I'm creating this thread for those that are interested in the final outcome of my track experience; to include track insurance and body shop discussion.

Cause
On the last session of the Nov 7-8th NASA HPDE at Summit Point I had an off between turn 5-6. There were a few causes of the off 1. driver pushing too hard in that section of track 2. tires becoming a little greasy 3. driver putting both feet in.

Damage
The passenger side of the vehicle took the damage with a scuffed headlight, crunched fender, banged up door, crumpled rear quarter, broken taillight, dented trunk lid, and torn rear bumper cover.




Overall I was fortunate because there were no injuries and I had decided to purchase track insurance for this event as it was my first in a RWD vehicle.

Insurance
I was insured through HPDEinsurance.com. They take information from the applicant to include value of vehicle, run group, experience, and track you're running on to create your insurance quote. For me it ended up being approx. $150 for the two day event. The deductable was a minimum $1500, which is what I paid.

Overall the insurance company was fairly easy to deal with. I filled out the proper paperwork, got an estimate, and faxed it all in. They sent a damage appraiser out to take a look at the vehicle and wrote a check to the body shop. When the body shop needed additional funds the insurance company was again easy to work with and upheld their committments.

I would rate their services a 9.0/10

Body Shop
I chose to take the vehicle to Wagon Works Collision in Alexandria, VA. They were highly recommended from a few individuals and had an equally appealing reputation throughout the interwebs. They did estimate high but the gentlemen I was working with assured me the vehicle would look brand new.

Bad
#1. I took the time to specify that the front lip was not normal OEM S2000 lip several times while talking and even printed out the information from the internet with the correct part number on it (I have a CR lip). While checking up on the vehicle he told me they were on backorder for the lip in red so they ordered silver and will paint it. CR do not come in silver. I corrected him again.

#2. Poor communication skills by the shop manager. Everytime I call he tells me how busy he is and can barely speak with me. I'm the customer, how busy you are is a personal problem. I want to be taken care of and know that things are going smoothly.

#3. This shop obviously overbooks themselves in an effort to keep themselves busy. I can understand the reasoning but this caused me to wait 9 weeks for my vehicle. That is unacceptable to me. I understand there was a fair amount of damage and you won't be working on my car day in and day out. But 9 weeks is unacceptable.

#4. After waiting 9 weeks I would imagine the car would be flawless upon pick up. Right? Wrong. Their detailer has no business being around vehicles with anykind of machinery. He left buffer trails and swirls throughout my paint. Fortunately I am competent with a porter cable and can make it look perfect. There were also paint smudges in a few spots on the interior and the engine bay was filthy (I dropped it off clean enough to eat off of).

#5. The shop had weird hours. They closed at 1:30 on Friday and weren't open on Saturday. When are people supposed to pick up their vehicles?

Good
1. The shop did send pictures, which I was very appreciative of. I couldn't check in on the vehicle due to distance so the pictures were reassuring to some degree.

2. The body work doesn't look too bad. Around the headlight needs some adjusting. However, body lines look even and smooth.

Overall Score 6.0/10 Their saving grace was the smoothness of the body work and pictures they emailed.






Final:

 

In summary:
Will I be back on track? Absolutely.
Will I have track insurance? Absolutely.
Will I push the car in the last session? Negative.
Recommend others going on track? Absolutely.

 

Good review

 

Toughest lesson to learn after your first crash is that you can't let it get to you and most importantly you can't question yourself. Just like the car doesn't show any signs of the crash, you can't either.

Overall, I'd say it seems like they did a pretty good job. Car looks like it never got touched, I would imagine that the paint alone would have run you $1000+ if you had to pay on your own, so looks like it was worth it.

One comment (and this applies to motorcycle, not sure about cars) is some insurance companies offer coverage under "driver training event" as part of your normal insurance. I know you can claim a track crash as a "driver training event" crash, as long as you are not running a timed event.

 

This may still apply to some car insurance companies, but others will drop you if you even mention it. It's a real gamble. I forget where the thread is, but somewhere on here (S2000Talk, maybe?) is a thread from a middle aged guy who was kicked off of USAA after inquiring about whether he'd be covered at a HPDE he was doing.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this, I'm sure it will help others deciding if they want to get HPDE insurance or not.

But no thanks for raising the rates for everyone else.

 

I think the days of claiming HPDE damage on your street insurance are gone unless you know someone or were grandfathered into the program.

 

Good review, Jason. Thanks for posting.

 

Bigger question - would you take the car back to Wagon Werks?

 

Absolutely not. If I had known Lance (from NASIOC) was back in the area I would've gone to him initially. Less hassle and just as good final product, if not better.