Hagerty’s most unusual insurance claims
At Hagerty, we know unique vehicles present their owners with unique challenges. We deal with a wide variety of uncommon vehicles and odd claims. In fact, once in a while, a claim is made on a collector vehicle that’s more than unusual – it’s legendary.
“Given the unique nature of collector vehicles, we know we’re going to see some off-the-wall claims,” said CEO McKeel Hagerty. “We only deal with classics, so we just never know what we’re going to hear on the other end of that telephone call. But we’re ready for anything.”
Our in-house claims department searched their files to uncover some of the most unusual collector car insurance claims we’ve ever seen:
• In case of fire, pop top – A client was enjoying a drive in his 1971 MGB Roadster and noticed smoke coming out from underneath the vehicle’s dash. A British car with an electrical system issue – unbelievable! Luckily, he had a fire-prevention device handy. Before the smoking dash became a full-fledged conflagration, he pulled over and put the fire out with a six-pack of beer.
• Doors? … Where we’re going, we don’t need doors – The owner of a DeLorean, the infamous model featured in the Back to the Future movies, was pulling out of the garage. Everything was going smoothly except one thing – the Gullwing style doors were up. Whoops…
• Dog vs. Raccoon vs. Jaguar – One day, a dog discovered a raccoon in his owner’s garage. The dog scared the raccoon and caused him to climb to the safest place nearby: the roof of the dog-owner’s Jaguar E-Type. An epic struggle ensued. While the raccoon and dog both suffered some damage, the biggest casualty was the Jaguar. The entire body of the car was covered in claw and scratch marks, requiring a complete body makeover for one of the sexiest cars of all time.
• Don’t feed the bears – There’s nothing like a nature cruise in your 1967 Chrysler convertible, unless your car becomes too attractive to the wildlife. One owner parked in a wilderness area and walked away from his classic, and soon a curious black bear smelled something good. The bear scrambled onto the convertible top looking for food and decided to leave the owner a nice little gift – about five pounds of dung. The vehicle was scratched up, the convertible top was punctured and the owner had a very long ride home.
• Friends don’t let friends tailgate their Chevy – Three Chevy enthusiasts and good friends were headed to a car show driving their classics – a Nova, a Caprice and a Chevelle. They must have been following each other a little too closely, because when the first friend came to a sudden stop, the second friend crashed into him. The third friend then crashed his vehicle into the second. It was a rare Bowtie Trifecta.
• Redefining “horsepower” – A Porsche 911 and 914 and a 1976 Corvette were parked in a slightly opened garage when the neighbor’s horse got loose. The horse entered the garage and, in a fit of jealous rage, trampled all three cars to pieces. Fortunately, Hagerty’s Parts Specialist was able to find all of the replacement parts.
• Trophy car, meet trophy buck – One day, the owner of a 1961 Cadillac Deville was working in the garage when his 12-point mounted buck fell off the wall and directly onto his precious car. Of course, with a nearly 19-foot-long Deville in the garage, where else was the deer going to fall?
For more unusual claims, visit our “Losses and Lessons” section.
