Racing and my State Farm Agent

[monnieh]

Thinking about taking Bobby Archer's driving school and going to the Texas Motor Speedway and Motorplex for some "timed" events. Had read so much on the forum about what was covered and what was not.

Called my Agent, who I have been with for 10 years now, and asked him. He did some research and called me back. I am covered whether it is a timed event or not. Does not matter, road racing, drag racing, driving school. However, he did strongly warn me that if I wrecked and claimed it, the word would get around that I had sports cars and *gasp* really drove them. Which could make it hard for me to get insurance again if I needed to. He recommened I get a dedicated race car and trailer it to events.

So good and bad news I guess.

 

[GTS Dean]

Time to shop for a new insurance company.

 

[RonC]

My favorite story and reason why I changed insurance companies...
In my infinite wisdom, I called my carrier (Amica) asking about VOI7. Basically asking if I was covered for a driving school. Well, all hell breaks loose! Phone calls, questions about what this is etc. In the end, they told me if I go, they would not renew my policy, nom matter what happened AND I was not covered if I wrecked the car on the track.

So what are they going to do, call me? Their answer was YES. Well kiss my ***! Like you can call me and ask what I did last September? I don't think so...

I moved on, got another insurance carrier. Amazing, just amazing....

Ron

EDIT:
I can understand no coverage for racing. Maybe even wrecking while being timed, but if nothing happens, they are GOING TO CALL ME? Maybe put me in a room with a lie detector? Give me truth serum? TORTURE ME until I tell the truth? Who knows...

 

[jcaspar1]

Wow! That's amazing! That is the first time I have ever heard of an insurance company that will cover you for racing!! Renew immediately. I am glad I am with State Farm!

 

[joe117]

A regular everyday insurance policy written that will cover the replacement of your car if you wreck it while racing?
How much do they cost?
People keep talking about driving school. When driving school means going 150 mph, wouldn't you think that that's not exactly what your average insurance company had in mind when they wrote the policy to cover you while driving on the street?
How many cars were wrecked at VOI last time? Don't you think that very powerful cars, trying to go very fast on a race track, might be out of the scope of normal, street insurance. Even if you don't time the cars and even if they are not really racing, it still seems very risky when looking at it from the insurance company's point of view.
If they told you that they would drop you if you raced the car, it is probably to avoid a court case should you try to claim against them. Covered or not you could claim that they knew about your racing and they would have to defend. They would probably rather just drop you.
If they were to call you and you didn't tell the truth, that might be some kind of fraud.

 

[Jerry Dobson]

No kidding, renew now!

Not many insurance companies will cover racing wrecks. Most people find this out too late.

 

[jimandela]

I got a different story from my State Farm agent.
Track events are fine so long as it is not racing!!

Untimed and no racing, driving schools at a track are fine.

"If" i call him ahead of time and tell him the dates so it can be noted that they were aware of the event.

I hope your guy is right and mine is wrong.


JIM

 

[GTS Dean]

USAA will cover Gymkanas and similar timed events.

 

[SNAKOIL VA]

When I added a truck to my USAA policy, they specifically asked me if I drove any of the vehicles on off-road or track events. my answer was no, as I have another car that I race, but I wonder what they would have done had I said yes.

 

[Ron Hickey]

There are insurance experts that lurk here, and they've got the best info. My agent, a good friend, told me when I asked:

"Generally, if it's not specifically excluded in the policy, the company is obligated to cover you. By the way, you didn't ask me about this, because if you had, I'd be required to inform the insurance company."

So don't ask, don't tell. Skip Thomas told me last year that every student wreck that year had been covered by the owner's insurance. I figure it this way: If you can't afford to pay for fixing the car, you shouldn't take it out on the track. If you decide to ignore that advice, you should be OK providing you drive well within your limits. Forget about chasing down the car in front, don't compare your lap times to those of others, and leave your ego in the paddock along with your floor mats. If something does happen, your insurance company will probably cover it. ONCE. And don't be surprised if your rates skyrocket or the insurance company drops you. (And then again, maybe not!) But at least you won't be stuck paying for the car.

You are putting the car at risk when you take it on-track. How big a risk depends mostly on how well you can drive within your limits. (As Clint said while he was smashing Hal Holbrook's face into the dashboard, "A man's got to know his limitations.") If you can accept that risk, it's a blast. And in many respects it's safer than driving on the Beltway -- at least on the track, every other driver is paying 100% attention and all the cars (for the most part, anyway) are heading in the same direction!

 

[monnieh]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ron Hickey:
"Generally, if it's not specifically excluded in the policy, the company is obligated to cover you"<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is what my agent was saying. He said it does not specifically say it is not covered so it would be covered. No MickyMouse BS from him.

I did ask him if I was going to be blacklisted now that I asked and he said no way. I think it depends on the agent. Larry (my agent) has always been a stand up guy. I have my Avalanche, my wifes Continital, Viper and house with him.

In Texas insurance companies CAN NOT drop you without fair warning. They have to give you a letter saying if such and such happens again we will drop you. My parents got dropped from State Farm after being with them for 30 years in North Carolina. I asked Larry and he said that can't happen in Texas due to them having to give you fair warning before they can drop you.

Anybody want Larry's number?

 

[Gavin]

Monnieh has it right - read the "exclusions" part of you policy - this tells you what you are NOT COVERED for.