Tow Home Insurance ?

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

Recently in looking at setting up a long distance Convoy Event with our local MV Club the issue of Tow Home Insurance came to the fore.

When I asked my normal contact with one of the major antique car insurance if they could provide Tow Home Insurance event coverage the response was quick NO. But I had asked my contact to send the request up the chain, an twenty minutes later, got an e-mail back from higher up in the company saying no but tell us more because the concept sound interesting. Long and the short of it is we are exploring the issues and the realities of Tow Home Insurance.

Which brings me to my questions:

1. What is the longest distance you have driven your MV for an event.
2. Have you ever had to be towed home?
3. What type of MV had to be towed?
4. Do you limit events you would drive to with your MV because of fear of having to be towed home?
5. Would you take part in more events if you had real tow home insurance?
6. Would you rather have it on your own vehicle insurance?
7. What if it was event coverage, which required you to preregister and prepay for the event?
8. Now for the big question what would you pay for this type of coverage.

Your input will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Phil

[Little Jo]

Hi Phil

A very interesting subject. I must check our insurance company that covers Classic Vehicles. Having said that I am covered through my membership with the Royal Automobile Association ( RAA ) here in South Australia. The membership covers the driver of a vehicle, and not the vehicle. They also cover motel accommodation as well.

Do you have a similar roadside breakdown association in Canada and the USA you could use. I know the UK has a similar system. When we travel overseas and hire a vehicle overseas, I can use my RAA membership in the UK and Europe should I break down.

Cheers

Tony

[Ian Fawbert]

Hi Phil,

You may find this useful?
http://www.nrma.com.au/sites/default..._Discounts.pdf

Check page 16 and the term 'Traveller care'- basically the same thing as you said!

Worked a treat last year when one of our cars (1928 Oldsmobile) didnt want to carry on over 600km from home in the middle of the snowy mountains. very well done and very hassle free. The car was also covered under the roadside assistance package setup Tony refers to (but our states version), so that may be something to look into.

Hope it helps,
Ian.

[motto]

I believe that some vehicle insurers have a vehicle age cut-off beyond which they will not ensure. The situation varies from company to company, state to state and you have to shop around.
In Australia it would be worth talking with Shannons as a national company that specialise in collector vehicles.
Not much help to you I'm afraid Phil but I think you have broached an interesting topic.
I personally haven't pursued tow home insurance, just trusting to fortune and ability to figure my own way out of trouble. The nearest I've come to real difficulty was at the end of a 9,500 km trip across Australia and back when the Stovebolt Six in my 3 ton Chev began to knock 60 km from my Dad's place. It cost $350 to get the truck towed to Dad's and I was still 500 km from home. I shudder to think what difficulties I may have had and what the costs may have been if the problem had developed in a remote area.

David

[Bob McNeill]

Shannons don,t have that style of cover YET, NRMA certainly do and if you want it on a conditional registered vehicle it is listed with your normal car policy. Had to use it and it worked fine, late night, raining and towing a trailer, explained what was wrong and tilt tray was on its way. But the cost is around $100/ year.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

Thanks for the feedback so far, all useful.

It seems that there are two levels to the questions, smaller vehicle and larger vehicles. I also have a roadside assistance rider on my antique insurance it works for smaller vehicles up to 6-8000 lbs like HUPs, doesn't seem to work as well for a 3-ton CMP radio truck. This is why I'm asking the question we have a antique car insurance company that is willing to consider I'm trying to find a little more background.

Is Tow Home insurance something people military vehicles would really want?

Cheers Phil

[Phil Waterman]

Which brings me to my answers to the questions:

1. What is the longest distance you have driven your MV for an event. 200 miles in a single direction or day so 400 miles round trip.
2. Have you ever had to be towed home? Yes, twice both under 10 miles.
3. What type of MV had to be towed? 3 Ton CMP cargo and 3 Ton Radio
4. Do you limit events you would drive to with your MV because of fear of having to be towed home? Yes because having a 3 ton towed home is not something done with the local rollback.
5. Would you take part in more events if you had real tow home insurance? Yes
6. Would you rather have it on your own vehicle insurance? Depends on cost.
7. What if it was event coverage, which required you to preregister and prepay for the event? If it meant it limited by out of pocket cost
8. Now for the big question what would you pay for this type of coverage. Well given that fuel is now costing me $100USD to take my C60S Radio truck to regular events, knowing what it would cost for the insurance would be a measurable risk to cost. $100+USD extra a year to not have to worry about and actually get tow home service would be worth it.

How about a little more on your experiences?