Your car appreciates. Your policy depreciates it.
A standard auto policy settles a total loss at what the car was worth that morning, calculated the way it's calculated for a ten-year-old commuter. That math is correct for a daily driver and completely wrong for something you've spent a decade and a parts budget bringing back. A collector policy fixes the value in writing before anything happens — and usually costs less, because of what you agree not to do with the car. We shop it across 40+ carriers.
The short answer
A standard auto policy pays actual cash value on a total loss — the right answer for a daily driver, the wrong one for a car that's been appreciating. A collector policy uses agreed value: you and the carrier fix the number when the policy is written, and a covered total loss pays it. It usually costs less than standard coverage, because it's written for pleasure use rather than commuting. The three things to get right are which settlement basis you actually have, a value that's documented rather than guessed, and an honest description of how the car gets used.
Three settlement bases. Know which one is on your policy.
This single line on the declarations page decides what a covered total loss is worth. It's worth reading before you need it.
You and the carrier settle the figure when the policy is written, and a covered total loss pays it without a depreciation conversation. This is what a collector policy is for, and it's what you generally want on an appreciating car.
You provide a value and it sets the upper end of what can be paid, but the settlement may still be calculated below it. It's a legitimate structure and a common one — just make sure you know it's the one you have, rather than assuming it's agreed value.
What the car was worth the moment before, after depreciation. This is the standard auto default and it's genuinely correct for ordinary vehicles — it's simply built on an assumption a collector car doesn't meet.
An agreed value goes stale. Yours probably has.
This is the quiet failure in the whole line, and it's nobody's fault. A number agreed to in 2019 is still the number on the policy in 2026, and it does not follow the market. Cars that have appreciated meaningfully since the policy was written are underinsured by exactly the difference, and the owner has no way of knowing because nothing about a renewal notice announces that the agreed value is now too low. Back the figure with something real — a current appraisal, documented comparable sales, or a receipts file from the build — and revisit it every couple of years rather than at renewal only when something else prompts it. It's a five-minute conversation that decides a five-figure outcome.
Built for a car that gets looked at more than it gets driven.
Some of this looks like a standard policy. The parts that don't are the reason the specialty market exists.
Agreed value
A figure fixed in writing at binding, paid on a covered total loss. It's the whole reason to move a collector car off a standard policy, and it should be documented rather than estimated.
Liability
Injuries and property damage you cause, on the way to the show and in the field once you're there. Arkansas is an at-fault state, and a show field is full of vehicles worth more than the state minimum contemplates.
Spare parts & tools
A dedicated limit for the parts inventory, NOS pieces, and tooling that live in the garage rather than on the car. Rarely included by default, frequently worth thousands, and routinely forgotten until a garage fire.
Comprehensive
Fire, theft, vandalism, hail, flood and falling limbs. A car that spends most of the year parked faces storage perils far more than road perils, which is exactly why storage is an underwriting question.
Trailering & transport
The car while it's on a trailer or with a transporter, and often the trailer itself. Worth confirming before a long haul rather than after a tie-down lets go on the interstate.
Choice of repair shop
Specialty policies commonly let you choose the restoration shop and specify correct parts rather than routing you to a network estimator working from aftermarket panels. On a numbers-matching car, that clause is worth more than it looks.
You're not buying cheaper coverage. You're buying a smaller promise.
A car driven to shows and on weekends is exposed to a fraction of the risk of one sitting in traffic on I-49 every morning. The premium reflects that — and so does the fine print about what counts as pleasure use.
The eligibility questions decide more than the car does.
People expect the year and rarity of the car to drive eligibility. In practice, two household questions matter more. Is there another vehicle insured for regular use? Most collector markets require one, because that's what makes pleasure use credible — if the classic is the only car in the driveway, it's the daily driver whatever it's called. And where does it sleep? A locked garage opens up considerably more of the market than a carport or a spot outside.
What "pleasure use" covers varies by carrier and is worth reading rather than assuming. Shows, club events, parades, exhibitions and weekend drives are typically fine. Commuting, business use, and standing in for the daily driver while it's in the shop typically are not. Some carriers cap annual mileage and others use a general standard instead. Driving outside the stated use is the most common way a collector claim runs into trouble — so the honest version of how you actually use the car needs to be on the application, not a tidier version of it.
The liability is worth as much attention as the value.
