Insurance Questions

[Spongebob]

What is the proper way to insure a Jeep for what it is really worth? After reading posts about people getting their rigs stolen I am really concerned. I mean, I have a kill switch in mine and I keep a club on the wheel, but if someone really wants it bad enough, they're gonna get it. My jeep is a 1997 with 165,000 miles on it, which has a KBB value of probably $5k or $6k but in the last 60 days I've spent about $6k on add-ons and other doodads. If it gets stolen tomorrow I am out the additional $6k b/c the ins. company is only gonna give me the blue book value on the jeep. I don't want to always live in fear of someone taking off with my toy, but I don't want to lose my collective a** if someone does.



Correction. I added up the s*** that I have added in the past 90 days and it is $7900!!

[John_P]

I believe, and I am not sure about this, you can have a prespecified amount of optional equipment insured.

For example, I had a car with nice wheels, stereo etc...I insured it for an extra $1k if she were to get stolen.

[FrenchChili]

Correction. I added up the s*** that I have added in the past 90 days and it is $7900!!

Really:confused: Where are you located:D

:p

take pics of everything and send it in with copies of receipts that's what my friend does for his vehicles and everytime he got stuff stolen the ins would send him a check.

[Spongebob]

Really:confused: Where are you located:D

:p

take pics of everything and send it in with copies of receipts that's what my friend does for his vehicles and everytime he got stuff stolen the ins would send him a check.

Right behind the concertina wire and sand bags!:D :D I will be the one holding the M-16. :) :) :)

[Spongebob]

I just got off of the phone with my insurance agent (Farmers) and he said the same thing.....send in pictures and all of the documentatation/reciepts that I have. He said that they will definately depreciate the stuff considerably, but at least I wouldn't get totally screwed. I have all of my documentation, so now I just need to get all of the pictures taken.

[DesertX04]

As mentioned, you can get additional insurance for specific items. I've done it for a stereo system in the past.

I spoke w/my ins. agent about this and he told me that if I have the receipts for the aftermarket items, they'd be covered.

I'd check w/your ins. company to be sure regarding your particular policy.

[fatbob309]

I was told to keep a record of all your receipts and to take pictures of all the stuff you have done.
You can also do a stated value policy that will pay you what is invested in it. The preim is sooooo much more than a reg policy. I had to have one for my 73 Mach1...

[Spongebob]

I am also thinking of adding some other kind of security system. The kill switch is a good idea, but if another Jeeper that is familiar with things decided to steal my rig he/she would probably know just how to bypass the kill switch. What do you do to prevent someone from stealing your stuff????

[dragon51]

If they really want it there is nothing you can do, they can just use a wrecker or trailer, all you can really do is slow them down, with kill swithes, fule, starter, battery, and just wire one up in such a way that you have to have that toggle swithch's in a certain combo to have them work.

When I was living with my dad every time he heard the pager for my alarm go off he walked out with a S&M .44 mag. it did not take long befor NO ONE would come close to my car at the apartments! :D

[Special K]

You should consider Lojak. It is a bit pricey (I think around $500-$600 for the basic unit), but you are almost guaranteed to get your vehicle back, and usually before they can completely strip it.

[Spongebob]

Lowjak seems to be a pretty good idea. Does it really work? I've read threads of folks that have it, but I was wondering how reliable it really is.

[Steve]

Lowjak seems to be a pretty good idea. Does it really work? I've read threads of folks that have it, but I was wondering how reliable it really is.

Mostly just depends on how fast it is noticed. Then how good the thieves really are. Like everything else it is a deterent. Some a little more effective than others. Some also more expensive. Price can be just a relative thing, guess it is what you really value your stuff at.;)

[Special K]

From my experience Lojak is very reliable. If you have it installed at a reputable dealer they will mount it in a place where it cannot be easily found. It also has a battery backup in case they disconnect your car battery. One drawback with the basic unit is that the system cannot be activated until you discover your car has been stolen and report it to the police. A plus is that many police departments around the country have Lojak receivers so even if they drive your car to another state it can still be recovered.

[Bohunter]

I bought Lojack for my Jeep, cost me about $1k to have the tracer installed and for the service. I only bought the basic package that provides for tracking (I first checked the coverage area and Maricopa is 100% covered) and I believe neighboring counties also have some measure of coverage. This is defined by how many police departments are equipped with the locators. Lojack also provides enhanced security measures (called an early warning system) that can contact you five different ways (pager, text, etc.) if someone even tampers with your vehicle. I'll probably look into that once I dump a few more $$ into my heep.

Before I bought it I called the Glendale police to get their take on it and they strongly recommended it, which was probably the biggest reason I went with it.

As said before, keep receipts for everything you add/bolt/stick on your heep. When my truck was stolen American Family paid me full value for my lift kit and tires because I had the receipts.:D

[kjstinga]

I would check into the "early warning" portion before you buy it. That was always my drawback on basic LoJack was that it could only be activated after you noticed the vehicle gone. The early warning claims to trigger after the vehicle moves for 15-20 minutes without the keyfob being in the vicinity. It was installed in our Liberty and I actually tried to test it by driving to work and home without the keyfob... not one warning was ever sent through email, pager, or voicemail. I did this several times and even called the support line and they started admitting that it had to be continous movement for 15-20 minutes (like no stop signs/lights). So I drove to Globe and back and still not one alert sent. I had Lojack techs come out and look at the vehicle and system. They replaced the early warning box... no change; they replaced the entire system... no change; after 3 months of not being able to get it to work it was completely removed from my Liberty and refunded price.

