Draconian Insurance

[grabul]

My insurance company, LANCASTER INSURANCE (ZENITH INSURANCE to you and I) not only refused to insure me for a track day, non timed or competition, no prizes etc. but then went on to inist that I present to them a certificate of insurance to state that I had cover for the said day for both personal injury and 3rd party damage OR i cancel my track day and provide them with written proof that I had done so OR they will cancel my insurance on the day before my track day. My questions are :-

1 Can they cancel my insurance for the ROAD just like that.
2 Will they have to refund me in full since it will be they that break the contract.
3 Why are they such Ar** Holes ???

I have 4 cars insured by them, but not for long matey boy. Refusing to insure is one thing but the demands they have made is going a bit over the top. I have heard that Liverpool Victoria are pretty coll about track days. Cant we get a list up together of the insurance companies that will and the ones that wont???

[Jubal]

I have cars insured with L+V. They don't cover track days (at least have never done so for me despite me asking a couple of times). But they didn't mind if I went ahead uninsured. I won't be renewing with them though as they are well up themselves regarding car transporter cover.

Regards your current insurer, they can do what they like. If you hadn't told them and taped up your plates they'd be none the wiser. As it is you can only vote with your wallet now. I reckon it's a bit of a backlash against all those who crash, trailer it home and then stage an "accident".

[agent006]

I cancelled with Lancster for the same reason. Great quote until you mention the T word, then they go into LALALA CAN'T HEAR YOUR REASONED ARGUMENT mode.

Drive to the track, take the 'plates off after you drive in. Simple.

[icb]

I use Sunninghill, track day cover with £1000 excess. Also cheapest I could find for the Griff.

[cross-eyed-twit]

I use Competition Car Insurance. seem alright, give cover for 4 track days a year on their list of venues/hosts. increased excess obviously. not bothered about mods etc.

[m3pilot]

When i was renewing my insurance I phoned the AA, Told them i have a rollcage because i do trackdays and they said that if i did a trackday it would invalidate my road insurance. Seams silly really as i was only after third party fire and theft anyway.

[zumbruk]

m3pilot said:

When i was renewing my insurance I phoned the AA, Told them i have a rollcage because i do trackdays and they said that if i did a trackday it would invalidate my road insurance. Seams silly really as i was only after third party fire and theft anyway.

The AA is a scabby pile of rubbish for insurance. I stopped calling them years ago, since they were always the most expensive, at least twice the price of the next cheapest and wanted the expiry date of your home and buildings cover so they could spam you with junk mail. What with that and their offensive sexist advertising, they can shove it.

It looks like the mainstream insurers are getting nervous about people having trackday accidents, then dragging the smouldering remains off somewhere else and claiming that they had an accident. So, as usual, the morons spoil it for everyone else.

[grabul]

But surley if they were sensible, and they agreed to insure people for track days then they could make some money and then people would not have to resort to getting thier cars home then claiming an innocent crash would they.People like us could then go out there and play with confidence. People lie to insurance companies because the insurance companies leave them with little option sometimes!!!

Anyway a big thanks to Alison Richardson at competition car insurance who sorted me and my rubbish insurance company out. Me, my car and my passenger are now insured for my day at brands.

[interloper]

Privellege are another company with a specific track day exclusion policy.

[zumbruk]

grabul said:

But surley if they were sensible, and they agreed to insure people for track days

The problem is that the mainstream insurers want to cherry-pick the easy, low-risk customers - the vicar's wife with a Nissan Micra. There's no thinking involved in issuing these people with cover. You need to go to a specialist - my TVR's with Sunninghill, for example, who put the mods through on the nod at no cost and cover track days as a matter of course. And they were cheaper than a mainstream insurer in the first place. I've also used Mannings, who were OK on the cover offered, if a little dodgy at getting the paperworkl sorted....

[VSP90]

Hey guys are we saying its ok to conn your insurance company if you have a track day prang!! I don't think so. It's exactly that sort of scam that bumps up all our insurance premiums. The answer is get separate track day cover, but better still don't fall off the track.

[grabul]

No we are not saying its ok to con our insurance companies, what we are saying is that often the insurance costs more than the track day so what Insurance companies will cover for track days and which one wont. Then we should all boycott the one who dont and tell them why and get our insurance from those who do. Simple!!!!

[anonymous-user]

VSP90 said:

Hey guys are we saying its ok to conn your insurance company if you have a track day prang!! I don't think so. It's exactly that sort of scam that bumps up all our insurance premiums. The answer is get separate track day cover, but better still don't fall off the track.

go wag your finger somewhere else. no one said anything of the sort

[insurance_jon]

The real reason is they could still be held responsible for any damage or injury to people or property whilst your at the track, whether they like it or not. They can't wriggle out of TP claims that easily, like they do with theft or damage as they are bound by the terms of the RTA and their licence to sell motor insurance. There is nothing in the RTA that excludes race circuits (theres nothing that includes it either). Even if the policy has been invalidated, they have to pay it, but they can hold recovery against you. The problem is how do you take 300k off someone who hasn't got it?

Some insurers will the chance, some won't.

hope that makes sense.

[tony.t]

Insurance companies are obliged to provide you with cover for other public places or places where the public has access other than roads. Hence you are covered if you crash or injure a third party in Tescos car park even though it may be private property and it is this that is likely to be the cause of not wanting to provide insurance for those doing trackdays as I suspect that they are well aware of their liability under the insurance cover given to the driver albeit for normal "road" use.
The insurance issued for my everyday car excludes trackdays and actually states this on the certificate. However I'm fairly certain they cannot make any such exclusions on the certificate itself, although they can in the policy document, and if I was to injure a 3rd party they would have to pay up. Whether they would be able to sue me is equivicable but if the payout was huge irrelevant anyway as I'd be bankrupted.
If you hold a current certificate of insurance I believe it's still valid even if the insurance company cancels the policy although as above they may claim any payouts from you.