Is your car trailer insured?

By Michael J. Jones
Vice President, National Headquarters

Many of our club members have car trailers, which are used to transport their antique cars to shows or tours. If you were to ask them if they have insurance on the trailer itself you will surely get a variety of answers. Not too many people are knowledgeable of their coverage. It turns out that most people make an assumption that it’s covered as part of their tow vehicle automobile policy.

Well, they are partially correct. Most standard automobile policies do cover trailers in tow – But for LIABILTY only! That is to say if while rounding a corner your trailer knocked down a fence post and a mailbox, your insurance would pay for that liability. It would NOT pay any collision or comprehensive damage expenses incurred by that incident. (It goes without saying that your trailered antique vehicle would be covered by your separate antique car policy should it be damaged in an accident while being trailered.)

My advice is for every serious trailer owner to call or write his insurance agent and inquire about the coverage their regular automobile policy provides. It will most likely be exactly as I have stated above. The good news is that you can insure your trailer as an additional “vehicle” on your regular auto policy for less than $50.00 depending on the value you declare. By doing this you are provided with collision and comprehensive coverage that will reimburse you for damage to the trailer and any additional installed equipment.

Tip: When discussing trailer replacement value with your insurance agent remember to include cost of winches, special tires and any custom installations you have made to the trailer.

The AACA Library and Research Center Can Help You

By Harold E. Henry
Vice President, Library & Research Center

Why have a Library and Research Center? Perhaps it is there to help you. Think about it, if you have a problem regarding a particular vehicle, you can bet there is a good chance that the answer is there in the Library. If you want to do some research there are several ways you can do this.

First you can visit the Library and Research Center and someone on the Library Staff will be happy to assist you. The “stacks” are not open to anyone other than the Librarian or those authorized by the Library Committee. There are several good reasons why you will need this help. The Library Staff can advise you if the information you need is available in the Library. If the requested material is in the Library, they will have a record of the material you are requesting. Should you pull the material and not get it back in its proper place, the next person who requests that material may never find it.

Second, you can call or write to the Library and Research Center. There are nominal fees to cover reproduction services, materials, etc. The charges will be quoted to you when you call. Some fees are quoted on the Internet. A Research Request form should be used for all mail inquiries. The inquiring patron will receive the form outlining material available and costs and then will authorize the Librarian to proceed with copies, etc. Charges for reproduction services will be required in advance with the return of the Research Request approval.

I believe we have the best Library and Research Center for researching your vehicle. Why not use it? Should you come to Hershey Fall Meet and Flea Market, the Library and Research Center should be on your must visit list if you are restoring a vehicle. You may be looking for production figures, paint colors for your vehicle, engineering diagrams of your older vehicle and many other research sources. We may be able to help you.

As editor of my Region’s newsletter I receive about 25 other newsletters from other Regions and Chapters in the “Sharing of Newsletters” program, but I received a new one in my capacity as editor of the Rummage Box recently that caught my eye for its quality, good content, and style. I conversed by e-mail with the editor and he replied in part that he has been the one and only editor of their Region now for 26 years. He went on to say that he was used to receiving Award of Excellence and Master Editor awards but had not received such honors recently. He was wondering just what the standards that newsletters are judged by to qualify for various levels of awards.

I replied to him that the judging rules are such that what judges look for are: the value to its members, content (well balanced and informative), interest of material in newsletter, publishing on a regular basis, originality, layout, cover design, clarity of printing , and graphics.

Also, the five or six people on the judging panel grade each newsletter entry on a scale of 1 thru 10 (all issues of their newsletter) and at a meeting late in the year they meet and jointly rate each entrant.

Now to my personal experience as an editor. I have been an AACA editor of a Region newsletter for a relatively short time — 4 1/2 years to be exact — each year I have received the Master Editor Award and Award of Excellence. In that period of time I have seen a tremendous increase in the overall quality of newsletters. I have seen polished newsletters to newsletter produced by “cut and paste” and typewriter, newsletters printed out on old “9-pin” computer printers (they still exist) to newsletters that had large amounts of color pictures and type. The long and the short of it is that the top newsletter of five or ten years ago probably wouldn’t hold a candle to the “average” newsletters of today. I tested this thinking with some other people involved in the newsletter program and they agree with my observations.

The dedication is there, but I believe that the tools available are making for a better product. And, the second part is that the competition is a whole lot tougher. Just like in business, sports, and life in general, competition has greatly increased the quality of our newsletters.

So what is my advice? Share with other editors and see what they do (one of my first moves when I became editor was to get newsletters from all previous year Master Editors). Keep you skills sharp, and most of all — enjoy the job. That has more to do with your success than anything else as far as I’m concerned!