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Julie (00:05):

Jim Schwarzkopf, thank you so much for joining me today as the collective car practice leader. I am going to gain all sorts of knowledge. I know this is going to be probably something that we talk about multiple times, but this is really about a passion asset and this is about collectible cars, and this is not just people that collect it every so often. This is something that is a lifestyle. It's more of a passionate lifestyle. So I want to start out with a few questions for you. First off, how do we ensure collector cars? What is a collector car? What are the differences and what kind of different cars out there are out there to insure and how do we insure them differently?

Jim (00:49):

Well, thanks for all this. This is fun to talk about. And part of the job that I really like a lot, I got involved with the classic cars probably 15 years ago. What I found out very quickly is I love car people and hanging out with car people, learning about their passion, learning about what drives them and how they built their collection has probably been

Julie (01:10):

No pun intended. Right? What drives them?! Did you get that? Did you get that?!

Jim (01:14):

I threw that in there. I wanted to see if you're going to pick it up.

Julie (01:16):

Well done.

Jim (01:17):

So as I learned about these folks, I learned that they know everything about these cars, but they didn't know all that much about insurance and they were buying products from different carriers for different purposes, and there really wasn't any part of their policy that made sense and therefore it was frustrating to, they didn't really understand what they were buying, why they were buying it.

Julie (01:37):

So, the question I get a lot from people is what's the difference between a classic and an antique?

Jim (01:44):

That's a great question.

Julie (01:45):

Is there a difference?

Jim (01:45):

Somewhat. I mean, the antiques are the ones that are really the pre-war cars that are rarely driven. They’re tough to drive because you really have to be taught how to drive those. They don’t have a normal gear shift and a normal break and a normal gas pedal, they’ve got all kinds of stuff on the steering wheel and things like that. And a classic car is probably more from the fifties to the late sixties.

Julie (02:08):

Does the rule of thumb that it's 20 years or older—Is that still kind of a rule of thumb for a “classic”?

Jim (02:16):

25 is probably, probably is more the number. It's still got to go back to was it a mass-produced car or were there very few of them made. Were there, you know, just because their 25 years old and has 125,000 miles on it doesn't necessarily make it a classic.

(02:35)
So it really has to go back to was the original intent of that car—has it lived the life of a collector vehicle? Has it been rarely driven and all those things. Or is there some type of provenance to it? I mean, there's some cars, some of the most expensive cars in the world have been in fires, they've been wrecked on racetracks and fully restored, and now they're selling for $70 million or whatever they are. So, it's all about the provenance and who owned the vehicle. Certainly, if there's somebody, some celebrity status or diplomat or something like that that owned the car, there's a lot of things that go into it that it may not be a typical collector car, but then when the provenance is shown, it can turn into a collector car.

Julie (03:21):

So, I do understand that there's all sorts of different kinds of cars that we can insure, and as you mentioned before, this is really a passion kind of collector. And you do need to have the right agent in order to be able to give advice for that stuff. Because if something happens to one of these cars, it's not just Blue Book value—you don't want Blue Book value for an insurance claim. Right? And you want to make sure that you have as much to the original parts no matter what age it is that you can get to put into these cars.

Jim (03:52):

Yeah, Julie, you're exactly right. The main difference between daily driver insurance and collector car insurance is how the loss is settled after the time of a loss. With collector cars, the main coverage you need to have is what's called agreed value, meaning you and the insurance company agree upfront on what the value of that vehicle is. When something bad happens to it, they're writing a check. If it's totaled, stolen, in a fire, in a flood, whatever it might be, and it's totaled out, they're going to write a check for what that agreed value was.

In the event of a partial loss, they're going to go back and put what you were talking about the original manufacturer parts back on the car. New parts on the car. You're going to be able to take it to a shop of your choice, whether that's the dealer that you originally bought it from or the shop that did the restoration work on it. And that's a big deal as well, because that may not be the nearest facility to where you are, which is what most insurance companies want you to do.

Julie (04:51):

So quick question for you, because I know that with other passion assets is what we call them, things that people collect, right? That the demographic and the profile of collectors are actually always changing.

Jim (05:05):

Correct.

Julie (05:06):

You and I have talked in the past about the current profile of a collector and how that kind of changed. And as well as, you and I talked about more of the newer generation, the younger generation with the whole gaming and the Grand Theft Auto and all that stuff of how that's gotten reenergized, maybe the collector, right? It's not necessarily the stereotypical car collector that everybody thinks of that we're back in the early 2000s. So, can you talk about how that demographic has kind of changed a bit?

