Classic & Antique Car Insurance in San Francisco, CA

Where no other restriction is posted, the SFMTA lets a regular passenger vehicle stay in one space for up to 72 hours. Past that, an enforcement officer can put a Marking Notice on the windshield and mark a wheel; if the car has not moved by the time on the notice, it can be towed when the officer returns. The agency says a missing notice does not stop the tow, and that a current RPP decal or a disabled placard gives no exemption from the limit.

Enforcement generally starts with residents complaining about a stored car. A car more than six months out of registration, or one that is obviously disabled or inoperable, can be cited and towed immediately with no marking notice at all — the position a half-finished project car left outside tends to be in.

On any grade of 3% or more the SFMTA requires curbed wheels: headed downhill, front wheels turned into the curb; headed uphill, turned away and rolled back gently against it, with the parking brake set. On a car still running its original brakes, treat that as the floor rather than the plan. If the car lives in a garage, say so and give the address when you quote; how a classic policy treats storage and garaging is written into each company’s own form.

Vehicle Code section 5004 lets the owner of a car built after 1922 that is at least 25 years old and of historic interest apply for permanent Historical Vehicle plates. The statute defines historic interest as a car collected, restored, maintained and operated by a collector or hobbyist principally for exhibition and historic-vehicle club activities; cars from 1922 or earlier get Horseless Carriage plates instead.

For smog, the Bureau of Automotive Repair says every vehicle of model year 1975 or older is exempt. A 1976-or-newer car can be treated as a collector car only if it is insured as one, and its abbreviated inspection is done by a state Referee, who confirms that collector-car insurance as part of the check.