Granbury
Classic & Collector Car Insurance

The Theft That Leaves the Car Behind

A collector car parked in public around the Granbury square, at a cruise-in, or at a lakeside event is an unusually soft target for a particular kind of theft: parts. Emblems, hood ornaments, mascots, wheel covers, badges, mirrors, exterior trim and increasingly the catalytic converter come off quickly and sell easily, and the car is left sitting exactly where it was. Owners tend to think of theft as the whole vehicle going, and price their coverage against that. Parts theft behaves differently in three ways that matter. The pieces taken are frequently the ones that cannot be bought new, so the replacement is a search rather than an order, and the price is whatever the market asks that month. Removing a part often damages what it was attached to, so a stolen emblem becomes a repaired and repainted panel. And each incident is individually small enough that a deductible chosen for catastrophic loss can swallow the whole claim, which is how owners end up with coverage that is technically in force and practically irrelevant. Agreed value on the car does not address any of this; how the policy treats parts and how the deductible is set do.