Jim (05:45):

Yeah, it's really evolved, Julie, and you mentioned it earlier, the younger generation coming in. And that's the one thing if you go to any car show, it's all about—how are we going to get young people involved? And the young people are involved, they're just involved in a different way that they're coming at it. And it's through these video games where they learn all about these late-model exotics. And I was at an event down in south Florida not long ago where they had probably a hundred supercar that came in and there were everything from a 8-year-old to an 18-year-old, on the ground taking pictures of these cars oohing and on saying, “this is such and such and that's such and such.” And I'm looking at it and said, I have no idea what that is. And they're just rattling off everything about it. So, I think the passion for cars is going to continue. And you look at some guys my age, probably their first introduction to cars were Matchboxes and Hot Wheels.

Jim (06:39):

So, it's a different way to get in and get passionate about cars and I don't see it going anywhere.

And so now we're seeing people start to buy cars. Or we shouldn't say start probably five years ago we started seeing people buy cars that were more late-model exotics and they were more fun to drive. They weren't a sixties muscle car—which quite frankly aren't that much fun to drive because they're a lot of horsepower, but no power steering, no air conditioning, all that kind of stuff. And so now we start seeing these folks that are buying these vehicles and the challenge that that presents is one, they're very expensive to repair because they're a much more expensive car. Small claims add up into big dollar losses, and then we have to also underwrite the driver. And just because you have a lot of money to buy a vehicle doesn't mean you know how to drive a vehicle. I would have no idea how to drive an 800 horsepower car. I've never been in one.

And so that's been a real challenge for us as we start to talk to people about their buying habits. And much like buying a home in some of those places, you need to have the upfront conversation to say, okay, I'm going to go out and buy this whatever vehicle. Am I going to have trouble insuring it? Or how much is the insurance going to be? Can my 22-year-old son and daughter drive this car?

(07:58)
All those things that people should do upfront, before all of a sudden it's in their garage and they're saying, oh my gosh, I can't drive a car that it has spent $500,000 on. And there's all kinds of driving schools they can go to. And I talk to people about that all the time. Especially if they want their underage or younger people to drive them, they should go to a three day school somewhere, learn to drive the vehicle, have a driver in there with them to understand when you take a curve, you can take a curve and it's going to stick to it, but it's also the rear end's going to come out if you come out of it too fast. And those type of things can help from an underwriting perspective show that, hey, I'm going to be proactive in this car or we're going to understand how much horsepower is under the hood and make sure that they're safe. Because much like the insurance company, the insured doesn't want to wreck a car and by all means they don't want anybody to get injured either in their car or in the other car.

Julie (08:52):

How do you see the future of this product and this line of coverage? What do you see it trending?

Jim (09:01):

That's a great question. So, we're definitely seeing premiums going up from a liability side, and that speaks to where the cars are being driven more, which means there's bodily injury that's happening and that's driving up rate. And that's across all insurance companies. So, they are being more highly selective on the cars that they bring on, the drivers. But I do see a trend upward as far as premiums, and I think a lot of that has to do with the driving and the values of the cars that are being insured.

Julie (09:31):

And I think it's really important to talk a little bit more about the trends and the collecting as a whole. A collector is not just somebody that collects a hundred vehicles, they definitely are a collector, right? But it could be somebody that just has one or two really nice cars that is really engaged. So, the trend of that, or the definition I should say, of a collector really can be just a few different cars or a whole fleet of nice vehicles. Is that correct?

Jim (10:07):

In order for it to be considered a classic car or a collector car, it needs to live the life of one, and that means keeping it out of the elements and typically driving it on beautiful sunny days and not taking out and weather. It's all about how you use the vehicle regardless of how many you have.

Julie (10:23):

One of the things that I do want to talk about is a lot of the events that they go to—what kind of things do they need to be concerned about and really kind of know before they start going to some of these events?

Jim (10:36):

Yeah, great questions, Julie. And this is where we do see claims happening. So, let's start with a typical local car show. The main thing is you need to make sure you have the liability on that vehicle when you're driving that vehicle. Many times, especially where I am in the north here, people will take off the liability off the policy and get a layup clause or something like that in the wintertime, and they've got to make sure that that policy is enforced before they go drive to a car show. The other thing when you look at those liability policies is you just got to make sure they match up. And this part of what our job is, is when we review policies to make sure those liabilities match up with their daily driver car, the uninsured motorist/the underinsured motorist, matches up with their daily drivers and those cars are listed on their umbrella policy or excess policy if they have one. So that's the main thing when you drive to a local car show.

