:( Poor trucks...
#18
10-05-2007 | 11:05 AM
Senior Member
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 4,928
Likes: 1
From: The People's Republic of Los Angeles
You have to read your policy.
The standard exclusion is for "speed contests." This exclusion has been very narrowly interpreted by the courts.
Example: [Michigan/Minnesota/somewhere up there] case. Drag race at the strip. Guy goes across the finish line, then veers out of control and wrecks. Held: the speed contest was completed once the car crossed the finish line.
Insurance company must pay.
But some companies now have an exclusion for an claim arising from being on a "racing surface." That one would be much harder to get coverage. Even a slow-speed parade lap by a car not in the event could get excluded under that language.
As stated above, when I'm doing a track day (road racing course), I do not get a transponder for fear that this will transform the event into a "speed contest." I don't think that just not getting a timeslip is enough. While an HPDE can be argued to be a "driving school," I can't see how going down a drag strip can be seen as anything other than a "speed contest," even if it's only one vehicle, and even if no timeslip is obtained.
My policy (Liberty Mutual) excludes coverage for "competing in; or practicing or preparing for any organized racing, speed, demolition
, stunt or performance contest or related activity whether or not for pay." I don't believe that this would exclude coverage if I wrecked at an HPDE. An HPDE is not timed or scored, and in the classes that I run, to pass someone, the driver ahead must waive you by. I'm not seeing any "contest" there.
Gotta love the "demolition" exclusion. Anyone who has the ***** to try to get an insurance company to fix his car after a demolition derby deserves coverage.
The standard exclusion is for "speed contests." This exclusion has been very narrowly interpreted by the courts.
Example: [Michigan/Minnesota/somewhere up there] case. Drag race at the strip. Guy goes across the finish line, then veers out of control and wrecks. Held: the speed contest was completed once the car crossed the finish line.
Insurance company must pay.But some companies now have an exclusion for an claim arising from being on a "racing surface." That one would be much harder to get coverage. Even a slow-speed parade lap by a car not in the event could get excluded under that language.
As stated above, when I'm doing a track day (road racing course), I do not get a transponder for fear that this will transform the event into a "speed contest." I don't think that just not getting a timeslip is enough. While an HPDE can be argued to be a "driving school," I can't see how going down a drag strip can be seen as anything other than a "speed contest," even if it's only one vehicle, and even if no timeslip is obtained.
My policy (Liberty Mutual) excludes coverage for "competing in; or practicing or preparing for any organized racing, speed, demolition
, stunt or performance contest or related activity whether or not for pay." I don't believe that this would exclude coverage if I wrecked at an HPDE. An HPDE is not timed or scored, and in the classes that I run, to pass someone, the driver ahead must waive you by. I'm not seeing any "contest" there.Gotta love the "demolition" exclusion. Anyone who has the ***** to try to get an insurance company to fix his car after a demolition derby deserves coverage.