For those of you who track your cars....

[Sacramento M3]

Do you have some type of special deal setup with your insurance companies to cover them?

I was just reviewing my policy a while back and it says my car is absolutely not covered if any damage occurs as a result of racing the automobile.

I surely would not want to go to Thunderhill and spin out or even worse flip the car and then have to pay for it on top of that!

Just curious what you guys are doing about that.

[frayed]

You said "racing the automobile". Read it closer. I bet there's some clarifying language.

Most organizations work hard to call their events Driver *Education* Events. I have no exclusions in my policy for such events, only for organaized 'racing' which is defined as a timed, competitive event.

OTOH, some insurers have turned evil. They now exclude any damage from 'operating the vehicle on a course designed for competion or racing'. Fortunately, my carrier has no such language in my policy.

[Sacramento M3]

What about auto-x-ing?

[Rahul325]

any timed event is not covered by insurance, autoX being timed its not covered, the risk of damaging ur car during an autoX is very less unless u are beng a jacka$$ and go way off the course.
the DEs are covered by insurance as Frayed mentioned, here in Texas all insurance companies cover DEs.
HTH...

[m3bs]

Like Clinton's approach to gays in the military.

Don't ask, Don't tell.

I know of several folks who have been covered for on-track "indiscretions", but I wouldn't count on it. I made up my mind to drop my collision/comp coverage, since I don't drive the car much on the street any more anyway. Only then did I ask if I would be covered. I received an emphatic "No."

Take a look at:

http://www.z06vette.com/forums/showt...threadid=33612

The thread title pretty well sums it up.

[stjobs]

That thread on the Corvette forum is retarded. What kind of driver does 80 mph into the trees at an auto-x? You would have to be doing something seriously wrong. If you plow your car into a tree because you were trying to go at 80 mph at the auto-x, insurance shouldn't cover it.

stjobs

[badmonkey]

I know a couple of guys who have totalled their cars at open track or DE's, insurance covered everything, never even made a fuss. One guy got to keep his wreck, and got full replacement value, including the added value of his mods.

It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission

[SilverStreak]

My insurance has no specific language about racing (thank God)...

[kster]

Even if your insurance company covers track damage, chances are they will drop you during the next renewal or jack your rates way up. I know someone who wrecked his E46 M3 at the track, his insurance covered him and then cancelled his policy as soon as the car was repaired.

For this reason, I get very nervous when I take my M3 to the track and so I rarely go more than 8/10s. I have much more fun in my Miata because I can afford to total it.

[norman]

Originally posted by kster
Even if your insurance company covers track damage, chances are they will drop you during the next renewal or jack your rates way up. I know someone who wrecked his E46 M3 at the track, his insurance covered him and then cancelled his policy as soon as the car was repaired.

For this reason, I get very nervous when I take my M3 to the track and so I rarely go more than 8/10s. I have much more fun in my Miata because I can afford to total it.

so does that mean buy a dedicated track car

[Kos-motate139]

Originally posted by norman
so does that mean buy a dedicated track car

It means you have to be prepared to walk away from any car you take out to the track.

I know of a fellow that had some minor damage ($10K) Open Road racing (not timed, not competition, not even run on a race track) and the insurance company covered it no problem. Next event, he totaled his TT Porsche ($110K?) going off the road at 175mph, and the very same insurace company suddenly decided the event was not covered. Language can be interpreted differently depending on the size of the payout too.

[Richy Gonzalez]

Ladies and gentlemen, that's the reason I now race a 89 Honda CRX. If the car breaks, I'm not stranded. Also, IT'S A WHOLE LOT OF FUN!