• April 3, 2011

Research is even more important in the collectible car market because buyers often hitch their hearts -- and their wallets -- to the bumpers of pricey cars for which they often overpay. For that reason, the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies is offering the free "Classic Car Guide" app for iPads and iPhones.

The app, powered by "Keith Martin's Sports Car Market's" database of more than 100,000 auction entries, provides up-to-date and accurate sales information for domestic and foreign collectible cars.

Users can search the collector car transaction data by vehicle identification number (VIN), make, model and year to help determine a fair current market price and to obtain insurance quotes. Photos of collector vehicles and 20 years' worth of reference articles from "Sports Car Market" are also available through the application. In addition, users can search for collector vehicles currently listed for sale on Craigslist and eBay.

The app will soon be available for Android-based smart phones and the Blackberry, and agents and brokers will be able to download a desktop version.

--Tanya Irwin