How or what to do for appraisal on a ratrod

[71elcamino]

i was curious as to what can be done for an appraisal for ratrods. im in the beginning stages of building one, but i was thinking about what happens if someone like for instance t-bones me and its completely their fault. now a ratrod will only have liability. so what can i do? because their insurance is gonna say well it was a rusty junk bucket and its not worth much. so im lost as to what to do, any suggestions? is there a way to have it appraised? i thought of just keeping a list of all the parts with there value of replacement and a list of man hours i put in.

 

[TudorP15]

Man... That is a great question. I have admired many a rat rod only to have someone ask me "Why, that thing is a nasty peice of junk..." Some people and especially any insurance company just don't get it..

 

[ratdog]

You would still need a certified car appraiser to do an appraisal same as on a shiny car.They take pictures and describe everything on it,and give you a value.I am sure they would take some input from you so the value is what you have invested . Then that goes to the insurance company and if they insure your rat rod they will have to go with the appraisal value if there is a claim,whether they think its crap or not.Thats why the appraisals are done by certified people and cost money.

 

[dmw56]

And you man hours are not worth $.02!

I had mine insured with Hagerty with an agreed value. Just told them what I wanted it worth and sent them picture.

 

[EnglishBob]

Got my rat appraised by a well known appraiser who is familiar with all types of Rod and he took lots of pics and sent them to the insurance company.
Agreed appraised value and all insured.

 

[Willowbilly3]

Why would it get T-boned? That stuff only happens if you ain't paying attention. Rat rods are rat rods because they are out there on the edge. If you need the safety net of having a well defined and appraised car, you probably should drive something more mainstream. That's just my 2 cents.

 

[Torch]

I've carried liability and underinsured motorist all my life. I don't think I could have afforded to buy my house if I was paying for full coverage it's one of the main reasons I don't drive a new car or anything financed.
I did buy a semi truck and had full coverage on it. now granted it's cheaper considering it's bobtail insurance and when hooked to a trailer the owner of the trailer is covering my truck.
At that It was still $1600 a year
and for a new pickup I was looking at $2600 to $3600 a year for full coverage on a 3/4 ton diesel. I'm not going to shell out 600-plus bucks a month for a shiney god-dang pickup truck. I'm lucky if I take home 1400 a month after taxes.

 

[darkk]

I can tell you that if you have an accident the insurance company will give you grief about the value. If you have an appraisal for $XXXX money, you should pay for that value insurance to your insurance company. The *at fault* insurance company will pay what is considered book or actual street value if you do not have the extra value coverage thru your own company. I have seen many friends motorcycles get totaled by cars and the insurance will only pay for book value. Their defense is that if your bike/car was worth that much, you should have insured it for that value. This way you claim against your insurance company and get paid by your insurance company. Then your insurance company would subrogate payment from the at fault company. Trust me, receipts are just paper and mean nothing in an insurance claim. Insurance coverage does. Be prepared...

 

[IAM-LDS-2]

And you man hours are not worth $.02!

I had mine insured with Hagerty with an agreed value. Just told them what I wanted it worth and sent them picture.

Same here ,we agreed on a value ,no aprasial needed. However the ins co is not stupid and if you tried to inflate the value they would know . If you built it for under 3k - insure it for 3k - I put a value of 10k on mine , lost , stolen or totaled I get 10k . At least I hope I do . All for 198/year .