AUTO INSURANCE ARTICLE

Are Track Racers Covered?

By: coppeneur

The more driving risk you have, the higher is your auto insurance premium. So goes the logic followed in setting the premiums you pay each month to your provider. And as this logic goes, it shouldn’t be a total surprise that the auto insurance industry, as a rule, do not insure drivers on racetracks.

Not many know this in fact. According to the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) “Maybe 25 or 30 percent have done the research, the middle third just assumes they are covered, and the top third just don’t have a clue”. And this is alarming, considering that participation in track days and attendance in high-performance driving schools has jumped fivefold since 2003, as per the records of the NASA.

This brings us a number of track racers who thought they are covered, but who are in fact not. This was not the case before, though. Racing has long been excluded in the coverage plans of many policies, including other driving that falls within the definition of a “timed event”. High-performance driving, being a non-timed event, remained covered. Car clubs across the US typically had driving lessons for their members where each driver gets one-on-one tutoring from an instructor. In these lessons, the cars are generally sent around the track in small groups with passing limited to straightaways. And since these runs were not timed, many drivers were covered by their normal auto insurance policy.

This changed in the late 1990s, when auto insurance industry players started removing coverage for race track drivers. Policies have progressively excluded damage at any location that could accommodate racing, timed or not. That eliminated coverage during high performance driving schools and track days. But words on the change of policy did not reach all drivers and policy holders.

But those who got wind of the change responded by reducing their risk exposure – through buying relatively inexpensive track cars. And seeing the need in the market with this change of policy in the auto insurance industry, specialty insurers have filled in the gap by offering high-performance-school insurance. For those who are signed up, providers claim a huge amount of claims are submitted for their payment.

But takers are not yet many, with high costs tied to this specialty coverage. Besides, unlike regular car insurance, track insurance is not mandated by states and many drivers do not imagine that crashes will happen to them while they are on their weekender tracks. And there are drivers who think that track insurance provided by clubs have them completely covered. These policies do cover liability and injury in most cases, but not collision insurance.

So weekend road warriors, the next time you bring your car in the tracks, be sure that you are covered. Don't assume that your standard auto insurance covers this hobby of yours. If you don't want to get coverage because it is not required anyway, think of the damage and injury costs you may have if the inevitable happens. Think about it.