how big of a problem this is with NSX's.

Like I said, it came as quite a shock that they wouldn't insure as I almost pulled the trigger on a 96 over the weekend.

 

[nsxtasy]

I'm just trying to get a feel on how much of a problem others are having before I call them back to discuss this matter with one of their "supervisors".

Like others have already posted, this is the first time I have ever heard of such a thing. This is most definitely NOT a common problem.

I'm sure other companies will be happy to insure your car.

 

[kkim]

Just got off the phone with a nice lady at Hartford. She explained that yes, they do not cover the 96 NSX-T I was looking at. After I explained that I was just getting my facts in order before I made decisions and that I needed to reconfirm their company policy. "Yes," she confirmed, "we will not cover this car. It's too bad you can't buy it."

Says I, "Not buy it? No, I'm trying to decide on whether to switch my insurance company to one that does. That's why I'm trying to reconfirm company policy before I do something I really don't want to do."

"Oh..." she says..."hold the line for a minute and I'll see what my supervisor says."

Comes back 5 minutes later... "I cleared it w/ my supervisor and he says because you've been a customer w/ us since 1989, we can go ahead and add that car to your policy. If you had been a new customer, we wouldn't cover it."

Got her name and her supervisor's name so when I call back to add my NSX and have a problem doing so, I'll have names to go with the story.

Long story short, they'll cover me only because I'm a long time existing customer. If I had just tried to get insurance w/ them for the first time, they would deny it.

Oh. In case you are wondering why I don't switch companies, their quote on a 96 NSX-T full coverage was $414/yr. Pays to be an old foggy.:biggrin:

These cars are marked by the insurance industry.... but enough of this, one with the hunt! :smile: