Track Day Insurance

tsinc80697

tsinc80697

tsinc80697

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Rather than cluttering up Gibbo's trackday project thread I thought I'd start this instead.

I'm looking at taking my GTR on track this year so I thought I'd make sure it was insured on track. I know I won't be going full pelt but you never know what other people on the track might be doing.

Looking at separate track day to road use insurance policies will obviously be more expensive but it's the policy wording that doesn't inspire confidence.

Sky Insurance quoted me £280 per track day for up to £40k cover with a £4k excess.
Moris have quoted me £400 for 2 track days with cover up to £40k and a £3k excess.

Now both of these insurers state, in the policy documents, that they will not cover:
"internal damage to your car, such as engine, gearbox or transmission."

Is this standard on track day insurance or have I just happened to have ran quotes through 2 that both exclude internal damage? It's obvious they exclude these as they are the big cost in a crash, but having to pay a £3-4k excess for only external damage just sounds a bit daft to me.

If you have a small accident, under £4k, you wouldn't go through the insurance. If you have a big accident, you pay the £4k excess, and they only repair external damage but not the big expensive things? So what's the point?
 
That seems surprising.

Are you sure it's not meant to mean that they won't cover it if the internals fail? Surely if you had a massive front end which took out the engine bay, they would pay for all the repairs?
 
It reads as if you're covered for crash damage but not for any form of mechanical failure or internal damage to the engine etc., e.g. your engine going pop.

Is £50/hour (inc. VAT) a reasonable figure for labour, could you get your car repaired for that?

You have no third party coverage. I've no idea if you would have third party liability on a track day if you caused an accident.
 
I'd say it sounds like any other regular insurance policy in that they don't cover you for mechanical failures, just damage resulting from a crash.
 
That last one is a very interesting question Surveyor.

In theory, you sign a disclaimer when you go on track saying that you will not hold anyone else responsible for damage done to your car. But I remember reading last year about someone with track day insurance getting hit by another car. His insurance company sued the owner of the other car for costs, and won the case.

There was a lot of concern about what this means for the future - and the insurance company got a massive backlash, resulting in them not pursuing the driver for the costs, and claiming that they only took it to court as a test to help everyone understand the situation.

I haven't continued to follow the news on it, so I'm not sure what the prevailing wisdom is now. But there was definitely a doubt that, if the person causing the crash could be seen to have been negligent in some manner, maybe they could be held liable.
 
You're responsible for your own vehicle on track, regardless of who crashes in to who.

Am I covered for third party damage?
No. You have no coverage for any liability to third parties, whether personal injury/death or property. Damage is your problem following a test ruling at Wolverhampton County Court. His Honour Judge Mitchell concluded that if someone crashes into you on a trackday, even if it is clearly their fault - then tough! The judgement followed a case where a driver under tuition collided with a track day participant who then sued for damages. In essence the judge's ruling is that anyone participating on a trackday is aware of the potential risks involved and has a choice of not driving on to the circuit. (Source: Circuitdriver.com, April 2007) .
Click to expand...

bazza; was that on PH? I remember something similar on there but the above quote is from 2007 so there might be a newer ruling which contradicts this one.
 
I honestly can't remember for sure, but I suspect PH, or another forum referencing it perhaps.

Pretty sure it was in reference to an accident last year or perhaps the year before though, definitely not so long ago as 2007.
 
That's the one! I'll have a read of the last few pages to see if anythings changed now as someone mentioned Javelin have changed their waiver that you have to sign to stop people suing others.
 
Yes, I'm doing similar myself. I've seen a few posts which imply that all the Track Day Organisers have changed their terms and conditions to state that participants can't sue each other (and neither can their insurers) - it used to just absolve the organiser themselves. I haven't seen that explicitly stated though, and I'm back to page 33.

It looks like this (or similar) is the statement you need to look for in the T&C's to confirm that you're safe from having to pay to repair someone's McLaren:

‘It is a condition of your participation of the activity, or activities, in which you
intend to take part that in the event of accident, loss or damage occurring
during such activity or activities you will not pursue any claim for damages
against any other participant (save in respect of injury or death)’

The suggestion is that if the customer has signed that statement, then neither they nor their insurance company can pursue another user.

Unless you injure them personally. But that's a whole new can of worms!
 
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So far no company offering track day insurance has been able to get near my current insurance plus £450 for 3 track days from Moris. I've had the usual silly quotes of £2-3k, £400 per track day, one place even excluded Oulton Park from places they'd insure the car at.

I've tried CCI, Sky, Pace Ward and Adrian Flux. All silly prices or just can't do it, pain in the ass.
 
Not much use now, but if you intend to keep tracking regularly look up Greenlight. I'm covered with them and pay a £45 top-up each time I want track day cover. Haven't checked the specifics, but it's nice to know there's something there.
 
Thanks, will try Greenloght tomorrow then!

Just realised I had a look at Greenlight, they only go up to £20k for modified cars so rules me out :(
 
Be prepared for a bit of post-track days costs on a GTR even without driving it hard heh, will put a lot of wear on the tires at the very least.
 
Hi there

Did you try Classic Line, I mean they cover my 911 which is valued at 30k and give me five free track days. I pay £515 per year. My excess on the road is £500 and on track its 10% of vehicle value which will always be the case for track excess. But they will only repair the car if I loose it and cause exterior damage, i.e. stick it in the tyre wall, they will then let my car be repaired at the place of my choosing to be fully running again, so if that means a new engine covered too, unless of course the total bill is higher than value of the car and hence I pay 10% excess and get the value of my car paid out or what they deem market value.

Mannings are the best for Porsche, TVR and Aston as even though a little more expensive you have unlimited track cover in both UK and Europe, they also include the ring, but the 911 will see very little track action now, so having upto 5 per year is more than enough for me and as I insure the BMW now with same company I can use the BMW's allowance and then take from the 911's.

The amount of GTRs I see on track they cant all be paying £300-£400 a time in insurance, so maybe there is a specialist insurer?

But to ease your mind I have never seen a car to car collision before, but I've seen many people throw cars off track in gravel pits and even walls, makes a big mess. My mate put his GT3 in the gravel, car needed a full re-spray and all wheels refurbing, costing him about £5000 and that was mates rates as his neighbour owns a body shop.
 
Rroff said:
Be prepared for a bit of post-track days costs on a GTR even without driving it hard heh, will put a lot of wear on the tires at the very least.
Click to expand...

Tyres are the least of issues with a GTR it needs proper cooling upgrades otherwise you can only do 2-3 hard laps maximum before things overheat. :(

Larger oil coolers are a must and the stock brakes tend to crack with track usage, so big alcon upgrade is money well spent, though its 6-8k. :D
 
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