I tried to add my DE / track car to my insurance the other day.

I made the big mistake to mention the word race track to my agent.
He freaked out and now they will not insure the Porsche.

I tried to explain that it would only be used on DE events for driver safety /improvement and that I would not be looking for insurance on the track, only when driving on the street.

She explained that now they know I will be using it for occasional track use and they want nothing to do with it.

I recently sold my '91 GT and it was about $700 per year full cover 100/300k.
This really sucks. What now?

 

Try someone else and don't mention the track....

 

I am with State Farm and rates are really cheap when you add cars to the policy... That was a real dumb mistake.

 

I use Safeco, the SC in my avatar is street legal (during the daytime), registered and fully insured.. I think it was around a $400 addition per year to my policy. Why in the world would you say anything except the simple facts - Year, Make, Model, Value... did she sound cute?

 

Well, try Geico and don't mention the track. Or use another SF agent. Surely there's more than one agent where you live? I don't think it was dumb of you to mention the track use to State Farm, especially when SF has been known to cover cars used for DE's and you might be expecting to be covered for damage incurred on the track.

 

I learned this one the hard way too,youger and dumber at the time. State Farm too, I think they get a gold star on their desks if they catch one of us and save their companies countless millions blah, blah, blah.

I found an independant agent and they shopped many companies, I had good insurance before, I have great insurance now for less money. Try it see what happens, don't mention buzz words, track, race, fast, etc.

 

I am with State Farm and they full well know the car is for the track and they also insure the trailer that will transport it to and from the track. I don't get it it is such hit or miss. It was the same with my State Farm agent in VA too.

Where in FL are you? If you are in South Florida I'll connect you with my agent where I have had no issues, but I still wouldn't go running around publicizing. If interested shoot me a PM.

-Skip

 

Thanks Skip, pm sent.

 

my agent (after I bought a 4th porsche in january) told me her husband is a PCA member and loves track events. I said "maybe one day I'll go out in one of these...but I don't plan on it currently"

now that's some CIA info from her- trying to catch me. or, she just doesn't care. can never be too safe though!

 

I agree that you probably should have kept quiet, but truthfully believe it should not be a big deal. I just think insurance salesmen in general know very little about their product. I called around the state of Utah last spring (took a day off work) and talked to 15 different insurance agents with the same story: 1) I want to track a street car, 2) Am I covered with your insurance? 3) Can you send me the text that dicusses track use?

In short, ALL of them freaked out about it and told me (without reading the contract of course) that I was excluded. 12 out of 15 wouldn't go get the contract to read me the text, and 3 out of 15 said they would put it in the mail. It's been one year, and I still am waiting by my mailbox....

Later this month, I will contact another group of 15+ insurance salesman and try the "I want to insure my Porsche and I want to see the contract" routine. This is getting stupid.

Good luck. Let us know how it turns out...

-Blake

 

If you really like State Farm, try another agent. If they did not make any notes in a shared file, you might be able to stay with them. In most states, they still cover DE use so that would not be fraud if it is a covered activity. Sounds like the agent freaked out and thought it was, or asked about, racing. (Unless you are in a state where they have changed the language to exclude all on track activities.)

 

Check out Leland West or Hagerty.

You can get basic street insurance, just don't ever think about a claim for something on the track.

 

It's relatively easy to find companies that don't exclude DE - just ask for a copy of the policy so you can read through it and see what's included and excluded. My agent has done that for me and when you read through you'll see either you can or you cannot participate in Drivers Education. The insurance companies are pretty clear about it - some simply exclude racing or any timed events, while others exclude anything and everything taking place on a race track, near a race track, etc. - some even specifically ban Drivers Education. I believe there are still plenty of companies out there that do not exclude DE - just have to ask around to find them.

And as for telling the agent what you plan or do not plan to do with the car - there's no benefit to doing so at any level. The policy speaks for itself and you don't want to get the agent, that supposedly works for you, to get in the middle.

 

All I really care about, is liability insurance on street use and maybe theft coverage. The car is not all that valuable, so if it should get totaled on the track, that's a risk I am willing to take.

From what I gather here, it seems the problem is my agent.

 

Don't bother with Hagerty - They sent me the policy by PDF and it clearly only excluded racing, so I went with it. When I got my documents, the policy was there, but then they included about 20 pages of "Additional Exclusions" and there they specifically excluded by name just about anything a PCA member might do including DE, rally, etc. Canceled immediately for full refund and went back to my old carrier. My goal was to obtain both agreed value (higher than book) and coverage for occasional DE - no luck.

As for the comment of not thinking of submitting a claim for DE incidents - why not? I have 2 friends that had DE incidents and both were 100% covered, were not dropped, did not have their premium spike, etc. - the policy allows Drivers Education and in 20 years of paying that company, there was one loss that happened to be at DE instead of on the highway.