Another problem we see sometimes that people go to car shows is that their buddy will have a two or three car trailer and all of a sudden you put their car, your car in their trailer, and who's responsible if an accident happens? So, those are things you need to talk about before you go.

(11:47)
If you're dealing with national carriers that do this for truckers, that this is their focus of theirs, typically they're going to have some cargo coverage on the policy should something happen. But you just want to verify that to make sure that they do have coverage? How much coverage per truckload? How many cars are they going to have? What are the values of those cars? Just making sure that there's, if all of a sudden they've only got a million dollar cargo, but they've got $6 million in cars in there, who's going to cover that? And so those are questions that people need to ask when they go.

As far as the auctions, same thing. I mean if they're going to be transported there, making sure you've got coverage, the coverage for the individual goes up until that car hammers meaning until it sells. And then if you do buy a car at auction, you've got to make sure that you understand the newly acquired vehicles coverage within your policy to say, boy, do I need to call my agent right away to let them know?

(12:47)
Or, if I've never had a policy before, how do I get a new policy in order to drive it off the lot? So again, questions knowing before you go, if you do intend on buying a car, know what you need to do in order to get that car insured in order to take it off the lot. Because much like when you go buy a newer used car off a dealer's lot, you've got to show proof of insurance. They need to show that you have some type of coverage on that. Same thing happens in an auction house.

Julie (13:17):

What are, let's say two things, that the new collector should be thinking of before they start writing those checks for the big dollar cars.

Jim (13:25):

Yeah. One, I would make sure that they explain to their broker how they're going to use the vehicle. Are they planning on putting it in a garage and hoping in 30 years it's worth three times what it is now? Or are they planning on driving the vehicle? Are they planning on—there's different insurance carriers out there that'll give discounts for low mileage cars, there's other ones that'll allow for unlimited mile car, but they cost a little bit more. There's other ones where you need to tell them, Hey, I'm going to be driving this to work every now and again because it may be excluded in a policy. So, it's really having that conversation with your broker saying, this is how I intend to use this car. What's the best way to insure it? And that many times we can help with that answer. They may not always like the answer, but we can at least show them and then they can make an educated decision on what they want to do.

Julie (14:20):

Well, thank you so much for your time. I always learn something new, so I appreciate your insight and your expertise. So, thanks a lot, Jim.

Jim (14:30):

Thanks Julie. Appreciate the time.

Host: Julie Rison – Director, Strategic Client Relationships
Guest: Jim Schwarzkopf – Practice Leader, Collectible Car Insurance

00:00 – Welcome & introduction
Host Julie Rison welcomes Jim Schwarzkopf to discuss one the passionate lifestyle of car collectors emphasizing that owning a collector car is more than a hobby—it’s a lifestyle that deserves thoughtful insurance strategies.

00:49 – What is a collector car & how do you insure one?
Julie asks a common question: what’s the difference between a classic and an antique car? Jim breaks it down noting that age alone doesn’t determine a car’s collectibility. Provenance, production volume, and condition all play major roles.

03:21 – Agreed value vs daily driver
The conversation shifts to claims and valuation. Jim stresses the importance of agreed value coverage for collector cars—unlike standard auto insurance, this coverage pays out a pre-determined value in the event of a total loss and can provide owners with more flexibility.

05:05 – Evolving collector demographics
Julie and Jim discuss the changing face of the collector car community, the risk of high-performance vehicles, market trends and how premiums and risk are both rising, and how proactive measures like defensive driving and speaking to your insurance advisor early can help owners understand premiums and make better informed decisions.

10:23 – Car event and auction considerations
Jim offers practical advice on earthing from liability concerns to seasonal insurance policies.

13:25 – Two key tips for new car collectors
Jim shares two crucial tips for those entering the collector car market including:

• clearly communicate your intended use of the vehicle to your broker
• understand that coverage options vary.

14:30 – Final thoughts: Passion deserves protection
Julie closes the episode by thanking Jim for his expertise. The message is clear: collector cars are not just transportation—they’re part of a lifestyle. And like any high-value asset, they deserve the right coverage, tailored advice, and expert support to truly be protected.