Car insurance for your Porsche - how to get options covered - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Mike Shiver · 03-22-2009, 05:31 PM

Hi,

I just found out that car insurance companies will only pay for your car's trim and no extra options. So, when they assess the value of your car, they won't even include things like automatic transmission or heated seats in their calculations since that's not part of the original trim.

So, I assume that if my car gets stolen or if someone hits me and I'm not at fault, that the other insurance company will assess the value of my car the same way and just pay to restore the car to its original trim. That would mean that I'd be losing big time on the options even if I haven't done anything wrong.

I'm not talking about aftermarket options, but rather original Porsche options such as an automatic transmission or heated seats.

So, is there a way to get the options insured as well? What insurance company do you guys recommend for insuring a Porsche and why?

Thank You

Viper5 · 03-22-2009, 05:56 PM

I have state farm and the way it works with them is if my car gets totaled, then I get book value minus deductible. KBB shows this value and also allows you to checkmark options. If the car is not fully totaled, then I imagine the damage will be assessed but I would expect the options to be covered as well.

NWI Bill · 03-22-2009, 07:29 PM

I have State Farm as well and they give you the KBB value minus the deductible. KBB takes in all option trim levels on cars, including automatic trans, full leather interior, heated seats, etc. I actually went thru this on a car about 9 years ago. State Farm came thru for me.

If your insurance is only offering to cover a base vehicle, no matter the trim level, you may want to look at another insurance company.

Lil bastard · 03-22-2009, 08:18 PM

I have specialty car insurance (LelandWest) and it's an agreed value policy and not based on equipment options or kbb values.

sd_boxster · 03-22-2009, 09:22 PM

Where did you come across this information? I've totaled my share of cars over the years (mostly in my teens!) and have never run across this in practice.

Mike Shiver · 03-24-2009, 10:48 AM

I've called 21st century and that's what they told me. He said that extra equipment is only covered up to $3,000. So, an automatic transmission on a Porsche is already more than $3,000 so that would be it.

For the people that are insured with farmers, do they actually ask you what options you have when you sign up for the insurance? Because if they really do cover all options, you must be paying a higher premium for every extra option on the car. So someone with a fully loaded Porsche and $10,000 in options, must pay more than someone with a standard trim Porsche.

What do you think?

insite · 03-24-2009, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Shiver

I've called 21st century and that's what they told me. He said that extra equipment is only covered up to $3,000. So, an automatic transmission on a Porsche is already more than $3,000 so that would be it.

For the people that are insured with farmers, do they actually ask you what options you have when you sign up for the insurance? Because if they really do cover all options, you must be paying a higher premium for every extra option on the car. So someone with a fully loaded Porsche and $10,000 in options, must pay more than someone with a standard trim Porsche.

What do you think?

i believe they mean aftermarket equipment, i.e. upgraded stereo, new wheels, performance parts, etc. i have USAA and they cover up to $1000 of additional stuff, HOWEVER, i can choose to have them cover more if i want them to.

this just means that if you're insured for a $30k car that you've put a $10k stereo in and the car gets nicked, you'll only be paid $33k less the deductible UNLESS you pay extra for them to cover the stereo equipment.

Topless · 03-24-2009, 03:45 PM

I have Mercury insurance in Calif. My Boxster full coverage is about $450/yr (3rd car). They also insure my fleet of commercial service vehicles. I don't care much for their billing procedures but their claims office has been "generous" when a truck was totaled by one of my drivers.

After offering me full retail KBB value for my truck I mentioned that I just put $600 in fresh tires on that truck last week... rats! She said, send me a copy of the invoice and I'll see what I can do. They sent me a check for retail KBB plus $600 for the new tires. I think they were more than fair. They earned my business.