Phokaioglaukos

At the Glen a couple of weeks ago I heard a rumor that State Farm was introducing a new exclusion relating to DE. I called my agent who investigated and learned that State Farm plans to change its policy, effective for renewals and new policies written after November 15, 2006, as follows:

New Coverage Exclusions

There is no Liability Coverage while a vehicle is off public roads and being prepared for, used in practice for, or operated in any racing, speed, hill-climbing, jumping, or other similar contest; or on a track designed primarily for racing or high-speed driving.

There is no Physical Damage Coverage while a vehicle is being prepared for, used in practice for, or operated in any racing, speed, hill-climbing, jumping, or other similar contest on any road; or on a track designed primarily for racing or high-speed driving.

My agent noted that he is still trying to get some answers about the high speed educational course. He also cautioned me that the wording of the exclusion is not final yet as it has not been approved by State Farm claims management and approved by the insurance department. BUT, the last clause
that there is no coverage when the vehicle is operated on a track designed primarily for racing or high-speed driving pretty much completely denies coverage for DE.

I moved my insurance to State Farm, as my agent knows, solely because it does not exclude on-track events that are not racing, preparing for racing or timed. My policies renew on November 10, 2006, so this new exclusion will not hit me until May 15, 2007, but it's a concern now, particularly as DE insurance seems to be drying up.

Is there an insurance carrier out there that does not now exclude DEs?

Right now I'm thinking more seriously about a pure track car, trailer and tow vehicle, but I really like driving to the track in the car I run and I really like the GT3, slow as I am in it. On RA-1s the car is just fine on the street and lots of fun on the track.

spazegun2213

WOW, thats good to know! I also have state farm and i have discussed my various "off road" activities with my agent (off the record of course). The word from him was, if I were to total my car, i get a check, and a letter saying i have been dropped.

This lead me to buying a race car, now i dont have to prep my street car before, and un-prep after an event, nor do i have to commute on race pads, lol.

Its nice, having a truck to pull with and a race car that in the garage, i work on it when i need to, at the pace i want. The only down side, is my car is NOT street legal, so testing on public roads is out of the question.

Thanks for the info!

Larry Herman

Chris, I got that letter too, and it looks like they are following the trend of everyone else. It's going to be ugly for guys who track high dollar street cars anymore.

Phokaioglaukos

Larry, I have not had anything in writing other than an e-mail from Scott with that text. Glad I checked the rumor so I have some more time to consider.

Last night I concluded that I'd keep the car and just suck it up if I prang it, but I know that I'll be thinking hard this winter about whether this is the ideal car for me to learn on. It's going to be a long winter.

Matt Marks

Damn - now you're going to drive the price of the remaining 944's up!

I checked my policy with Traveller's and there appears to be no such exclusion, at least in Virginia.

trumperZ06

YET !!!

Allstate nipped a bunch of us in the A$$ this year... excluding coverage for any damage on a road or track designed for racing/speed events.

I went to American Collectors Insurance for coverage. Now we hear that Americn Collectors will NOT renew existing policies next year.

I looked at changing our coverage over to State Farm... but it was cheaper just buying the additional policy.

Looks like we all will be "Self-Insured" in a year or two.

chris walrod

I have State Farm and this is one of the reasons I stay with them. If they exclude DE coverage, does this mean we should expect a rate reduction? We are paying for X, then X is reduced, then so should Y <-------------- Y = why do we pay so much for insurance

bnewport

Yep
All state won't cover it anymore. I'd a friend with an Elise that tried to go tree climbing at BIR and they didn't cover it. Farmers may still cover it. I'm with American Collectors until next August and then I'll probably switch to Laurel.

38D

More like you were paying X, but getting X+1.

Come on guys, this was clearly a loophole in many policies. Insurance companies never intended to cover DE accidents, they just had not seen enough of them to warrant the hassle of changing the language. Now with people regularly tracking & crashing $100k cars, it makes sense. I personally don't think the general public should be paying for us to go 150mph on a race track.

M758

When I tracked my street 944 Turbo I had full coverage. I always hoped a incident would be covered, but I never want to find out. So I assumed it either would not be covered or I just may not want to file a claim and then pay for it with a rate increase later on.

So I just drove like it did not have any insurance and when I was no longer comfortable got a car that I was ok with potential wadding up. I'd bet there are two things driving this. One of them is car replacement costs. However went it comes down to it even a 150k GT2 is not that much when you consider liability. Not sure of and specific incidents, but I wonder if the fear of liablity payouts on track is the bigger concern than just replacement for the car? Either that or the cost of replacing a bunch of Evo's and STI's wadded up by young punks.

Even so the days of tracking expensive cars maybe coming to a close. In fact this may have a large impact on Novices who simply want to "try out track driving" in the their street cars.

Phokaioglaukos

From what I know, the PCA liability waiver really does work. I think the insurance claims were for property damage.

kurt M

Can you wave or assign liability or dismiss negligence? Too bad that on track events have become more popular.

penguinking

hmmm? explain how that worked

John H

Progressive did it too.

mooty

what does that mean for ppl who track race car?
do you use special insurance for racing or you self insure?

i dont trust insurance on track, i self insure. but i may goto dedicated race car too.