The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy has been felt by Hagerty Insurance who is the biggest classic car insurer throughout the world.
The after effects of Hurricane Sandy
The insurance company are responsible for insuring 10,000 classic cars just on Long Island, New York alone and the company have already been in receipt of a staggering 1,100 classic car insurance claims due to the terrible devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. The value of these claims is estimated to be in the region of a huge $10 million.
Apparently the average cost is less than $50,000. Calls started to be received at the Hagerty Classic Car Insurance claims department on 29th October 2012 and were still being received 2 weeks later.
Michelle Ayers who is a Claims Assistant Manager at Hagerty stated: “It was everything from ‘I just lost everything I’ve worked hard for my entire life — it’s all gone’ to ‘What do I do from here, where do I go from here? We talked a lot about, obviously, their cars, because it’s like a family member to them. A lot of the people I talked to, anyway, (cars) had been passed down from generation to generation.”
Hagerty Insurance quickly responded to the calls coming into their claims department by closely working with claims adjusters and salvagers to deal with the water damage to cars including the engines. More claims were received for water damage than damage caused by the winds. The company have received three times more claims than they did when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Regrettably, around 70 per cent of claims related to classic cars that were felt to be a complete write off but what was nice to hear was that over half of those owners wished to hold onto their cars to restore them after the payouts.
Hagerty must be waiting for the next hurricane to hit America with trepidation.