I think a lot of people assume the early warning will work as advertised, but I haven't seen it yet.

[AndyB]

I have Lojack's Early Warning Service on my jeep, but I think the early warning stuff is bull****. Sometimes I drop my jeep off to have work done on it, and sometimes it doesn't notify me that someone else (without the special keychain) is driving it for over 24 hours. 99% of the time, if it was stolen, I'd already know by then. :mad: It typically takes about 1-3 hours before I'll actually get notified, so personally I don't think the early warning version of Lojack is worth the money. In hindsight, I would have just gotten the standard Lojack service. just my 2 cents...

[rvisokey]

You can build your own Lo-jack. I did and it worked well but since my Jeep is basically in the garage or on the trail... I didn't really need it.

Look here:
http://www.virtualjeepclub.com/showthread.php?t=13425

[macinyart]

Please check my recent post re: Wrangler paranoia. I had a conversation with a fellow from LoJack just this afternoon. The basic Lojack is $695 and you must call to alert the police to look for the car. It cannot be moved from one vehicle to another in case of a sale of the car. They will come to your location and install the system. The early alert system is $995 with a price of $895 for the second vehicle. This will let you know via some method, cell phone or email ,for example that the car is on the move without a special key. They cover 26 states and when I asked which ones, Larry, at LoJack, wanted to know which states I needed. So I chose the states between Arizona and Wisconsin, off the top of my head so give me a break. They do not have coverage in MN, IA, NE, MO, NM or WI. It seems it has to do with two issues, the towers supplied by LoJack and the Police department computer capabilities. He then suggested I might be better off with a gps system. I am in the research mode here and looked at these, but without indepth research yet.
http://etailelectronics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=03508

http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/slimtrak-realtime-gps-tracking-car-locator.html

http://sports-imports.stores.yahoo.net/gpsvetrde.html

For a Wrangler, I wonder where it might be mounted covertly. In an email the responder from one of the companies expressed concern over the heat in the engine compartment for a Wrangler installation. He suggested putting it in the trunk. :) Maybe one might imbed it in the rear seat? I will look forward to hearing from you all about this.
Unfortunately, I haven't saved receipts from my mods. I will have to work on this I guess. Thanks again.

[thedon]

My jeep was stolen back on the 2nd of this mouth. My insurance agent said to get all my receipts together. I told them i have photos of the jeep to and they said that would be very helpful on what my jeep looked like and proving that it was in good shape. On Evey Jeep i have or street bike i have photos and a paper work on all i did and haven't have a problem on getting a claim or a value on the ride. Now if you pay for cheep insurance you will get cheep service. Alwaye keep good paper work and it will pay for it self in the long run.:cool:

[Allen]

Yes... keep all the paperwork on mods you've done!

Yes... take photos of all the installed mods!

Yes... let your insurance agent know about all your mods. He will write them into the policy. Might cost you more but they'll be covered!

Yes... get a lojack installed. Most insurance companies offer a BIG discount to lojacked cars. You might even save enough to cover the increase to add your mods!

Yes... car theives can easaly steal a lojacked car, but lojack pays you if they get away with your lojacked car!

There is a company in Newport Beach, CA that sells a lojack-gps-like chip that can be tracked on their website for $200. You install it yourself and it's always on! I'll look for the link! Also you could get a harmless looking childs gps watch (http://childlocator.com/) and leave it in the jeep $179

[jeeper05]

I asked about lojak at the dealer where I bought my jeep and they told me they would b happy to sell it to me but because we live so close to the border that by the time we came outa the movies (as an example)my jeep would probly all ready be in mexico and if that was the case id be crap outa luck n would not be able to get it back even if they found it so i went with the relay wire n kill switch.i have an extra relay with transponder/wire if anyone is interested happy jeepin...Jeff

[DustDweller]

Yeah, don't park by the movie theater at Mills Mall (especially if you drive an F150)

[AndyB]

My insurance company wouldn't give me a discount for having lojack. The rep explained to me that Arizona State Law doesn't allow such a thing or something along those lines. It was a while ago so I don't remember exactly what she said. Just FYI, I have State Farm so maybe they were just blowin' smoke up my ***...

[blaire576]

I just got off of the phone with my insurance agent (Farmers) and he said the same thing.....send in pictures and all of the documentatation/reciepts that I have. He said that they will definately depreciate the stuff considerably, but at least I wouldn't get totally screwed. I have all of my documentation, so now I just need to get all of the pictures taken.

like Progressive that insure you over the phone will give you an INITIAL quote, which sounds pretty good. But then they'll look up your record and that quote will change. So be sure the prices you're getting are the exact price you're paying when you sign on that dotted line.

[RokNRich]

$3.99 plus shipping on ebay. ;)

http://i23.ebayimg.com/02/i/07/e0/00/bd_1.JPG

[FrenchChili]

$3.99 plus shipping on ebay. ;)

http://i23.ebayimg.com/02/i/07/e0/00/bd_1.JPG

Although that's funny, having that on your vehivle is free advertisment for a theif....If I was a theif, I'd definitely look for that kind of stuff on vehicles and find myself a free lethal weapon!