It's natural to focus on protecting the car, and easy to forget that the car can also cause harm. A classic without modern brakes, modern tires or a single airbag is being driven among vehicles that have all three, often by a driver who only takes it out a few times a year. On top of that, a show field is one of the few places where a low-speed mistake can involve several vehicles each worth more than a house deposit. Carry liability sized for that rather than for the car's own value, and if the household has assets behind it, a personal umbrella lifting the collector, the daily drivers and the home together is usually the efficient way to do it.
Three things a collector policy isn't for.
Each of these is solvable — but with a different policy, not with this one.
Daily driving
Commuting, errands as primary transportation, or filling in while the regular car is in the shop. If the way you use it has drifted toward everyday, tell us — the honest answer is a standard policy, and we'd rather move it than watch a claim get denied.
Racing, track days & timed events
Competition, autocross, hill climbs, timed runs and track days are excluded on essentially every collector form, and practice usually counts too. Track insurance exists and is a separate conversation — just don't assume the show policy follows you onto the circuit.
A restoration in progress
An agreed value written around a finished car doesn't describe a shell on a rotisserie and eight boxes of parts. Some carriers offer a rising-value or restoration approach that steps the amount up as the build goes, and the parts inventory often needs its own limit. Tell us the project is under way.
Plates are a DFA question. Coverage isn't.
Arkansas offers specialty plate categories for older vehicles, and they come with their own eligibility rules and their own conditions on how the vehicle may be used. We're not going to publish an age threshold here, and here's the honest reason: the sources disagree, including the state's own. Different pages under the Department of Finance and Administration's own web properties currently state different qualifying ages, and the third-party summaries add a third number on top of that. Confirm plate eligibility directly with DFA — a phone call, not a web page. It's the second time in this project that DFA's own site has contradicted itself, which is reason enough not to relay any of it.
What matters for insurance is separate from all of it. A specialty plate doesn't create coverage, and the conditions attached to a plate are not the same as the use restrictions on your policy — they're two different sets of rules that both govern the same car, and satisfying one says nothing about the other. Meanwhile the risks here are ordinary and local: hail reaches garages with open bays and driveways where a car sits while the garage gets rearranged, humidity and temperature swings work on a stored car through the winter, and the drive to a show in Bentonville, Rogers or Eureka Springs happens on roads full of people who've never had to guess how long a drum-braked car takes to stop.
Where we earn it.
The quiet mistakes on collector policies are an agreed value nobody has revisited since the car was worth less, a settlement basis the owner believes is agreed value and isn't, a parts inventory sitting uninsured on a shelf, and a use description written to fit the discount rather than the driving. We read the settlement basis off the declarations page and tell you plainly which of the three you have, ask what the car is worth today rather than what it was worth when the policy started, put a real limit on the parts and tools, and write the use down accurately so it can't be argued later. We don't adjust your claim and can't overrule an adjuster — but we build the policy to respond, and we compare it across our 40+ carrier markets rather than one company's appetite.
Priced to the car and the promise.
Collector premiums vary too widely for a single meaningful figure, and they're frequently lower than what the same household pays for an ordinary car — the restricted use is doing that work. Price turns on the agreed value, the age and type of vehicle, where and how it's stored, annual mileage or use standard, the drivers and their records, whether the household has another vehicle insured for regular use, your liability limits and deductibles, the spare parts limit, and prior claims. That's why we price it to the car rather than post a number. This isn't a quote or a guarantee. Tell us what's in the garage and we'll build the real figure with you across our markets.
What usually sits next to it.
Collector and classic car insurance questions.
Does my regular car insurance cover a classic car?
It will insure it, but it will not value it the way you do. A standard auto policy settles a total loss at actual cash value, meaning what the vehicle was worth the moment before the loss according to the depreciation logic that applies to ordinary cars. That logic is correct for a daily driver and wrong for a car that has been restored, maintained and appreciating for a decade.
A standard policy also rates the car as though it were driven every day, which usually costs more than a collector policy does, and it will not include the features that matter on this kind of car, such as coverage for spare parts and the freedom to choose your own restoration shop.
What is agreed value, and how is it different from actual cash value?
Agreed value means you and the carrier settle on the figure when the policy is written, and a covered total loss pays that figure without a depreciation argument. Actual cash value means the payout is calculated after the loss, based on what the car was worth at that moment. There is also a middle option, sometimes called stated value or stated amount, where the number you provide sets the upper end but the settlement can still be calculated below it.
