Insurance question. Gray market car?

General topics relative to the Caprice and associated vehicles. For items not fitting into other sub-sections in addition to general chat.
RoadComic
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2017 8:37 pm

Insurance question. Gray market car?

Post by RoadComic »

Hey guys,

I've been looking at getting a Caprice for some time now. I'm close to pulling the trigger on one I've found. I was getting an insurance quote and they considered it a gray market car and had to insure it for a specific price. I'm probably looking at $200 a month for full coverage in my area. Did you guys have issues with insuring them because of their rarity? It's the central Florida area for those curious. I know there's at least one of you guys here.
brewerb258
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu May 18, 2017 1:05 pm
Location: Jacksonville FL

Re: Insurance question. Gray market car?

Post by brewerb258 »

I use Gecio and when I called them up they had to do "looking up". I pay $200 and change for my car and the wife's car. What company do you use?
2012 PC3 Caprice
3.6 LFX V6 w/ over 200k miles *SOLD* @250,000 Miles.

2013 9C1 Caprice
3.6 LFX V6 with 80k miles

"Dispatch, show me on a traffic stop."
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TexasHotshot
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:58 pm

Re: Insurance question. Gray market car?

Post by TexasHotshot »

I was on the phone getting my 11 insured, $605 every 6 months. State Farm
Sanford
Posts: 356
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2016 9:38 pm
Location: Texas Gulf Coast

Re: Insurance question. Gray market car?

Post by Sanford »

I had no problems getting insurance through Allstate. I don't carry full coverage as I figure it will be someone else will that hits me. My biggest fear is the insurance companies will total the Caprices in a heart beat and not want to give us anything for them.

David
RoadComic
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2017 8:37 pm

Re: Insurance question. Gray market car?

Post by RoadComic »

This was through a friend of mine who is an adjuster. I honestly hadn't shopped around at all. This was the first quote I received. I was just curious if it was typical.
CrashTestDummy
Posts: 2300
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:31 pm
Location: Pearland, Texas

Re: Insurance question. Gray market car?

Post by CrashTestDummy »

When I first notified our insurance co. (USAA) of my intent to purchase a Caprice, they couldn't find the VIN. I'm guessing that they might have had VINs filed under the different manufacturers so a search of the VIN didn't match the listings for Chevrolet (one of the characters is different in the first part of the VIN, IIRC). When I told them it was manufactured by Holden in Australia, they started talking 'gray market'. I let them know that, no, it's a GM, built by a GM subsidiary in Australia to full US standards, and imported as a GM vehicle. I told them it was just like the G8, SS, late model GTO, etc.

They did a little more searching and found the VIN, and we got the car quickly on the books. So yeah, there's either some sort of lookup in certain records that isn't working right, or they're seeing the Vendor-specific VIN code (it's like the 4th character, or something like that) not the 'standard' Chevrolet letter, and stopping there.

Tell them it's just like a Chevrolet SS, or Pontiac G8. That should stop the 'gray market' talk. ;)
Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas
2012 Caprice 9C1
1992 B4C 1LE Camaro
2018 Tahoe PPV (her car)
1995 DGGM Impala SS
1985 Firebird - 310 LS1 C Prepared autocross car.
1980 Bluebird Wanderlodge
And some others
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Mooseman
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Location: Ottawa, ON Canada
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Re: Insurance question. Gray market car?

Post by Mooseman »

That's basically what I had to do. None of the mainstream insurers would even touch it. Even Haggerty who insure exotic and collector vehicles just said no. And since it's so rare in Canada made it even harder. I was even contemplating parting it out if I couldn't insure it. I then contacted a broker and followed the advice of someone else on here to tell them it's like a G8 and eventually one company was willing to insure it. Only caveat is that they would only insure it for the purchase price rather than actual value since they have nothing to directly compare it to.
2011 Caprice PPV, former RCMP test vehicle, never put into service
Build Thread: http://www.newcaprice.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2419
Black6
Posts: 116
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:36 pm
Location: Indy

Re: Insurance question. Gray market car?

Post by Black6 »

Find another insurance company. They are incompetent. My 13 caprice with full coverage is $700ish a year.
Black 2014 V8

Be jealous of my factory carpet.
CrashTestDummy
Posts: 2300
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:31 pm
Location: Pearland, Texas

Re: Insurance question. Gray market car?

Post by CrashTestDummy »

Well, not exactly. If the insurance person on the other end of the phone has a list of numbers to look for, and that number isn't where it's supposed to be, that'll put a kink in the works.

I think in my case, the first '6' and then the 'G', indicating that it was a foreign-made NOT Chevrolet, and I was telling them it was a Chevrolet, started the questioning. She had to go a couple of extra steps before indicating that all was well, but 'gray-market' did get mentioned a couple of times. :-/
Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas
2012 Caprice 9C1
1992 B4C 1LE Camaro
2018 Tahoe PPV (her car)
1995 DGGM Impala SS
1985 Firebird - 310 LS1 C Prepared autocross car.
1980 Bluebird Wanderlodge
And some others
Do YOU have my SPID?
B4CU
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2018 8:20 pm

Re: Insurance question. Gray market car?

Post by B4CU »

My insurance company had no idea what it was and asked me about replacement cost. Collision coverage is steep and I raised my deductible to $2000. Still like $600 every 6 months.
2013 White 9C1 Caprice
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