A sinkhole collapsed within the National Corvette Museum inBowling Green, Ky., this morning, damaging eight Corvettes,including two on loan from General Motors, the museum reports.

“We received a call at 5:44 a.m. from our security companyalerting us of our motion detectors going off in our Skydome areaof the museum,” a statement says. “Upon arrival it was discoveredthat a sinkhole had collapsed within the museum.”

The museum says the sinkhole is 40 feet across and 25-30 feetdeep. No one was in or around the museum at the time.

The affected cars on loan from GM are:

• 1993 ZR-1 Spyder
• 2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil”

The six vehicles owned by the National Corvette Museuminclude:

• 1962 Black Corvette
• 1984 PPG Pace Car
• 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette
• 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette
• 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette
• 2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette

The museum says it is closed to the public for the day, and astructural engineer is making assessments.

Ted Corless, an insurance-litigation attorney in Florida withthe Corless Barfield Trial Group, which has dealt with manysinkhole claims, suggests the museum would be better served if ageotechnical engineer made an evaluation rather than a structuralengineer.

He says the structural integrity of the building itself maybe less of a concern than the state of the ground beneath it,specifically citing the risk that attempts to fix the onesinkhole could trigger others, resulting in further damage. In manycases in Florida, he says, a large sinkhole will be “the first ofwhat will be other events.”

He also says that attempting to extract the vehicles will be a“very delicate maneuver” that could result in the loss of equipmentthat will be used around the sinkhole.

Regarding potential coverage for the Corvettes, Corless says anypayout would depend on the type of coverage and whether properassessments had been made on the actual value of the vehicles. Healso said deductibles could be considerable, noting he has seenspecialty policies with deductibles up to 10%.

But Jonathan Klinger, public relations manager for HagertyInsurance Agency, a leading provider of classic-vehicle insurance,says high deductibles are a “common myth” when it comes toclassic-car insurance.

He stresses that Hagerty does not insure the National CorvetteMuseum, and that he does not know what coverages are involved inthis particular case, but he says individual classic-car policiesinsured through Hagerty often have no deductible. For commercialpolicies, which would be more common for a museum, there are “manydifferent deductible options,” ranging from zero up to tens ofthousands of dollars.

Regarding available policies for classic cars on display in amuseum, Klinger again notes that he doesn't know the particularcoverages involved in this case, but says Hagerty offersmuseum-specific coverage for classic cars, and, whether the carsare on loan or owned, they would be covered to an agreed value,which is determined beforehand by the insured and Hagerty.

For cars on loan, such as the two in the museum that were onloan from GM, Klinger says payouts could depend on what type ofcoverage GM had. But a museum with coverage written through aHaggerty policy, he says, would be covered, and a decision could bemade later by the insurer regarding possible subrogation.

Corless wondered if damage by sinkhole would be covered for theNational Corvette Museum, saying that, in Florida, he has seenpolicies that include such coverage and those that would excludeit.

Klinger says that, in Hagerty's case, sinkhole damage would beincluded. Furthermore, he says the entire loss would be a singleevent, so the deductible would apply only once, versus having topay the deductible on each vehicle.

The National Corvette Museum did not respond to requests forcomment.