The practical guidance is simple. Ask which of the three your policy actually uses, get the answer in writing on the declarations page, and make sure a documented appraisal or a strong valuation record supports the number you chose.
Can I drive my collector car whenever I want?
Within limits, and the limits are the reason the policy is affordable. Collector policies are written for pleasure use, which typically covers shows, club events, parades, exhibitions, weekend drives and the occasional errand, depending on the carrier. What they are not written for is commuting, running errands as your primary transportation, business use, or standing in for a daily driver while it is in the shop.
Some carriers set an annual mileage cap and others use a general pleasure-use standard instead. Driving outside the stated use is the most common reason a collector car claim runs into trouble, so it is worth knowing exactly what your policy allows before you need it rather than afterward.
Do I need a separate daily driver to qualify for collector car insurance?
Usually yes. Most collector markets require the household to have another vehicle insured for regular use, because that is what makes the pleasure-use assumption credible. If the classic is the only car in the driveway, it is the daily driver whatever anyone calls it, and it belongs on a standard policy.
Carriers also commonly ask about storage, and a locked garage generally opens up more of the market than an unsecured carport or a spot outside. Those two questions, another vehicle and where this one sleeps, decide eligibility more often than the car itself does.
What about a car that is still being restored?
A project car needs a different instrument than a finished one. An agreed value written around a completed vehicle does not describe a shell on a rotisserie surrounded by boxes of parts, and the value of the thing changes every month as work and money go into it.
Some carriers offer a restoration or rising-value approach that steps the insured amount up as the build progresses, and the parts inventory itself often needs to be addressed separately from the car. Tell us the project is under way rather than insuring it as though it were done, because the gap between those two descriptions is exactly where an uninsured loss lives if the shop or the garage burns.
How do I get a collector car insurance quote in Northwest Arkansas?
Start a personal quote online or call (479) 286-1066. Have the year, make, model and VIN, an honest value with something behind it such as an appraisal, recent comparable sales or documented receipts, where the car is stored, roughly how much you drive it and for what, and what other vehicles the household insures.
Photographs help more than people expect, and a build sheet or restoration file helps a great deal. We set the settlement basis on purpose, size the spare parts coverage to what is actually on your shelves, make sure the liability limits reflect that a show field is full of expensive cars, and compare it across our markets.
If our coverage explainers are useful, mark Cribb Insurance as a preferred source so more Northwest Arkansas collectors can find our local, plain-English guides.
Tell us what's in the garage.
Give us the car, an honest value with something behind it, where it's stored and how it actually gets used — and we'll set the settlement basis deliberately, put a real limit on the parts and tools, size the liability for a show field rather than for the car, check whether an umbrella belongs above it, and compare it across our markets. If the way you're using it has quietly become daily driving, we'll tell you that instead of writing a policy that won't respond.
Cribb Insurance Group Inc. is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas. This page describes collector, classic and antique vehicle insurance in general, industry-standard terms for informational purposes only. It is not a policy, not an offer of insurance, and not a guarantee of coverage, availability, eligibility, or price.
Agreed value, stated value and actual cash value settlement, liability, comprehensive and collision, spare parts and tools coverage, trailering and transport, choice-of-repair-facility provisions, and any mileage, storage or use conditions, along with limits, deductibles, covered causes of loss, and exclusions, are set by the carrier, vary by state and by policy and over time, are subject to the carrier's underwriting approval and eligibility, and apply only as written in the policy actually issued to you. Descriptions of how each settlement basis works are general; the definitions in your own policy control. Eligibility for a collector or classic program commonly depends on the vehicle's age, condition and value, secured storage, limited use, the presence of another vehicle insured for regular use in the household, and driver history, and it is not available for every vehicle or every applicant. Daily driving, business use, racing, timed events and track use are commonly excluded. A restoration in progress may require a different form of coverage.
Statements about Arkansas vehicle registration and specialty or antique license plates are general information and are not legal advice. Qualifying criteria, including any minimum vehicle age, and the conditions attached to a specialty plate are set by the state, differ between plate categories, and change; published summaries of them are inconsistent. Confirm current requirements directly with the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. A specialty plate does not create, extend or evidence insurance coverage, and any use conditions attached to a plate are separate from the use conditions in your insurance policy. Any cost or coverage descriptions are general and illustrative, not a quote, and not a guarantee; your premium and coverage are determined at quote and by the policy issued.
Last reviewed July 2026.