How to Insure your Classic Car with Hagerty Insurance

Dave: I've always wondered about how you get insurance for collector cars. How do you train your staff to evaluate the value of a classic car in order to be able to ensure it?

Zach: That's one of the frequent questions we often get, one of the unique things that Haggerty is. We have valuation tools for our clients and members. The live updates on the market and the values of those vehicles. It's a free resource for them to constantly check and maintain those values. A lot of the vehicles we're looking at ensuring at the purchase price, especially if someone just acquires that vehicle. That sometimes sets a new standard, possibly for the new high of the market. Prior recorded sales may be less, but they purchase a vehicle for more than the last recorded sale. Now, there are looking to ensure that vehicle or that investment for what they purchase that vehicle for. At Hagerty, the evaluation tool is not in our opinion. These are actual sales that we've recorded. We have a team who's traveling to the auctions, scouring eBay sales records and putting all that data into our database for clients to be able to look it up.

Dave: How long is has Hagerty been around?

Zach: We've been around since 1984 and we've grown quite a bit over the years. Currently, we have employees throughout the entire United States. If you ever come across a Hag- erty employee at a car show or an event, we're all well connected. We're out in the community and trying to help answer questions and protect those collector vehicles. Whether it's an old antique, a modern exotic sports car, race cars and everything in between.

Dave: How much has your database has grown since 1984?

Zach: One of the other unique things we've done over the years is produce a Collector Car Price Guide. Our latest issue of that price guide is the 50th issue. We're going to convert over to a digital format going forward which will be available online. Our books were primarily cars built in 1946, and newer. So, it missed out on a lot of the older stuff like motorcycles and boats. All that information is online on our valuation tool. You can search by VIN or search by year, make and model. Some of the other unique things you can do is add other financial indexes such as NASDAQ or Gold, to see where your car's value is appreciating your state. So, for us car nerds, it's a cool place to go build a little portfolio of cars that we either own or are dreaming of owning.

There is more to this interview available at NMMotorSportsReport.com. The interview is available by podcast dated April 22, 2023. In the podcast, we discuss restoration mods and race cars. It is worth a listen.

BySpencerHill

Hearts sank and a hush flew over the crowd during the opening laps of the season opener at Vado Speedway Park on March 25th after a violent flip ensued on the final lap of Heat 1 for the Lucas Oil POWRi NMMRA Sprint Car Series. Three-time series champion, Caleb Saiz, got out of shape going into turn three, sending him head on into the concrete containment barrier before experiencing several hard flips, ending with the car landing upside down.

The 27-year-old Albuquerque, NM native was racing in the fourth position when his Hal Burns Racing No. 1HA bicycled on the cushion; a description popular in non-wing open wheel cars when the vehicle picks the left side tires up off the ground, often resulting in a barrel roll. As emergency personnel quickly arrived on the scene, Saiz was still upside down but awake and alert. After safety crews gently up righted the car, Saiz would take extra precaution exiting the car gingerly with some assistance before being taken to a nearby hospital in El Paso, TX.

Upon further evaluation, Saiz was found to have suffered from a collapsed lung, a fractured clavicle, seven broken ribs, vascular damage in his neck, bruising in his chest, and a severe concussion. While it was a laundry list of injuries for the 2022 Vado Speedway Park 360-Winged Track Champion, Saiz remained in good spirits in the following weeks and provided updates to fans and friends through his racing page on Facebook.

“All of my doctor visits are done and over with,” said Saiz during a Facebook Live on April 12th. “Everything should heal on its own when it comes to my shoulder, neck and ribs. I do have a damaged artery in my neck but that should also heal on its own within the next six to eight weeks.”

It has been a difficult time for the sprint car racing family in recent weeks. On April 8th, USAC Sprint Car driver, Justin Owen, succumbed to injuries sustained in a qualifying crash during an AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship event at Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana.

Days after that, Jake Neuman was seriously injured during his qualifying lap with the High Limit Sprint Car Series at Lakeside Speedway near Kansas City on April 11th.

