Dream Edition insurance options

[jered]

I'm redoing all of my insurance policies, and one thing I'm looking at is ACV vs Agreed Value. (If you're not familiar, ACV - Actual Cash Value - is the typical insurance approach where they assess the total loss value of the vehicle at the depreciated cost, which generally lines up with the KBB value/for what you could buy a similar used vehicle. Agreed Value is that there's a set amount they will pay in the case of a total loss, which may be higher than the purchase price in the case of a specialty or rare vehicle.) Agreed Value is obviously more expensive, by about 50% in my current quotes.

I've never owned a limited edition vehicle before. A Dream Edition is a (theoretically) non-replaceable vehicle so does not have a depreciated replacement value, and the Agreed Value I was offered was around my full purchase price in June. OTOH, I don't really expect a Gravity DE to go up in value as a collectable, and I wouldn't really be that terribly disappointed if I had to replace it with a used fully-loaded GT in the event of a total loss accident. What have others done?

(I guess I'll tag @hmp10 here since he's already had a DE total loss incident and will surely have opinions.)

 

[Leftlane]

I have used agreed value before and had a total loss, and it made the entire process so easy. I now have agreed value on 2 Porsches - neither are collectible but I like the peace of mind knowing what I will get if something happens with no fighting the insurance company.

 

[hmp10]

(I guess I'll tag @hmp10 here since he's already had a DE total loss incident and will surely have opinions.)

State Farm paid me $127,105 for the totaled Dream Edition, plus reimbursed me an additional $8,979.20 for the sales tax and the title fees. There was no controversy and, frankly, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount given how much EVs tend to depreciate right out of the gate. There were almost no records of Dream Edition resales on the internet. I did find one that sold for $123,000, and I had been hoping State Farm might use that figure or something close to it.

 

[L-Dude]

State Farm paid me $127,105 for the totaled Dream Edition, plus reimbursed me an additional $8,979.20 for the sales tax and the title fees. There was no controversy and, frankly, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount given how much EVs tend to depreciate right out of the gate. There were almost no records of Dream Edition resales on the internet. I did find one that sold for $123,000, and I had been hoping State Farm might use that figure or something close to it.

So you had Agreed Value on your DE?

 

[jered]

So you had Agreed Value on your DE?

State Farm is a mid-market carrier and does ACV -- it sounds like he got very lucky.

 

[hmp10]

State Farm is a mid-market carrier and does ACV -- it sounds like he got very lucky.

There was a bit of a delay because State Farm referred the claim to their "high value" unit which had trouble getting a figure from their appraiser due to the newness of the model and the lack of resale data. I don't know how they came up with this figure, but I certainly had no complaints.

A couple of years ago I got quotes for all my property insurance (homeowner, auto, umbrella liability) from PURE, a high-end carrier. The premiums were whole number multiples of what I was paying State Farm, so I just decided to risk possibly more difficult claims processing and lower payouts with State Farm. In retrospect, I'm glad I stayed with them.

I ordered a replacement Dream Edition the afternoon of the accident. That car was still at the factory, but when I finally got the VIN I called State Farm to bind coverage. I half expected to be told they didn't want to write a new policy in light of the fact that they had now paid out total losses on two Lucids (our original Air Dream Edition plus the Gravity Dream Edition). At a minimum, I expected a stiff premium increase and was shocked when the premium remained the same. I did get an increase notice a short while later, but it was just over $300 in aggregate for all three Lucid policies (an Air Dream Edition and two Gravity Dream Editions). I viewed that as negligible in the circumstances. And I have gotten the renewal notice on our Lucid Air since this recent accident, and its premium was essentially unchanged.

 

[jered]

A couple of years ago I got quotes for all my property insurance (homeowner, auto, umbrella liability) from PURE, a high-end carrier. The premiums were whole number multiples of what I was paying State Farm, so I just decided to risk possibly more difficult claims processing and lower payouts with State Farm. In retrospect, I'm glad I stayed with them.

Yeah... the rest of the story above is that my mid-range carrier declined renewal because I have a historically listed house (from 1890), and that is "no longer part of their risk profile". I had a flyer from PURE so I gave them a call. The customer service and coverage seems great, but the sticker shock... I've been shopping around and will bind coverage with someone this week. I'll go with a HNW homeowners (they're basically quoting me 2.5x the coverage at 1.7x the price), but the Agreed Value auto policies are just nuts, so that'll stay with a mid-market. Some of the purported HNW auto "perks" are "OEM parts" and "repair shop of your choice", but with an EV I get that regardless of carrier.

paid out total losses on two Lucids (our original Air Dream Edition plus the Gravity Dream Edition).

