Good luck with that. My brother is a claims adjuster for AllState and he's categorically stated he'd deny a claim from me that involved autocrossing. HPDE would just cement his opinion. He's pretty inflexible although I can't say what the policy actually is.

On a side note, he has State Farm...

 

[QUOTE=jguerdat,Oct 24 2009, 09:46 AM]Good luck with that.

 

From a moral standpoint, why should an insurance company that sells you insurance for a 55-65 MPH commute to work and normal driving around, cover you when you're driving 130 at an HPDE? I know we all pretend it's not competitive but, it really is and you all know it. If it wasn't, you wouldn't be putting R-comps on a street car. You're competing with yourself if nothing else.

My life insurance says I can only fly commercial. If I die flying in a Cessna, they won't pay out. To me, this is kind of the same thing. If you go out of your way to endanger the car beyond what they expect the usage to be. Should they cover you?

 

As far as I know, insurance will cover you whatever speed you're going.

Personally I feel much safer driving 100+ mph at an HPDE than I do driving 60mph on the highway. Yes HPDEs are competitive, but that doesn't make the necessarily unsafe.

The only time a car is right next to you is when you're giving or taking a pass, there are flag workers, marshals, and safety inspections, and courses are generally made with the assumption that cars will go off track.

 

It doesn't matter what an adjuster thinks. He or she has to abide by the policy.

 

if you go through insurance with these guys, would your regular auto insurance get ahold of the info, say "hey, you've been racing. we found that you bought hpde insurance" and then kick you out of your regular auto insurance?

 

Since I need my car in working condition on Monday mornings, I always keep it at below 10/10's most of the time (everyone gets carried away once in a while). You can have plenty of fun driving at 8/10's.

I worry more about the couple drivers in "intermediate group" who forget to leave their ego at the gate and drive like they are in a heated race (even though they probably couldn't handle open passing advanced group, let alone W2W) than my own driving, as I usually know how to keep it within my abilities.

And I believe that driving in HPDEs does make you a better driver overall. Your car control knowledge and abilities are higher than someone who only passed the DMV driving test, and I think I am a lot more aware of who/what is around me on city streets and on the freeway.

 

You have to be realistic. People do total their cars on track. This season, I think I've seen 3-4 totaled cars. Couple years ago, it seemed like every track day I saw a balled up car. OFTEN the cause isn't you but, someone dropping fluid on the track in front of you. I saw an M coupe get totalled when a brother BMW dropped coolant on the track. Hell, a ford fusion was totalled when a deer came out on the track and the driver hit it square at 90 mph.

If you can't afford to lose the car. You shouldn't take it out there. If I total my S, I'll be unhappy but, it's paid for and I have my truck to drive.

 

The thought of getting insurance for it never crossed my mind. One of my friends asked my advice on it, and I didn't even know it existed nor cared to pay for it.

I've probably done about a dozen track days on big road courses (lost count of auto-x's and a few days on ~1 mile road courses), and I've only ever gone off twice. Both times, I braked too late. One, I just went straight off and into the dirt, the other I spun around into a huge empty concrete patch of area. Both cases, no traffic within a hundred yards.

Almost all of the totalled cars I see are due to self-inflicted driver error, not from contact from another car. I have HEARD of one accident where a Spec Miata driver dive bombed and T-boned another car going into a corner, but that's the first I've heard of that in all the track days I've done.

I MUCH prefer driving in advanced groups as compared to intermediate. Drivers in advanced are generally more mindful, more skilled, and have less of the red mist action going on. Heck, driving in intermediate groups makes me nervous as many of the drivers are just way too aggressive and driving over their abilities. They tend to tail gate too.

Uh, so the point I was getting too. Don't drive over your head. Give yourself a lot of space to the other cars.

 

What does the policy say? How about getting a copy of the policy or posting a link to it so, we can all parse it out and see what you get for your money? Asking in a forum about something like this is sort of pointless.

Even if yesterday, they paid out for a minor fender bender that doesn't mean they'll do the same today. It all depends on the agreement you sign.

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