Auto Insurance for an old car and young driver

[Oldswagon]

Has anyone ever run into issues getting insurance for an old car and a young driver? My son will get his license in a few years and grew up around my old cars. He and I wanted to by a project car to work on for when he turns 16. A friend is selling a clean 85 Trans Am but my insurance company won't insure anything over 20 years old. I called my classic car insurance and they won't allow any drivers with less than 10 years experience drive a classic. So not only can't I buy a project car, I can't even let him drive mine! This is ridiculous! All my cars as a kid were over 20 years old and I learned to drive on my dad's classics.

I am still shopping around but not overly optimistic. Has anyone experience this problem? Anyone in Ontario have an occasional young driver on an old car?

 

[CKN]

Has anyone ever run into issues getting insurance for an old car and a young driver? My son will get his license in a few years and grew up around my old cars. He and I wanted to by a project car to work on for when he turns 16. A friend is selling a clean 85 Trans Am but my insurance company won't insure anything over 20 years old. I called my classic car insurance and they won't allow any drivers with less than 10 years experience drive a classic. So not only can't I buy a project car, I can't even let him drive mine! This is ridiculous! All my cars as a kid were over 20 years old and I learned to drive on my dad's classics.

I am still shopping around but not overly optimistic. Has anyone experience this problem? Anyone in Ontario have an occasional young driver on an old car?

I am trying to get my head around the idea of having a young driver operate a car that old. Yea-it's cool but lacks modern safety features. I think you should do what everybody else does-because it's practical-bite the bullet and buy an older Camry, Accord, Taurus, etc-that's less than twenty years old, and have him drive that-insurance won't be cheap under any circumstances.
Yea-buying cars isn't cheap right now-and won't get any less expensive either.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

There are lots of daily drivers over 20 years old down here!

Maybe they think that cars that old don't exist up there due to rust, and that anything still surviving must be specialty/classic

Get him this instead

Or this

 

[walterjay]

You may want to contact an ins agent and have him shop for you.

 

[samven]

Yea what are you thinking, none of us survived driving 20 years ago in cars that were 20 years old then . I dont understand your ins co unless it has something to do with Canadian law. When I was growing up my dad just put us on his policy until we had a year experience and I did the same thing with my kids and they are doing the same with my grand-kids. And we all have had at least 1 20 year old + car in the stable.

 

[rijndael]

Were you trying to get him on a policy for an antique/classic plated car? Those plates usually have restrictions which often don't align with a new driver's desires, like that they can't be used for daily driving.

 

[fantastic]

To understand the insurance companies position it cost them money to insure unsafe vehicles. I do understand where your coming from but any true car nut will evolve to find something with an airbag in the steering wheel at the minimum.

 

[mrsilv04]

To insure a 20 year old pickup worth $5,000, it costs me $400 a year.
To insure a brand new pickup worth $50,000, it would cost me $800 a year.

The new truck is worth 10 times as much, but the yearly premium only doubles.

 

[Oldswagon]

To clarify, my intention is not to make this car a daily driver, but it will see use like a typical classic. If I take one of my cars to a cruise night, then he can follow along in his car to join the show. He can wash and wash it, and work to learn that hard work can result in great results. I know American RWD V8 cars like the back of my hand, and this particular car (never seen winters, owned by a very close friend) was a good buy. Plus it only had the weak LG4 engine with a whole 145 hp, but a 5-speed so he could learn the lost art of rowing gears. There would be very strict usage rules in place for him. I want him involved in the car culture, it's something I want to pass down to my kids. He loves classics like his dad and is always eying up his first car in the latest AutaBuy. An old Camry would make a great winter beater/daily driver, but I can tell you, no kid is going to get excited over a transportation appliance like that.

As someone who has grown up with classics, and currently owns a couple, I am full aware of the inherent safety risks involved in operating them. You should probably chastise me for allowing my kids to ride around in my old cars, even when they were infants, albeit in a modern car seat, installed properly (I took used volunteer to train people on installs). That said, it is okay for a 16 year old to ride a motorcycle in this province, which is certainly much higher risk than a 1980s car. Kids here can also ride 4-wheelers and snow machines, both of which I am sure have much higher fatality rates. Life inherently has risks, and I am pretty sure teenagers do a lot of things more risky than driving a vintage car.

On the insurance, my broker is looking for me. I am not optimistic. The rules for insurance are set out by the province, not federally. However, I am pretty confident it's not a rule against doing this, it's just that the insurance companies don't want to take that risk. Even the arbitrary 20 year old rule makes no sense. My dad daily drove a car until it was over 30 years old without issue. They also are under the impression that all old cars are rust buckets and shouldn't be on the road - which is definitely not the case.

 

[Brian123]

Has anyone ever run into issues getting insurance for an old car and a young driver? My son will get his license in a few years and grew up around my old cars. He and I wanted to by a project car to work on for when he turns 16. A friend is selling a clean 85 Trans Am but my insurance company won't insure anything over 20 years old. I called my classic car insurance and they won't allow any drivers with less than 10 years experience drive a classic. So not only can't I buy a project car, I can't even let him drive mine! This is ridiculous! All my cars as a kid were over 20 years old and I learned to drive on my dad's classics.

I am still shopping around but not overly optimistic. Has anyone experience this problem? Anyone in Ontario have an occasional young driver on an old car?

Here is what you can do, get this 85 Trans Am and do the Classic car Insurance thing, follow me on this, my neighbor has a 1971 Plymouth Road Runner with some engine, it is a 572 Hemi with an outrageous Camshaft, barely street able. This engine makes 800 Horsepower, he wishes he got a tamer camshaft, his camshaft only smoothes out at 4500 rpm. He told me if he got a speeding ticket his insurance would drop him.

