“Where horsepower meets conversation”
By Tim Harris · January 9, 2026
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If you spend real time around serious cars—vintage, analog, rare, or just irreplaceable—you eventually realize something uncomfortable:
Insurance is not about replacement. It’s about control.
That’s where Hagerty’s Cherished Salvage (often casually called “cherished value”) coverage becomes one of the most misunderstood—but most powerful—tools available to enthusiasts.
After walking through vintage Porsches, modern hypercars, and analog-era Ferraris, a clear pattern emerges:
Outside of extreme, factory-controlled hypercars, Cherished Salvage almost always makes sense.
Let’s explain why.
🔍 First Principles: What Cherished Salvage Actually Does
Under Hagerty’s Guaranteed Value® policy, you and the insurer agree upfront on the value of the car.
Cherished Salvage adds one crucial option:
If the car is declared a total loss
You receive the full agreed value payout (minus deductible)
You keep the car
No salvage value is deducted
That last line is everything.
Normally, if you keep a totaled car, the insurer deducts salvage value from your payout. Cherished Salvage removes that penalty.
This isn’t about optimism.
It’s about optional outcomes.
🕰️ Example 1: The Vintage Benchmark
1970 Porsche 911S — $165,000 Agreed Value
Early long-hood 911s are the textbook case for Cherished Salvage.
Why it works:
VIN matters
Originality matters
Independent restoration shops are everywhere
Parts are valuable and liquid
Salvage titles are survivable
Total loss scenario:
Payout: $165,000
You keep the car
Engine, gearbox, trim, and body panels still have enormous value
Restoration, part-out, or long-term preservation remain your decision
Without Cherished Salvage, you’d lose the car—or lose tens of thousands keeping it.
Here, the coverage is a no-brainer.
⚙️ Example 2: The Analog Exotic Sweet Spot
Ferrari 512 TR — $400,000 Agreed Value
This is where many people’s intuition starts to sharpen.
A 512 TR is expensive, exotic, and rare—but it is not software-defined.
Key differences vs modern hypercars:
Steel chassis
No VIN-locked ECUs
No factory kill-switch ecosystem
Huge independent specialist network
Realistic parts value:
Flat-12 engine: $120k–$175k
Transaxle: $40k–$60k
Interior, suspension, body panels: substantial
Total parted-out value: $200k–$250k+
With Cherished Salvage:
Insurance payout: $400,000
You keep the car
Parts recovery or restoration optionality remains
Total economic value retained can exceed the insured value
This is not theoretical. This happens.
For analog-era Ferraris, Cherished Salvage isn’t just emotional—it’s financially rational.
🏎️ The Outlier: Modern Hypercars
Bugatti Chiron — $3.8M Agreed Value
This is where the rule breaks—and why it’s important to understand why.
Yes, a totaled Bugatti has enormous parts value.
But the owner usually cannot safely or cleanly access that value.
Why:
Carbon tubs cannot be repaired outside factory approval
Parts are serialized, tracked, and software-gated
Independent shops are effectively locked out
Salvage titles are catastrophic (often 50–70% value destruction)
Factory support may vanish permanently
In this rare case:
The insurer is better equipped to monetize salvage
The owner assumes legal, logistical, and reputational risk
Liquidity and clean exit matter more than optionality
This is the exception—not the rule.
💡 The Big Realization (This Is the Core Insight)
Once you step away from extreme, factory-controlled hypercars, the logic flips:
Most collector cars are mechanical, not digital
Most have open or semi-open service ecosystems
Most have valuable, sellable components
Most can survive salvage titles without exile
Which leads to the honest conclusion:
For the vast majority of serious enthusiast cars, Cherished Salvage makes sense.
Not because you want a total loss—but because you don’t want to be forced into a single outcome if one happens.
⚖️ The Real Decision Framework
Cherished Salvage is almost always the right choice when:
The VIN matters to you
The car is rare, analog, or historically significant
Independent specialists can legally service it
Parts have real secondary-market value
You want control, not a forced liquidation
It only stops making sense when:
The factory controls the entire ecosystem
Salvage permanently destroys usability and value
You cannot realistically monetize or restore the car
That list is short—and shrinking.
⚠️ Why Enthusiasts Get This Wrong
Many owners think:
“I’ll never need this.”
That’s the wrong framing.
Cherished Salvage isn’t about betting on disaster.
It’s about refusing to surrender leverage.
If the worst happens, you decide:
Restore
Part out
Store
Sell
Walk away later
Without it, the decision is made for you.
✅ Full Throttle Talk Verdict
Outside of extreme hypercars like Bugatti, Cherished Salvage is one of the highest-ROI insurance decisions an enthusiast can make.
Vintage cars.
Analog exotics.
Rare modern manuals.
Low-production performance cars.
If the car matters—to you or to the market—this coverage is usually worth every dollar.
Because the one thing you can’t insure after the fact is choice.
— Tim Harris
🏁 The Full Throttle Talk Team
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