Track Insurance Claims Experience

[RT-BRZ]

Originally Posted by spike021

It's always easy for people with the money to afford more than one car, and many track days at that, incl. relevant maintenance, to say not go to the track with your only car .

People are probably going to come down on you for this but I personally understand. It does suck that doing this is so expensive even without the risk. Throwing the risk in there does make it difficult to justify.

It's just a risk each of us has to weigh whether it's our only car or a dedicated car or a dream car. Words are always easy.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by RT-BRZ

People are probably going to come down on you for this but I personally understand. It does suck that doing this is so expensive even without the risk. Throwing the risk in there does make it difficult to justify.

It's just a risk each of us has to weigh whether it's our only car or a dedicated car or a dream car. Words are always easy.

I don't mind, it's not really a personal opinion. It's just a straight-up fact.

Like MSG said, at the end of the day many people at track days/HPDE's do in fact drive their dailies.

My point is it's easy for people to say "just buy a 2nd car" when they can already do it, and have the finances to do it. Of course they're the ones who are going frequently and actually driving hard. Not everyone can or really should.

If we're really being honest, for the most part casuals don't do enough at track days/HPDE's to warrant having a dedicated car for it. The most they need is regular maintenance (on top of oil changes, brake pads/fluid, tires, etc.).

And this is coming from someone who could get a second car for it if they really wanted. But the facts are the facts.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by RedReplicant

To be fair, it is kind of a tipping point where costs start getting ridiculous if you're not willing to deal with discomfort. Though, thinking about it, a non-dedicated car might simply be deferring costs if something happens and you weren't covered so I think you've got a really strong point there.

If you want or need to tow now you need a street vehicle that can tow decently, if you don't want to deal with renting a UHaul trailer every event and doing that whole dance then you're buying a trailer, if you don't have a place to store a trailer at your home you're renting a storage spot, and so on it goes.

If the car ends up deregistered you're also towing the thing for alignments, dyno appointments, etc which is a pain in the ass, especially if you have to keep your trailer at a lot.

Pretty easy to wind up in a spot where you've structured your entire life around this hobby*, for better or for worse.

* hobby => bottomless blackhole for money

edit: On the insurance side of things, I put a $20k caged Miata through a fence four or five years ago. After doing all of the work myself (with the sole exception of repainting the back half of the car) including cutting out both quarter panels, reskinning a door, etc and paying $2k in track damage I was out somewhere in the $6-8k area.

I have a Hagery agreed value policy on my BRZ that covers it in the pits, on the trailer, etc. I also have a full coverage policy on it through another company that I rely on the handful of times a year it gets driven on the street to the dyno or something similar within 5-10 miles of my home. I don't carry track insurance, but I would if I ran somewhere like Lime Rock.

A dedicated track car doesn't mean a non-streetable car, just a car who's purpose is primarily for track driving.

E.g. my BRZ is a track car. It's still 100% streetable, but the primary purpose of the car is to be driven on track.



I agree, definitely don't track your primary mode of transportation, unless you can mitigate a loss

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by spike021

It's always easy for people with the money to afford more than one car, and many track days at that, incl. relevant maintenance, to say not go to the track with your only car .

Priorities

I make a fairly blue collar salary, single, and own my own house while having a dedicated track toy and trailer to tow it. I just live within my means everywhere else. For a long time my second vehicle was a hammered Nissan Xterra which was worth about 1200-1500 bucks. I've actually been hosed lately for getting the car out as I have been gradually remodeling my place.

[GrandSport]

Originally Posted by spike021

It's always easy for people with the money to afford more than one car, and many track days at that, incl. relevant maintenance, to say not go to the track with your only car .

We aren't saying "let them eat cake" to look down on others. We're talking from a place of experience of people who have second cars (and probably most of us tracked our daily driver). There's a reason we aren't tracking out street cars, and it's not because we forgot how to change brake pads.

If you can't afford another car (let alone a $7500 track car), taking your only car, that you rely to get to work, to track where it could very easily be destroyed, is probably not very prudent. Especially because it's the intermediate guys that crash the most. It's not just crashing. It's also breaking down, whether it's a wheel bearing and you can't get it home, let alone to to work for 2 days or a control arm or something bigger like a $5k engine. If things like that would cause you serious financial distress (which I assume they would if a $7500 car that won't lose value is out of the question), don't risk it.

If you can't afford it now, save up. But don't put yourself in risk of financial ruin for a hobby. I've seen guys wreck their daily driver. It's not a good place to be.
NoHaveMSG's signature quote states it perfectly. "Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward." We're trying to give you the lesson first. Up to you if you want to take the test first.


My 2 cents.

[new2subaru]

If you're running with a good organized group I would say your chances are slim you're going to crash your car. But, the chance is still there.

I think the likelihood of crashing comes when you start to push the limits of the car and find them...My favorite open lapping days were rain days. Almost an empty track and you get to explore the limits at lower speeds. It's a good experience.

I'm not made of money and the thought of crashing a new car on track was gross. I did it and still do it today. I can't see trailering my car but one never knows. I didn't think I'd still be doing this either.