[klayfish]

PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL IN YOUR RESPONSES TO WHAT YOU ARE READING HERE, AND THAT I AM STICKING MY NECK OUT TO TRY TO HELP COBRA OWNERS GET A PERSEPECTIVE ON HOW INSURANCE COMPANIES LOOK AT COBRAS. THANK YOU.

I spent the entire day today meeting with the entire underwriting staff, as well as the director of marketing, for the Great American Insurance Classic Car division. After completing the other work I was actually there to do, I asked them about the recent issues with Cobras. Here's what I was told.
As some of you know, Great American just stopped writing new Cobra policies as of this week. There are several reasons why we have stopped writing Cobras.
1. High power/weight ratio. They are aware of the awesome performance potential of these cars and that in the wrong hands, they can be very dangerous. Yes, any car can be dangerous in the wrong hands, but a Cobra has greater potential to get in trouble. They are concerned about someone going from their everyday Camry into one of these cars, having no experience driving high hp cars. And the Cobra probably isn't the best car for a first time high performance car driver.
2. Fear of the home build. They are concerned that the kits are assembled properly, and won't be a hazard on the road.
3. Concern about the unknown. They have said they just don't know enough about Cobras to feel comfortable writing all kinds of business. They were getting deluged recently with requests for Cobra insurance, and just didn't feel comfortable writing these cars, which leads straight into the next point....
4. Other companies have dropped Cobras. They are aware that others have stopped writing Cobras, and did it VERY abruptly. I don't know the details, but there were some claims experienced by other companies where they got burned very badly (one claim was a double fatality). So once the others stopped writing Cobras, many people came to Great American. This made the underwriters want to step back and take a much better look at the whole situation. They state that they have seen Cobra claims, and it concerns them given the small number of Cobras out there.

They are not saying that they will NEVER write Cobras again, and they will still even write a very few number of tightly screened policies. For the time being, they are shying away from them. They want to take a step back and evaluate the whole situation. I asked them what would make them more comfortable with the cars. They said they just want some time to look at it. Previous high performance car experience may help, professional build appraisal may help, and good driving records from other Cobra owners may help. I explained to them about these Cobra websites and that there are many, many responsible Cobra owners. They agreed, but also realize (as do we all), that there are many Cobra owners out there who don't read these websites, don't care about them, and drive irresponsibly. Sadly, it hurts us all.

One of our agents visited the underwriters recently and talked to them about the Cobra issue. That agent offered to put together something to help show that Cobras can be a good risk to write, if they are screened properly. The underwriters and marketers have agreed to listen. I do not know which agent, so I can't help.

PLEASE DO NOT FLOOD GREAT AMERICAN WITH CALLS AND LETTERS TRYING TO PROVE COBRAS ARE A GOOD RISK. That will probably only make matters worse. Remember, they are looking at it from a very different perspective than us Cobra owners. They don't know as much about Cobras as we do. What they see is a high horsepower, low weight, short wheelbase, sometimes home built, rocket on 4 wheels. A car for which they will only collect $250 premium, and put up $200,000+ plus in exposures. They view them differently from kit car street rods because the street rods tend to be bigger, heavier, and not driven as "hard" as the Cobra.

I told our marketing director about DVSFIII, since she is based out of Cincinnati. She was interested in it, and plans to attend the event. She wants to assess Cobras, talk to owners, and get a feel for the overall situation. It does not mean in any way that they will write Cobras again, but they are willing to consider it. But I think the biggest reason right now is that the other companies just stopped SO quickly, out of nowhere, it scared the hell out of all the insurnce companies. They're asking "Why did Grundy and Hagerty stop so quickly?" So they are doing the same.

My advice is that we need to continue to drive responsibly and encourage all other owners to do the same. We need to show the companies that Cobras are a good risk. But it has to be done in an organized and professional manner. Angry phone calls and letters only hurt the situation. It will also take time.

I know I probably forgot to mention some other things, but I'm tired, have lots of work to do, and have millions of things running through my head. But I wanted to put this out there so everyone can get an inside perspective on the insurance situation.

Please don't shoot the messenger here, and I beg you all to be respectful. I'm sticking my neck out to try to help, and I don't want the underwriters calling me next week saying they are getting bombareded by Cobra owners. Take it for what it is worth and let's work towards a solution that will help everyone.

Steve