Multiple Vehicle Insurance

[Dan Cordon]

Thanks for all the replies (on and off list) on the topic. I think they
were extremely helpful. Here's a quick summary of what was recommended:

Having everything insured with one company (house, cars, boat, etc.) is
likely to get you a slightly discounted rate

Look to get limited use (<7500 or <5000  miles per year) on the less
used vehicles

Vehicles used only seasonally can have the liability suspended while
they're un-used (store with battery removed to reduce chances of any
unauthorized use), but keep comprehensive on the car for theft/damage
reasons.

Swap insurance between cars (as often as 3-month intervals). You can
still only drive those that are insured, but at least you get to drive
them all at some point. This is what currently I do (6-month intervals)
between my bad weather cars and good weather cars. Still, on a nice
sunny winter day it stinks to not take a muscle car out for a sunday
drive. :o)

Look in to a policy that covers the *person* for liability, then just
pay comp/collision/etc for each vehicle. I haven't found a carrier for
this, but will search for more information.

Look in to classic (15 years) or antique (25 years) insurance policy.
The car can't be used for daily type activities, and may be limited to
<2500 miles/year. These are usually stated-value policies though, so you
can insure your car for your specified replacement cost w/o much trouble
in event of a loss.

Hagerty collector car insurance seems to combine the above two items.
One liability policy for all cars with comp/col. on each car. However,
they *only* do specialty cars. Daily drivers need not apply.

Insurance costs vary greatly by region. Many of the better deals may be
found with companies that specialize in your region.

Thus far, most agents have played statistics with me. They argue that if
you drive all your cars, you have the same chance of getting in an
accident with any of the cars, and thus they should all cost the same
for insurance. This statement is true (more or less), but they use that
to justify charging you full price for each vehicle. Say for instance
that the average person gets in a wreck once every year (hopefully not
true!). If this person were to own 365 cars, the agents logic would
state that they will wreck once per day. In reality, the # of vehicles
should have little to no bearing on the frequency of incidents.

Anyway, I wanted to share what everyone shared with me. I'll continue to
research the available options, but I'm not in hopes of finding any
break-throughs in the insurance industry :o)  Thanks for all your
replies!

--
Dan Cordon
Mechanical Engineer - Engine Research Facility
University of Idaho