What are you *doing* with these vehicles? Or is it just that you're in Florida, and there are.... Florida drivers. (*shudder*)

 

[hmp10]

What are you *doing* with these vehicles? Or is it just that you're in Florida, and there are.... Florida drivers. (*shudder*)

The Air was wrecked when a young man, who had just bought his first car (a Subaru WRX) turned left in front of us one night as he was leaving the county fair. He was behind a large pickup truck, and when that truck turned (with plenty of room) the kid just followed him into the intersection on the assumption that the road was clear.

It turned out that he was also insured through State Farm, which determined (as did the police) that the accident was 100% his fault. However, as he only had $100K of liability insurance, State Farm paid the remainder of the value of the Air from my collision coverage although they did not assess It against my claim history.

The Gravity accident was my fault. I attempted to pass an agricultural tanker truck on a rural two-lane highway and did not see an oncoming pickup truck. I'm still trying to figure out how I did not see it. This wasn't a case of my misjudging passing distance or time -- I just plain didn't register the presence of the pickup. I don't know if it was because it was a gray truck against a gray highway, or because the tanker was spraying a fine mist, or because my brain just somehow didn't register something my eyes were seeing.

In any case, when I finally saw the pickup I pulled off the road onto a smooth grassy shoulder . . . but then the pickup did the same. So I pulled back onto the highway only to find the pickup was being followed by a Prius. That was the car I hit. Both cars were totaled but, thank goodness, no one was seriously injured.

The irony was that this was the first road trip we were taking in that Gravity. As it had the largest wheels instead of the mid-size wheels of our other Gravity, I wanted to see how much range we could get at non-interstate speeds when traveling roads with few charging options. I had the car in Smooth mode and was being careful to keep speed down . . . plus we were being followed by friends who took their own car in order to take their large Labrador on this day trip up the center of the state to the Bok Tower Gardens.

In 59 years of driving, these are the only two serious accidents I've ever been in and the only time I've ever been deemed at fault. Strange that they were both in Lucids, though . . . .

 

[hwy17er]

just glad everyone was ok

Driving is (unless you're an ice climber!) the most dangerous thing we do in our day

 

[prgarg]

The Air was wrecked when a young man, who had just bought his first car (a Subaru WRX) turned left in front of us one night as he was leaving the county fair. He was behind a large pickup truck, and when that truck turned (with plenty of room) the kid just followed him into the intersection on the assumption that the road was clear.

It turned out that he was also insured through State Farm, which determined (as did the police) that the accident was 100% his fault. However, as he only had $100K of liability insurance, State Farm paid the remainder of the value of the Air from my collision coverage although they did not assess It against my claim history.

The Gravity accident was my fault. I attempted to pass an agricultural tanker truck on a rural two-lane highway and did not see an oncoming pickup truck. I'm still trying to figure out how I did not see it. This wasn't a case of my misjudging passing distance or time -- I just plain didn't register the presence of the pickup. I don't know if it was because it was a gray truck against a gray highway, or because the tanker was spraying a fine mist, or because my brain just somehow didn't register something my eyes were seeing.

In any case, when I finally saw the pickup I pulled off the road onto a smooth grassy shoulder . . . but then the pickup did the same. So I pulled back onto the highway only to find the pickup was being followed by a Prius. That was the car I hit. Both cars were totaled but, thank goodness, no one was seriously injured.

The irony was that this was the first road trip we were taking in that Gravity. As it had the largest wheels instead of the mid-size wheels of our other Gravity, I wanted to see how much range we could get at non-interstate speeds when traveling roads with few charging options. I had the car in Smooth mode and was being careful to keep speed down . . . plus we were being followed by friends who took their own car in order to take their large Labrador on this day trip up the center of the state to the Bok Tower Gardens.

In 59 years of driving, these are the only two serious accidents I've ever been in and the only time I've ever been deemed at fault. Strange that they were both in Lucids, though . . . .

Thanks for candidly sharing the stories...

 

[jered]

Wow! Harrowing stories; I'm glad to hear everyone was ok in both cases.