insure it through Chubb... They are great..
argon_nsx recently started selling Chubb insurance and receiving commissions on it - at least it appears so, since he is now inserting that recommendation into topics all over this forum, ones that have nothing to do with insurance.
argon_nsx has no experience with anyone who has had an NSX totalled, and is basing his advice on scuttlebutt conversations with insurance companies, not on actual cases. The fact is, insurance companies pay claims based on market value, not on artificially low values published in some of the reference guides. (Note that market values in reference guides are for
bone stock cars, and often owners of modded cars think that their cars are worth more than they really are.) You can prove to the insurance companies how much your car is worth by pulling listings of comparable cars (that's why this is easier with stock cars than modded cars). I've known quite a few NSX owners who have totalled their cars, and in every single case, the owner received at least its approximate fair market value (and in about half the cases, MORE than fair market value).
I would be very hesitant to buy auto insurance from Chubb, and I'll tell you why. They don't sell a lot of auto insurance. (That's why you won't find them listed in the surveys of auto insurance customers published by JD Power, Consumer Reports, etc; not enough data.) The impact of that on you, as a customer, is this: If you have an accident in which your car is not totalled - which is far more common than total losses - you will be taking your car to a body shop (hopefully, one with a lot of NSX experience). Most body shops have longstanding relationships with adjusters from the major insurance companies, so it's easier for them to get approval for the repairs to be done the right way (including additional reimbursements if they get partway through the repair and find that it's going to be more expensive than first estimated). This happens all the time. But when a body shop has no previous contact with an insurance company, especially with a car whose repairs are very expensive, what's going to happen? You don't really know. It's another risk. So is the quality of their customer service. It's reassuring to know (from those surveys) that companies like Amica, USAA, and State Farm have a much greater chance of satisfying their customers than AIG, Farmers, Mercury, and Progressive. How good is Chubb at this? Again, you really don't know, so this is yet another risk. If it's worth it to you to accept those risks in order to get an agreed value policy from Chubb, by all means go for it. But these are considerations to think about when choosing an auto insurer.
I think your best bet for insurance is to compare prices (you can do this using websites like
Insweb.com and
Insure.com), do your homework on which auto insurance companies do the best job of keeping their customers happy (you can look in Consumer Reports, whose last report on auto insurance companies was in the March 2006 issue, as well as on the
JD Power website), and then make your decision. You may want to consider an insurance company with a local agent in your area, since the agent may be willing to "go to bat for you" in case you have any problems with settling a claim.
BTW, you can find insurance rates from the above websites without actually buying the car. This is a good idea, especially since insurance rates vary by location, driving record, driver demographics, etc, so other people's rates may not be relevant to your situation. Find out how much it would cost YOU as part of your research, before deciding on which car to buy.
