Shopping for Auto Insurance

Difficult-To-Insure Vehicles

When most people buy a new car, they look for attractive features and often think about safety. In buying or leasing new cars, consumers may not consider the vehicle’s insurability, but they definitely should. Will the car be easily insurable? How much will auto insurance cost?

The following table lists vehicles which a number of insurers have indicated their unwillingness to insure voluntarily, or their willingness to insure only under certain strict conditions or for certain types of operators. This difficult-to-insure list does not apply to all insurers for every vehicle shown, but generally encompasses data provided by many of the leading writers of private passenger auto insurance in New York State.

For each vehicle shown, there are a significant number of insurers that do not wish to write the particular vehicle, due to unfavorable loss experience, high cost or limited availability of replacement parts, or high theft records.

Only vehicles manufactured over the past ten years or so are listed. An exhaustive list of all cars ever manufactured would not be practical and is beyond the scope of this Guide. As such, the cars shown in this list are intended to be “common usage” vehicles, and readers should take into account that similar models may be produced under different names by the same manufacturer. Exotic, high-priced, and limited edition vehicles, such as Rolls Royce, Excalibur, Bentley or Sterling are not included in this list, due to the fact that very few insurers will underwrite such vehicles due to the high replacement and repair costs associated with these vehicles and the fact that there are relatively few of them on the road.

In general, some companies may also refuse to sell a policy, or have restrictions on providing insurance, for vehicle types with the following general characteristics: vans carrying 12 or more passengers, camper vans, cargo vans, step vans, commercial use vehicles, customized / modified construction, those of exceptionally high value (such as - original cost new over $100,000), flatbed/platform vehicles, golf carts, those with high rollover potential, “limited production” makes and models, “low-speed” vehicles, those used in racing, kit cars, replicas, experimental vehicles, amphibious, autonomous, and “Gray market” vehicles (not intended for use in the U.S. and may not meet federal emissions and safety standards).

In addition, some insurers will provide liability coverage for the operators of these vehicles, but not physical damage coverage. Some insurers also indicate that they will write physical damage coverage on these vehicles, but only if the deductible purchased is over a certain amount (e.g., $1,000). Moreover, several insurers will only insure a vehicle that is within a certain age range, such as under ten years old. Insurers are prohibited however, from nonrenewing a liability policy solely on the basis of the age of the vehicle. Other insurers have no finite limitation on the age of vehicles they will consider insuring.

Check with your insurance company, agent or broker about vehicle insurability, and the cost of insurance, before buying or leasing a car. In the event you cannot find coverage for a vehicle in the voluntary market, coverage can be obtained through the Auto Plan. However, the cost will be higher and physical damage coverage through the Auto Plan is limited and is based on the actual cash value of the car up to $50,000.

DIFFICULT-TO-INSURE AUTOMOBILES