Trackday Insurance

[ldavies83]

Got a question on this...

What does everyone else do about insurance? Reading an article from pistonheads (http://www.pistonheads.com/trackdays/in ... oryId=4403) seems to suggest that assuming you gain approval from the insurance company, should have no problems.

I'm with Elephant and wondered if anyone else has queried them about it. They are part of Admiral/Diamond and a few others so I dare say the policies will be quite similar.

It's over to you

[Lauren]

You could ask i guess. I've never bothered with insurance for trackdays tbh.

The excess you pay is going to be at least £500 if not a grand, so its not worth it on a MK1 IYSWIM.

If my car was worth 10K then i may well consider it.

[ldavies83]

GP.

I've got a quote from quite a popular online co, quoting £80 plus £500 excess. I think your right tho, dont think its really worth it. More money to spend on consumables (like fuel!)

[LimeyMk1]

http://www.morispayment.co.uk/affiliate ... prefix=CIG

Haven't tried them but may be getting a quote nearer the time.

[Lauren]

GP.

I've got a quote from quite a popular online co, quoting £80 plus £500 excess. I think your right tho, dont think its really worth it. More money to spend on consumables (like fuel!)

DING if you have a £500 excess and the car is worth say £1200, then its not really worth the bother tbh. I think that quote would be well worth it if your car was worth 5K+ but as it isn't i can't really see the point.

The same thing applies with competition car insurance (google those three words) as you pay an amount, for example I paid £130 to cover me testing a formula renault. I had a grand excess and the cover was for 3K given that the owner reckoned i'd do well to cause more than 3Ks worth of damage.

Anglesea is pretty friendly run-off wise, unless you are driving like an utter willy, then i see no reason why you should come into contact with the barriers. At the end of the day everyone wants to get their car home in one piece so you bear this in mind when you are driving and keep it within limits. Obviously there are those who do lose it and manage to do some damage but this is pretty rare tbh.

[ldavies83]

http://www.morispayment.co.uk/affiliate ... prefix=CIG

Haven't tried them but may be getting a quote nearer the time.

Thats who I got the quote from.

Dont think I'll bother, I'm not an angry/mad/nutter kinda guy, just wanna have fun!

Cheers for the answers

[steve b]

p.s. don't mention to elephant your intending to do a trackday or have done one because they void your road insurance, also worth taping out your number plate if you are with them.

I phoned up a couple of years ago to ask them, the guy on the other end of the phone stopped me mid sentence and said before i continue I should be aware that should they find any evidence of me planning to take part in trackdays in the covered vechicle or have previously taken part in a trackday in said car they are obliged to ask for the return of my covernote and a refund for the remainder of the policy will be paid.

[Lauren]

p.s. don't mention to elephant your intending to do a trackday or have done one because they void your road insurance, also worth taping out your number plate if you are with them.

I phoned up a couple of years ago to ask them, the guy on the other end of the phone stopped me mid sentence and said before i continue I should be aware that should they find any evidence of me planning to take part in trackdays in the covered vechicle or have previously taken part in a trackday in said car they are obliged to ask for the return of my covernote and a refund for the remainder of the policy will be paid.

Wow that is mad. Surely what you get up to on a private track (ie its not the public road) has no consequence whatsoever to what you do on the public road! Did you ask him why?

[ldavies83]

Think I'll get some of the username numberplates then.

Ho Hum (quickly does a Registration plate check on Google, to make sure he hasnt publiced the fact)

[jont]

Surely what you get up to on a private track (ie its not the public road) has no consequence whatsoever to what you do on the public road! Did you ask him why?

I've been told the same by other friends who take cars on track that some insurers will appear at trackdays taking photos of cars and then void insurance of any of their policyholders.

Alledgedly insurers are suspicious that claims for accidents on the way home from a track day are where you've actually had an off on the track and dragged the car to the road so you can claim off insurance, rather than a genuine RTA.

[firstmk1]

Does trackday insurance cover you for damage you do to other cars and the track itself? I guess if not that you run the risk of being sued if you damage another car during a trackday.

[ldavies83]

In theory it doesnt happen, as everyone looks out for everyone else. Basically your not allowed to overtake unless both parties consent on the manouvre, with the party your trying to overtake making it easier for you (easing off, braking if necessary). If you do not comply then the track organisers can (& will) penalise you with orders going all the way up to kicking you of the premises.

So in theory, everyone is a safe distance from each other and contact does not occur. Not knowing how many times you've been on the track, I can only go on my "limited" experience and say everyone is extremely aware of whats going on around them

[Lauren]

Does trackday insurance cover you for damage you do to other cars and the track itself? I guess if not that you run the risk of being sued if you damage another car during a trackday.

Car to car contact is incredibly rare on trackdays... i've seen it twice in 150+ trackdays i've worked at.