Get the car insured under your name and tell your son that he has to obey all traffic laws and drive the speed limit. Good luck with what I am saying, I did not start obeying all traffic laws, meaning the speed limit until the age of 40.

Has your son seen the movie Smokey and the Bandit or that show Knight Rider?

 

[ecotourist]

... my insurance company won't insure anything over 20 years old.

We had no problem insuring our '00 BMW 528i 5 speed M-Sport in BC in 2021. We sold it that year.

My wife and I are listed as the regular drivers of our vehicles but there is no restriction on who can drive or borrow our cars. My daughter wants to teach our grandson to drive a manual transmission in our Honda Accord V6 6MT. Well maybe, but only when he knows how to drive.

It may be that 20 year old cars are so uncommon in the rust zone that the insurance company thinks it must be some kind of exotic. And an '85 Trans Am could be heavily tricked out.

 

[Capt W]

I am trying to get my head around the idea of having a young driver operate a car that old. Yea-it's cool but lacks modern safety features. I think you should do what everybody else does-because it's practical-bite the bullet and buy an older Camry, Accord, Taurus, etc-that's less than twenty years old, and have him drive that-insurance won't be cheap under any circumstances.
Yea-buying cars isn't cheap right now-and won't get any less expensive either.

I don't disagree with pointing kids toward safe cars; however, I'm always trying to wrap my head around parents buying their kids expensive cars in the name of safety. To cover that base, we sent all three of our kids to a stringent defensive driving course, which included inclement weather driving, handling breakdowns, etc. This was in addition to standard driver education in their schools. None of them have a single ticket or accident in their histories. And our oldest has been driving for over a decade.

For his first car we gifted him a very nice 1989 Plymouth Sundance. He still has it, everything works, and his insurance rates are actually quite low. No payments to weigh him down early in his career helps a lot. And he really likes driving something that's fairly unique these days.

 

[eljefino]

I have a 17 year old with one wreck on his record and still have reasonable rates even with a 91 F150, 95 Miata, and "his" 99 Camry.

You may be in a better spot if you "always had" the TA in your name along with the other cars then brought him in as a new driver.

 

[Oldswagon]

Has your son seen the movie Smokey and the Bandit or that show Knight Rider?

Smokey and the bandit is one of his favorite movies. And his Grampa had a black and gold T/A back in the day because of the movie! He's heard many a story about that

It may be that 20 year old cars are so uncommon in the rust zone that the insurance company thinks it must be some kind of exotic. And an '85 Trans Am could be heavily tricked out.

20 year old cars aren't that uncommon, but I think many of those that have them, have had them for years and so the insurance company doesn't make a big deal. Plus other companies might be more lax.

The car I am looking at is a very clean original and unmolested car. It has zero mods.

I have a 17 year old with one wreck on his record and still have reasonable rates even with a 91 F150, 95 Miata, and "his" 99 Camry.

You may be in a better spot if you "always had" the TA in your name along with the other cars then brought him in as a new driver.

That is good to know. I am hoping I can find a company that will insure for a somewhat reasonable rate. If this car didn't pan out, I was also considering 90s pickups, a Caprice/Impala SS, Crown Vic or 4th Gen F-Body, SN95 Mustang. All cars I can easily do anything on and he also likes.

 

[Cujet]

What ever we do, let's make sure the insurance company is the one properly protected.....

Like the drivers above, what we did as young and enthusiastic drivers was apparently unsurvivable.

Age 15, on the track in a real open wheel race car just like this:
No accidents, no fender benders, ever. Unsurvivable, like I said. Maybe my time is coming, but I'm old and decrepit now.

EDIT: I still have a passion for driving that won't quit. And my enthusiast days served me very well, dirt bikes, motorcycles, flying, driving. I think you are on the right track by encouraging enthusiasm.

 

[ecotourist]

I had a few friends killed in car crashes when they were teenagers or early 20s. Everyone said it was very sad but there were no big lawsuits or insurance payouts in those days. Times have changed, and in some ways not necessarily for the better.

Can you get insurance that covers liability only?

 

[KrisZ]

This thread proves how ridiculous our society has become.

On one hand the boomers are complaining how the millennials and younger gen’s are so lazy and don’t have any practical skills.

On the other hand, don’t buy an old project for your son, it’s a big liability and he will die in a car crash.

It’s amazing we survive these days without the streets being covered in safety padding.

 

[MaximaGuy]

My oldest car Lexus driven by ~17 yr old has the highest premium, $1800.
This Lexus was totalled by insurance and bought back - I asked my insurance lady the insurance companies have written off on this car after accident, why most expensive to insure. No idea most of these insurance folks are dog **** clueless of what they are doing. All the good peopke either retired or died off Covid, whats left are folks who no nothing

 

[tnt_motorsports]

When I put insurance on my FFR Cobra they asked for both my wife and son's drivers license's. My boys (24 & 22) are not covered to drive the Cobra once completed. IIRC they need to be 26+. I found this to be somewhat common as I shopped around. Something about big HP, young people. It is all about probabilities and risk in the insurance business.

 

[Oldswagon]

The problem looks to be resolved. I made a stink with the insurance company and it seems to have changed their tune. My broker now says that they can insure the car under regular insurance and I can get my son added on as an additional driver. The only caveats are the car has to pass a mechanical inspection, they need pictures of it to verify the conditon, and no modifications are allowed to be made. So, that is fine for the purpose of this car if I do go through with the purchase. My plan was more to do some cosmetic work with him on the car and a thorough mechanical tune up. I don't want this to be a fast car. That can come later when he has the driving experience. For now, his mom's Rav4 will blow the doors off the Trans Am

Thanks for the advice and hope this thread helps someone else down the road.