The Art Of The Car
You’ve heard the expression that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Nothing could be truer as it applies to the art car. But you don’t have to be an art car connoisseur to know that an art car is a pricey vehicle. Oh, it didn’t necessarily start out that way. The value of most art cars is in the modifications, not necessarily the make, model or vintage. You might even find a 1964 VW bug minibus as a freebie on Craigslist, but slap a coat of day-glo paint on it, glue on a couple thousand toy robots, add in a souped up lighting and sound system (”Danger, Will Robinson!”) and what you’ve got is no longer worthless junk; you’ve got a valuable object d’art that can be known in car art circles as the Transform-o-Car!
How much money did the Transform-o-Car cost? Have you been to a toy shop lately? Car art aficionados take their love of whatever their passion may be to the nth degree. That’s fine if your passion is dried pasta; how much money are a couple of dozen bags of rigatoni, after all? But what if your add-on modifications include your collection of Gucci key chains, Hermès scarves or Manolo Blahnik stiletto heels? Most people can’t afford even one of those things.
Maybe your art car modifications are a bit more staid - like spinning wheels and rims, a moon roof, neon accent lights, and a customized paint job. You’ve probably still spent a pretty penny (almost as much as the toy robots!) and in the event something untoward or crazy happens (and crazy stuff does tend to happen to art cars and their owners who have a reputation as being a bit “wild”) you want to be sure your insurance coverage is enough to be made whole (to start all over again, of course, cause that’s half the fun!).
Unfortunately, some art cars are considered “high risk” by some insurers, so you may have to do some serious searching for an agency that will cover you, especially if you’ve put in “specialty” modifications. For your normal, run-of-the-mill art car modifications - sun roof, spoilers, upholstery, engine or transmission upgrade, lighting, sound system, etc. you can find cheap car insurance a lot easier than some of your “wilder” art car brethren.
Bear in mind, for most art cars, when you do find coverage, you may also have “serious” restrictions on the coverage. No popping out to the local DIY store or hitting the drive-thru of your local fast food emporium. Forget about making it your regular commuter car; that’s a no-no. For all intents and purposes, art cars are no different than collector cars. You’ll have driving, mileage and use restrictions placed on it.
But the good thing about insuring an art car is also the coverage. Your coverage amount is predetermined or “agreed upon” based on your value of the art car, which will not depreciate like your regular commuter car. So if you say your car is worth $150,000 then the rate you pay annually is based on that $150,000 total payoff.
Art cars are a fun hobby, but no one ever said it was an inexpensive one.