I've had incidents myself, but only when racing (ie not on a trackday) and in that circumstance even if its your fault you still don't pay for damage to the other car.

I would say in the way that trackdays are run, the chance of car to car contact is negligible.

UK circuits don't charge for damage to Armco/tyre walls... unlike their european counterparts.

trackday insurance would normally just cover you for damage to your own car.

[Scott Barton]

In the 3 trackdays i have done i was covered by Dorset Insurance (Policy was with Norwich Union).
Each time, just rang them up, told them what i was going to do. No extra charge or excess.
When i had a 'coming to' with the Armco at Spa in Belgium i got paid out in full for the repairs. Just had to weigh out my £300 excess. Total damage was £2500+ and i was totally up front about the whole thing i.e. I lost control of the car and stacked it sideways into a barrier!

Not sure whether they offer the same scheme still as its been a while since i have done a trackday. The underwriters are not Norwich Union anymore so it may well of changed.

[steve b]

p.s. don't mention to elephant your intending to do a trackday or have done one because they void your road insurance, also worth taping out your number plate if you are with them.

I phoned up a couple of years ago to ask them, the guy on the other end of the phone stopped me mid sentence and said before i continue I should be aware that should they find any evidence of me planning to take part in trackdays in the covered vechicle or have previously taken part in a trackday in said car they are obliged to ask for the return of my covernote and a refund for the remainder of the policy will be paid.

Wow that is mad. Surely what you get up to on a private track (ie its not the public road) has no consequence whatsoever to what you do on the public road! Did you ask him why?

I didn't, I said thanks for your advise, bye... when renewal came up I spoke to a few other companys that said they won't provide cover period for the car if it's going to be used on track.

Ended up with Adrian Flux who were fine with trackdays. I guess its as others have said, you could have an uninsured off on track, limp the car away and drive it into a hedge/armco then claim. I have not heard of insurance companies taking pics, but the photographer at one day I went on told the group that all photos for the day are published on the web and so if insuffieiently insured we should blank out our number plates (that was a bookatrack day).

[BenF]

My 2p : Just drive within your limits at a trackday, and don't worry. I've tracked my modified Roadster (worth well over 10k!) and just drove it sensibly.

When I did ring up asking for tackday cover for the Roadster, the premium for one day was around £150 and had a huge excess of around £1.5k - 2k.

My logic was that even if I did bin the car seriously, I'd be going some to do more than £2k's damage. As the excess was so high, I'd end up paying that anyway - given the excess was that much, I didn't bother.

I tend to do most of my tackdays in the Mk1 - its only worth £500 so I'm not too bothered if it picks up some dents, but again I've never had any problems - it all depends how you're driving. Also, there are strict rules about where and how you can overtake which should prevent car to car contact.

Remember - trackdays aren't races

[firstmk1]

But what happens if you do hit my car on a track day, who would pay to fix it? Would I have to sue you?

[ENSMR2]

The reason they get funny is because like has been mentioned, people just take the cars down the road and say thats where it happened. Bare in mind you dont call the ins co straight away after an accident so you. So in theory you could say it happened outside your home.

I know of people who have done this. I think some recovery companies wont come if you blow something on track, I also no people who have pushed the car back to the road and called up a recovery company. On arriving the guy new they'd been on track but didn't do anything about it.

Most of the track days I read about here seem pretty well planned out.
However I've spoke to a few people (with other cars) and they say on track days they do get a bit competetive.

[aaronjb]

But what happens if you do hit my car on a track day, who would pay to fix it? Would I have to sue you?

Suppose it would depend on the circumstances and how nice/loaded the person who hit you was.

I mean - if you were on the outside of me on a corner and I binned it into you, you'd have fun getting money out of me - because you shouldn't have been there anyway (overtaking by consent and on the straights only).

If I bin it and you're so close that you hit me.. well that's debatable - but then it's noncompetitive, so what were you doing riding my ar$e?

Naturally people *do* drive close-ish, but on the last trackday I did (ok, only ) people kept a reasonable distance (big enough that they could take evasive action should the car in front bin it around a corner) and then went past on the (ample) straights, by consent - which generally means, if you're being overtaken and the guy doesn't have the power to go blitzing past you, you lift off - he was catching you up, so obviously faster in the corners, so let him past anyway.

[BenF]

But what happens if you do hit my car on a track day, who would pay to fix it? Would I have to sue you?

Ian. it just would never happen. Anyone driving agressively / discourteously / dangerously would pick up a black flag.

I've done 30+ trackdays and haven't seen car to car contact. Plenty of cars stranded on circut - usually failures of one type or another.

Lauren (who works for Bookatrack) would be able to give you the full low-down on what-ifs.

If you're concerned about it, come and spectate at the March IMOC trackday at Anglesey and see how people drive - or search for video clips I've taken and posted here and see how everyone else drives on the footage.