How Old Does a Car Have to be to be Considered a Classic Car for Insurance?

There are a lot of amazing new or recently-built cars on the market today that we would happily consider “instant classics.” But are any of those eligible for classic car insurance? While the question of what makes a car “a classic” may be subjective, when it comes to the age of an insurable classic car, it’s pretty black and white.

While classifications from other insurers vary, we consider ourselves to have more expertise when it comes to ensuring classic and collectible cars. For example, when we look at a classic or collectible car, we’re looking at something that isn’t being used as a daily driver. We’re also looking for vehicles that are being properly stored and taken care of, so we’ll be asking about your garage, pole barn, offsite storage or potentially even a carport.

We also check your driving record, to make sure that your classic car isn’t also responsible for too many speeding tickets … or worse, larger moving infractions.

Once those checks are complete, we can start talking about things like the calendar year of the car we’ll be taking care of And good news - if your beloved “instant classic” is still a little too new, we have solutions for that as well.

A Hagerty-Insurable Classic Car or Truck Starts In The Year…

Think back to a simpler time. The Dukes of Hazzard has just debuted on CBS. The Daytona 500 (and its famous post-race fist fight) has its first broadcast on television and Rick Mears wins his first Indy 500. Yes, we’re in 1979, and this is the first production year that we refer to when we look at “classic” cars for insurance purposes.

That’s our benchmark for cars, but what about trucks or SUVs? Even there are fewer “classic” versions of those vehicles, we still want to make sure yours has protection, so our metric for those larger vehicles goes back 15 years from present day (though some newer vehicles may be considered in certain states).

What About My Motorcycle? My Tractor? My Military Vehicle?

We’ve thought of all those things as well, and we’re happy to cover all types of collectible vehicles, including those on two wheels, ones historically used for farming or even those that were built for use in foreign theaters or conflict areas. Got a tank? We’ll cover it. Still getting that historic fire truck on the road? We’ll write a policy for that too. And that WWII era Harley? Well, that could potentially be either a motorcycle or a military vehicle - and congrats on owning such a cool bike - but we’ll get you covered for either.

• Collector motorcycles: 1996 or newer
• Military vehicles: 20 years or older
• Classic tractors: 25 years or older
• Classic commercial vehicles: 25 years or older

What About My “Instant Classic”?

If you own a collectible vehicle released in 1980 or a vehicle newer than that, we have options depending on exactly how new the vehicle in question is. Even if your “instant classic” is from this millennium (aka the year 2000 or after), we have a policy tier that can give you the coverage you need.

If the car is a convertible, a two-door sportscar or another type of high-performance vehicle with a big-block V8, or a rare or limited-production vehicle, that’s a good place to start. We’ll continue the conversation by assessing the value (we look for a $3500 minimum) and we also look at a sliding scale for the maximum miles per year you’re driving that beauty, depending on its age.

After that? You’re pretty much good to go.

Supercars built after 2000 can also be taken care of under this “instant classic” tier of coverage. If you meet a few requirements for our exotic vehicle program (including one year of prior high performance vehicle ownership) we’ll also put your Lamborghini or your Lotus under our umbrella.