Auto and Car Insurance

Should I get antique tags for my vintage Volkswagens? Or should I stick with normal registration?

I'm 25yrs old and I have two classic cars: a 1973 VW Beetle and a 1976 VW Campmobile(aka "hippie van"). Both of them were taken off the road for about a year but now that summer's approaching, I'm getting them reinsured and reregistered. A lot of people keep telling me to get antique car tags, because then I won't have to put up with the hassle of paying for inspection each year and other fees. I've also heard that classic car insurance is very cheap -- only a few hundred a year for full(liability, comprehensive, collision) coverage. Last year, I had my cars on a regular insurance policy and I paid $12/mo for the Campmobile and $36/mo for the Beetle(The campmobile was cheaper because it qualified for the multicar discount). This was for state min coverage--liability only. Do you think classic car insurance would save me much money? Also--how hard is it to get approved for classic tags, and how long does it typically take? I understand I need to send in pictures. Advice?

Public Comments

1. the 65-72 where the clasic hippie vans and i think a vehicle has to 50 to be an antique. as to which one, whatever that makes it look better don't know how long it takes, take care of them and liability would be the cheapest.
2. Getting classic tags is no different than renewing your regular tags, I don't know why you would need pictures of the cars, it doesn't go by what they look like, it goes by the year they were made to qualify. I do have a question though, do you just want plates that signify the car is old, or are you looking for the lower rate by registering them as horseless carriage? If it's the later, the car is allowed to be driven only as your "sunday driver", not as your daily driver, so it makes a big difference. I don't think classic car insurance will save you any money, it may cost more, in fact.
3. In California we can register under Year of Manufacture (YOM) for 1963 and older only. I reg'd my '55 chev. with a '51 plate and '55 reg. tag. Pretty cool. The help at DMV were pretty lame about the reg. process for YOM, so brace yourself. When the renewal came back this year (1st time) I noticed they had replaced a 1 with I... lame again! (On both the title and reg.) Another trip to DMV, work with the same person and all is well (crossed fingers). I found the original paperwork, so the mistake was theres'. The lame data-input people also charged me an extra 10 bucks for "Special Plates" (which they're not), so watch these guys!