On Sun, 19 Jan 1997 13:45:06 -0800 Ross MacPherson
<arm@unix.infoserve.net> writes:
>At 10:12 AM 1/19/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>One question I have never asked anyone, What the heck are the classic
car or Antique car plates for anyway??? Do you get somekind of
discount?
>>
>
>Yup, BIG TIME!
>
>The insurance of my $16,000 truck is about $1200 / year with a safe
>drivers
>discount (25%) and regular plates. The same coverage on my $15,000 TC
>is
>$300. The only difference is I can't drive the TC to work.
Ditto yup, big time!
I have antique vehicle plates on my MGA in Illinois. They used to be $14
for two years, but the fees changed several years ago. Now they're $25
for 5 years. Really faked out a Chicago cop on Thanksgiving day when he
finally figured out that they expire in December 1999. Mine have 4
numeric digits and a small "AV" on the right end. I believe you can get
them as vanity plates in Illinois with up to 5 or 6 chacacters, but you
end up adding the normal charges for vanity plates.
There are three notable restrictions on these plates in Illinois.
1.) The car must be at least 25 years old (1972 or earlier this year).
2.) It can be driven only for shows & exhibitions, club activities, and
for maintenance purposes. For me that came to 21,000 miles last year.
3.) You must have another vehicle in the household with "normal"
license plates to show as your daily driver.
I also have classic car insurance through J. C. Taylor via my local
independent insurance agent. Full coverage insurance with a stated value
of $10,000 and zero deductible all around costs me $106 per year in
Naperville, a western suburb of Chicago. If this vehicle ran daily duty
with normal license plates, full coverage insurance with $500 deductible
would cost about $350 per year with all possible good driver discounts
applied.
The restrictions for Taylor classic car insurance are similar. Must have
another car licensed as a daily driver, use the classic car only for
shows, club events and occasionally for personal use, no specified
driving mileage limit, but they do ask for approximate mileage just for
reference purposes. And I think it helps the rates if it's stored in a
garage.
Also some newer models may qualify for classic car insurance if they
appear to be classic type cars and are treated and driven as such.
Nearly any car old enough to have chrome bumpers does. As an example,
car models out of production for more than 10 years may also qualify.
Check with your insurance agent to see if your car qualifies.
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA
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