The recent events serve as a grim reminder that the sport we love can also be so brutal and heartbreaking at times. It is understandable why sprint car racing is one of the most thrilling, yet dangerous forms of auto racing on the planet.

“I just can’t thank everyone enough for all of their thoughts, prayers and for reaching out,” continued Saiz. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me and my family. It’s been kind of a tough time but it’s a part of the sport and [a part of] racing. My thoughts and prayers also go out to Justin Owen’s and Jake Nueman’s families.”

The road to recovery for Caleb Saiz is already in high gear and he continues to make major strides every day. He was happy to return to the race shop a few weeks ago and begin to help the team prepare a new non-wing car for the rest of the season. While no date of return has officially been set, Caleb and team owner David Burns have tentatively circled their calendar to return to the track Memorial Day Weekend at Vado Speedway Park with the POWRi 360 Wing Sprint Car Desert Series.

For more information and continued updates on Caleb Saiz’s recovery be sure to follow @Caleb.Saiz99 on Facebook.

BySpencerHill Photos Courtesy of Vegas Fast Media

The success of brothers in NASCAR is a subject that has been documented for quite some time. From empires like Wood Brothers Racing to some of the winningest names in the sport such as Labonte, Waltrip, Allison and Busch, there always seems to be an upcoming duo to keep an eye on.

Undoubtedly, Kurt and Kyle Busch have found the most success with a combined 96 wins in the NASCAR Cup Series alone. Hailing from Las Vegas, Nevada, the Busch brothers got their start at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway racing Legend Cars around the 3/8ths mile oval just west of the big track. After finding success on a local and regional level, Kurt led the way into the ranks of NASCAR’s top three national series with Kyle following suit closely, winning nearly everything along the way.

The Busch brothers have found tremendous success in NASCAR, but now with Kurt in retirement and Kyle’s years likely beginning to dwindle into the single digits, many have posed the question; who’s next?

Perhaps the perfect pair of brothers to keep your eyes on are the newest generation of racers that have been raising eyebrows in the NASCAR-owned ARCA Menards Series. Coincidence or not, Tanner and Tyler Reif also just so happen to be born and raised in Las Vegas, NV and have been cutting their teeth the last few years dominating the legend car and late model scene at The Bullring at LVMS.

Tanner is the older of the two, currently 17 years old. Tyler is the youngest brother, at 15 years old. While they both share the burning desire to win in every car they climb in to, their personalities shine bright in their own ways on and off the racetrack. Tanner is the quieter brother, less likely to ruffle feathers on the track but always critical in his thinking and understanding of what is going on with the car and during the race. Tyler is more of what many would consider a “wild child.” Although he might be a little more animated than Tanner, he is always focused on one thing when he puts a helmet on… winning… and he will do whatever it takes to do so, even if that means not making many friends on the track. Don’t discount either for their knowledge, however. Both Tanner and Tyler have a great understanding of the ins and outs of what makes their cars fast and have worked many hours in the shop on their own cars while climbing the regional ranks.

“Sharing the track with my brother can definitely make racing at the track different,” explains Tanner. “I believe he is much more aggressive and harder on the car, whereas I think I can preserve the car and tires better through a longer run. At the end of the day, I race him like I would anyone else.”

“It’s a huge positive and a huge negative,” as Tyler describes. “Obviously we are both super competitive. On top of that we are brothers, but he pushes me, and I push him, which pushes both of us to be better… but it can definitely be frustrating on the way home sometimes.”

Now if you think it’s bad enough having to battle your brother for the win, can you imagine what it is like having your only two children in the same race every weekend? Finding the balance on how to cheer for her two boys equally and support them through their highs and lows is a job that Tori Reif, Tanner and Tyler’s mother, gets to juggle on a regular basis.

“I thought being a mom to two teenage boys was hard enough,” says Tori. “Adding on that they are competitors is a huge challenge. It’s very rare that both boys come off the track happy so finding that balance has never been easy and I’m not sure I have it figured out yet. I just make sure that they know I support them no matter what. I enjoy every aspect of watching them accomplish their goals on track. To say watching them win is easy, and of course that makes everyone happy, but watching them struggle, learn, adapt and applying that ability to their racing is so rad."