Cobra a no-go; At least as far as insuring replicas through Hagerty.(Brief Article)

Hagerty Classic Insurance will no longer write new policies for Cobra replicas. They wind up paying out too much in claims.

``As the largest insurer of collector cars I want to try and mitigate losses,'' said president McKeel Hagerty. ``It's not that we're having a horrendous problem here, but if you look for areas of losses, it's in replica Cobras.''

Hagerty cited ``numerous fatalities and a number of other significant accidents'' as the reasons for the company's new policy. The problems lie with both the cars and their drivers, Hagerty says.

``They [the replicas] all have this very interesting characteristic: People have them built way over the specs the cars were designed to accommodate. You stuff a Hemi in a car that's less than 2000 pounds, it's a recipe for disaster.''

Consider, too, that many owners let their friends take the car for a spin, when the friends have no vested interest in the car and often very little skill, and you wind up with the high claim rate. Hagerty currently insures 1500 replica Cobras and says it will continue to honor those policies: The ban applies only to new policies.