Your Classic Car Is Worth More Than the Insurance Company Says It Is
Bob Simon spent about a decade restoring his 1971 Ford Bronco. Original parts, period-correct details, the kind of work you can’t rush and can’t fake.
So when he talks about what happens to classic cars after a crash, he’s not guessing at how collectors feel. He’s a trial attorney who is also one of us. As he put it in a recent video, “I’m not only a lawyer but I’m also a classic car owner.”
His warning is simple. If you’re in a crash, the insurance company is not going to value your vehicle the way you do. In his words, they’ll “try to pay you maybe something, maybe five to ten grand” for a truck that took ten years and a small fortune in original parts to bring back.
That gap between what they offer and what your vehicle is actually worth is not an accident. It’s how the system is built.
How the Lowball Works
When an insurer values a damaged vehicle, they start with something called actual cash value. That is what a comparable vehicle would sell for on the open market, adjusted for age, mileage, and condition.
For a daily-driver Camry, that math works fine. There are thousands of comparable sales to pull from.
For a restored 1971 Bronco, a chopped custom, or a hand-built motorcycle, it falls apart. The adjuster’s software looks for “comparable” vehicles and finds rough, unrestored examples, because those are what trade most often. Your decade of documented restoration work gets averaged away against project trucks sitting in fields.
The parts problem makes it worse. A repair estimate will typically price reproduction or aftermarket parts, not the original or period-correct components you hunted down. On a collector vehicle, originality is a huge part of the value. Swapping original parts for reproductions doesn’t just change the repair, it changes what the vehicle is.
The Loss You Don’t See: Diminished Value
Even a perfect repair leaves a scar on the title history. A classic with a documented accident is worth less to the next serious buyer than the same vehicle with a clean history. That loss is called diminished value.
Here’s the good news. In California, you can recover diminished value from the at-fault driver and their insurer as part of your property damage claim. If someone else caused the crash, the lost market value of your vehicle is real, recoverable damage.
Two things to know, though.
First, your own collision coverage generally will not pay diminished value in California. This is a claim against the other side, which is exactly why the other side’s insurer works so hard to minimize it.
Second, when insurers do calculate diminished value, many lean on a shortcut called the 17c formula. It caps the loss at ten percent of the vehicle’s book value, then cuts that number down further for age and mileage. It was borrowed from a single Georgia court case, and it was never designed for collector vehicles. A formula that penalizes age and mileage is almost comically wrong for a vehicle whose age is the whole point. Run a restored classic through 17c and you can get a diminished value near zero on a vehicle that just lost tens of thousands in the collector market.
The rules on diminished value vary from state to state, so what applies to your claim depends on where the crash happened. That is one of the first things worth asking about.
What You Should Hold Onto
You should not negotiate with the insurance company yourself, and you should not sign anything. But there is one thing you can do right now that genuinely helps. Preserve what you already have.
- Photos of the vehicle before the crash, especially detail shots of original parts, engine bay, interior, and finish
- Every restoration receipt and invoice you’ve saved, for parts and labor
- Documentation of original or numbers-matching components
- Any prior appraisal, agreed-value policy paperwork, or insurance valuation
- Title and registration history showing how long you’ve owned and maintained it
- Show records, club registrations, or magazine features, if you have them
Don’t organize it for the adjuster. Don’t send it anywhere. Just gather it, keep it safe, and talk to a lawyer before you sign or agree to anything.
Why a Lawyer Changes the Outcome
An adjuster’s first offer is built on software comps and formulas that were never meant for your vehicle. It is a starting point that hopes to be an ending point.
A lawyer who understands collector vehicles builds the claim differently: qualified appraisals from people who actually work in the classic and custom market, real comparable sales from auctions and collector platforms, your documentation presented as evidence rather than a shoebox of receipts, and a diminished value demand grounded in the actual market instead of a ten percent cap.
Just as important, if you were hurt in the crash, the vehicle claim is only one piece. Property damage, injuries, and diminished value all belong in the same fight, handled by someone who does this for a living.
That’s why Bob made the video in the first place. As he said, you need a lawyer to fight for “the actual value to you for your classic car, your custom car, your custom motorcycle.”
Talk to Us Before You Sign Anything
The Simon Law Group has recovered hundreds of millions for our clients, and we know what a decade of restoration work is actually worth, because we’ve lived it. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome, but you should never accept a number for your classic car, custom car, or custom motorcycle without someone in your corner who knows what it really is.
Start with a free case evaluation. There are no fees or costs unless we win. The lowball offer will still be there tomorrow, so talk to us before you take it.
Injured in a crash, or watching an insurer undervalue a vehicle you built? Get a free case evaluation or contact our team.
