Track Insurance

I am planning to participate in a few track events this year and was looking for any suggestions or recommendations on track insurance.

 

Use Lockton Affinity, can purchase yearly package or for individual events. Max coverage is $100K.

Rob

 

Anyone have higher limits, as $100k problematic for many F-cars?
Thanks

 

FWIW; I was with Farmers with no special coverage.

Ran out of track at Thunderhill and threw it into the weeds.

Turns out, at least for me, they covered it as it was a driver education event - This, for them at least, was the key; They wanted me to be a "better driver" and fully covered the ~$70K repairs......

The loss adjuster did contact the organiser (Ferrari of S.F.) and asked if we were racing; "No sir, DE only" and life was good.

Obviously, YMMV, but worth asking your regular guys IMO.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I'll echo what Ian said. Read your policy. Different insurers handle this differently. Some exclude anything that happens at a race track, so if your car gets stolen from the parking lot, there's potentially no coverage. The best forms I have seen exclude "racing" and "preparation for racing." Then there's everything in between. Most of the policies that you can buy for a track day are just for property damage to your own vehicle, not for liability to others. So if you run into someone else or injure anyone else in your car or in another car, you might still not have any insurance for that. From what I understand, a single track day policy is going to run $300 or so, essentially doubling the price of your track day. It might make sense to investigate buying an auto policy that doesn't automatically exclude accidents on a race track.

 

Last year I raced on the streets of Toronto. Never been there, only seen scary videos. No run off just walls. I bought insurance. $7,500 for the week end $35,000 deductible max payout $100,000. The first race, no damage. Then I thought, to break even I needed to stuff the car into the wall and have repairs for $42,500. Well, the second race went off without a hiccup...out $7,500!

 

Depending on your situation Lockton might be a good fit or I might as well. My coverage picks up where Lockton or OnTrackInsurance leave off as I'm capable of covering values as high as $1MM per car. My program is also significantly more flexible than either of those programs in regards to types of events covered, drivers and the ability to schedule multiple cars. All that said there are qualifying factors to my program, shoot me an email or give me a call if you would like to discuss. Please don't get me wrong, both Lockton and OnTrackInsurance offer great coverage for what they are but they are not suited for higher value cars like Ferraris.

 

Here in Texas, most of the standard policy forms are getting pretty astute and exclude a loss that occurs on any surface ever used for racing, so beware of that and read your policy.

Bottom line as with any insurance is figure the premiums and deductible are going to be commensurate with the risk and amount of potential loss, insurance companies are in it for profit.

 

I am going to the FCA annual meet in Elkhart, Wis this summer and would like to participate in the track event. My ins carrier, American Family, said they would not cover this track event. I have to decide if I want to participate without coverage or look for another carrier. Can any of you suggest a carrier that would cover this within a normal policy with out paying for a special rider?

 

I am covered by Chartis/AIG for everything (home, auto, liability) and via that coverage, I have an extended policy for track use (DE) and racing. It is definitely an extra cost, but overall the entire package is well worth it.

I do not think any "typical" carrier these days provides real on-track coverage (DE), but Lockton-Affinity can provide some coverage (up to $100K max IIRC). After you hit the tire wall is not the time to read the fine print

Suggest you call Morgan Duffy at HWI Motorsports (Fchat sponsor). he specializes in this stuff, he covers me and about 20 of my friends. His coverage options are awesome, but are not for everybody.

 

My regular State Farm policy used to cover me, but on a close read of the "important information about your coverage" insert I got a while back, it no longer does.

Lockton is a good choice as they cover most all track events outside of wheel to wheel competition. I thought they were a bit pricey, but hey. It's up to you to decide what it is worth to you. I could pay $350 to cover my Lotus for one day, or I could roll the dice and just try not to hit anything. It all depends on your risk appetite.

 

When I looked into this I could not find a single carrier that would cover claims made while driving at any "location where competitive driving takes place, regardless of whether the claim was made in a non-competitive situation".

The fine print always basically ruled out any claims at a track.

I had several agents tell me their policy would cover track driving. They were wrong.

I had several agents send me policy terms that suggested they would cover track driving. They were wrong. (the exclusions can be very, very, very buried in a state specific rider or other adendum to the main policy terms...but it was always there when I dug).

ASAIK, the only way to have any overage is to use the word "AND". Meaning get your basic coverage AND add track coverage if you so desire.

Importantly, that coverage is for damage to your car. I haven't seen one with liability coverage...which - for me anyways - is the far larger concern.

All that said, I *think* that many tracks and or even sponsoring organziations have some sort of liability only coverage that is required to be in place, but I actually *think* its only to the benefit of the event organizer/sponsor and the facility itself (and thus not protecting you as a driver).

Finally, I'm NOT an expert. This is only what I have come to understand. Your own diligence is highly warranted!

 

I think Lockton raised the limits to $125,000.

 

When I checked on track insurance last year I couldn't find anyone to write one for over $100K. Driving a Scud I couldn't take the risk between the spread. We had a track day set up where only 5 cars would be on track at one time. I wasn't worried about putting it in the tires and was willing to take a risk on my driving, but it didn't matter.

My insurance company said they would cancel my policy if they knew who the agent was calling for. They went as far as to say that if anything happened to the car while on the property, they would not cover it. Meaning if a tree fell on it, too bad. The other worry I have is I have seen a few cars catch fire in a freak accident and that scares me the most.

At the end of the day I still haven't been to a track day, even to watch. I have even considered renting out the track for the day just by myself, but that would still put me in a bad situation if something were to happen.

I would still love to learn the ways of the car, just can't do it on the streets!

Later

 

That's exactly the impression I got to when talking to insurance companies and reading the policy fine print...they are essentially saying no coverage "at any location where racing occurs". I had to wonder if parking in the lot to watch a race and having your car broken into would be denied coverage...(sarcasm)


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It's all a matter of risk tolerance. As for insurance - you really can't expect cheap insurance for an activity that makes you worry about serious damage. If you won't take the risk, why would you expect a stranger to do it inexpensively? . All the reason why I have dedicated track cars for more serious racing and track activities. I simply can't justify the consumables and risk of taking an exontic on track regularly and frankly you can go much faster for way less money in a dedicated track and racing car, anyway.

That said, we've never had car-car contact an my school, but have had mechanical issues (including grenaded engines) and hit a cone at 50 + mph and it will leave a mark, too.

At the end of the day, any serious performance car is sort of a waste if it never goes on track, as you'll never use any significant part of the performance envelope on the street.

 

Don't laugh. I suspect that there would be no coverage if your car is broken into at the track. BTW, there is usually no coverage under your auto insurance for stuff taken from your car (briefcases, CDs, laptops). That would be covered under your homeowners ins. This goes to my earlier statement. Read your policy. They are not all alike. Read your exclusions. My exclusion is "racing and preparation for racing."

 

That's better than most...care to share who writes that policy?


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Travelers, but they are not the only one that has language similar to this. As is usually the case, you get what you pay for. For years I have been telling anyone who will listen that not all auto insurance polices are alike. Almost no one believes me. Oh well.