Update by Tim Suddard to the
Mercedes-Benz 230 S project car
Mar 23, 2012
Tim proudly affixes the "Antique" plate to the project Mercedes-Benz.
With our 1966 Mercedes-Benz 230 S ready to roll and reliable enough for a daily commute (except the one time the wire going into the distributor shorted out and killed the spark), it was time to make a commitment. If this car was to be part of our fleet, it was time to remove the dealer tag and get it titled, registered and insured.
Every state is a little different, but to title and register a car you need a clean title and a bill of sale. Newer Florida titles are, in effect, a bill of sale as sale price and date are now on the titles themselves. No separate bill of sale is needed.
We called our friends at Hagerty and asked it what it would cost to add this jewel to our policy. Classic car insurance is the deal of a lifetime and since we already have roughly 20 cars insured. The tab for this Mercedes was only going to be about $15 per year.
To be fair, we asked Hagerty what it would cost to insure the $3500-stated-value Mercedes if we were regular schmoes in Florida with no other cars in a two car garage. The answer was still pleasing: Roughly $125 to $175, depending if we wanted free towing or the Hagerty Plus membership, which has some other benefits.
The title fee in Florida on a classic is only $28. You need to spend another $50 or so to register the car, and then you have to pay the one time sales tax fee of 6.5% (in our county). Our total was $104, given our purchase price of $1600. For $300 to $400 all in, you have a street-legal classic. Hagerty does not limit mileage, but they do look at how many cars you have and what you use them for.
If you want to drive your classic to work once in a while or on a rally, Hagerty has no problem. But if you’re a traveling salesperson putting 50,000 miles a year on your classic and don’t sort out the milage and usage intent beforehand, expect war when filing a claim with any classic car insurance company.
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