Hagerty Insurance is a real company headquartered out of Traverse City, Michigan that sells insurance to classic car owners. They are one of the largest classic car insurers in the world insuring millions of cars.
April 25th, 2024
By: Gabriel Botelho
Insurance Types
Auto, Classic Cars
Hagerty is an insurance company that only insures classic cars. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Traverse City, Michigan the company is very focused on this audience and provides secondary services and membership to car-related services and activities like the Hagerty Driver's Club magazine and Hagerty Garage.
Hagerty Insurance only sells insurance to classic cars and under specific conditions— e.g., the vehicles they insure usually can't be a primary road vehicle. They sell other classic-car-related services including Garage + Social and other ventures that have been divested from such as DriveShare.
Yes, Hagerty primarily sells classic car insurance. Although they also advertise a number of other products their policies often require non-standard features tailored to vehicles are driven less than 4,000 miles a year. That aside, their policies protect the things that standard auto coverage offers with a few extras designed for classic cars.
Yes, Hagerty sells liability insurance through its classic car insurance. That said, Hagerty does not sell standalone umbrella insurance. If you need standalone umbrella or general liability insurance that you can buy online check out the our umbrella explainer.
These details are almost abstracted away and shouldn't impact the Hagerty buying or membership experience. Hagerty Insurance is both an MGA, or managing general agent, as well as a reinsurer, and a membership club for classic car related activities. The MGA status means that Hagerty writes its own policies but that most of the risk for this policies is held by a larger insurance carrier. In this case these companies are the Essentia insurance company and two branches of the Nationwide Insurance company. Both are mentioned as 'A' rated by AM best, on Hagerty's legal affairs page and auto insurance disclosures page.
Hagerty's reinsurance arm also purchases a share of that risk from the carrier, or has some risk sharing agreement with them allowing Hagerty to make more money off of every dollar of classic car premium they write.
Finally, the membership arm deals with a number of front-of-office tasks and helps to better monetize the classic car lifestyle.
Pros
Cons
For customer service Hagerty's contact page offers the following numbers: English-language:877-922-9701, Spanish-language 855-451-4956, fax 231-941-8227 and an email [email protected]. The roadside assistance number is 888-310-8020.
Claims can be reached by phone at 800-385-0274 or email [email protected] with a fax number 888-321-8020
Hagerty Private Client members have their own support contacts: 888-460-6040 for phone, [email protected], and fax at 231-933-1581.
Should I Buy Hagerty Insurance?
Only classic car and enthusiast vehicle owners should buy Hagerty. They really closely specialize in supporting this audience segment with both their insurance and their product offerings.
If you do have a classic car or enthusiast vehicle, be aware of the potentially higher cost of coverage when compared to insurers that don't include quotes like "[p]eople take excellent care of the things they love, and we take great pride in protecting and preserving their treasured vehicles" in their annual reports.
Is Hagerty Insurance a Real Insurance Company?
Yes, Hagerty Insurance is a real insurance company. They have a complex ownership structure including a reinsurer, an MGA that is supported by Essentia an A.M. Best 'A' rated carrier, and the other club and car support functions.
In spite of all this complexity, the insurance arm is the lifeblood of the business and finding classic car or enthusiast vehicle owners and providing them with great service is at the core of that.
How Does Hagerty Insurance Make Money?
Hagerty collects premiums from its policyholders for coverage. Since it's focused on classic car and enthusiast vehicle insurance the targeting effort is reinvested into customer service and delivering value across their partnerships network by offering users additional insurance and services.
Is Using Hagerty Insurance Worth It?
Hagerty can be the right option for consumers with classic cars or enthusiast vehicles that can also benefit from the suite of garaging and logistical support that Hagerty can provide to their prized posessions. If you are searching for an option purely on value or competitive insurance pricing we'd recommend you shop the market using a tool like Coverage Cat before you make your final buying decision.
Max Cho Licensed Insurance Agent
I’m Max, the founder and CEO of Coverage Cat. Insurance has been a big part of my life since I lost my two front teeth in an accident and had to advocate for myself to get them replaced. Previously, I worked at Google, Microsoft, and at Two Sigma.
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