For many of us, track insurance is a hit or miss idea. There are a number of us who drive cars cheap enough that we feel we can take the risk, and then there are others who drive expensive cars that would financially and emotionally tear them apart if something bad were to happen. As one of our more senior members will tell you, “don’t drive something on track that you can’t afford to walk away from”, well not everyone shares this viewpoint. Insurance is a funny thing, in most cases it’s a necessary evil. It’s something that we all pay for but we also all hope we never have to use.
There are a few companies out there that may offer track insurance but this article is going to focus on one specific company, Lockton, as club member and co-author of this post John R. has extensive experience with them.
Note: There are three types of track insurance policies available: HPDE (strictly driver’s education, no racing or time trials), Transportation (anywhere but on the track) and Race (self-explanatory). All are based upon an “Agreed Value” and can vary in price/plans based on the carrier.
John drives a 2014 Ford Eco-Boost Mustang as his daily driver and also his track day weapon. He shares this vehicle with his significant other, Erin K., and the car sees a lot of time on track. Because of this John and Erin pay for Lockton track insurance for every event. Last season they did have to use their track insurance and they were glad they had it. Below is a short summary of their experience with Lockton and the claims process.
John R: “Lockton immediately started processing our claim and sent an inspector out to verify all of the damage. Lockton contracts with local insurance agents to process the claim so the agent was from York Insurance (if I’m remembering correctly). He was extremely friendly and made sure that if there was a scratch anywhere it would be included in the claim.
Lockton gives you two options, both of which involve picking your own repair place: 1). They send you a check for the repair estimate submitted by the inspector. 2). They work with your repair shop to settle the bill. I chose Option 1 because sometimes if you are paying out of pocket repair shops will offer you a lower price than normal. If you need to make adjustments to the claim amount (because the fixes cost more than the estimate) you just need to work with the Lockton and the inspector to produce new estimates. Doing it over again, I’d just have Lockton work with the shop and have the shop contact me first to discuss what work needs to be done before they talk to Lockton.
The repairs turned out absolutely amazing, but I needed to hold their hand through a lot of the more technical bits (like exactly what parts my car needs since I know my car much better than they do, etc).
I had to purchase a single event policy from them after I made that claim and they did NOT increase the price I had to pay for the policy given I had one claim on my record. Also, Lockton offers a multi-event policy discount which I take advantage of to save some money! The premium per event is based on the insured value of the car that you set. Please remember that there are two options for deductibles with Lockton, 10% or 15%, so you will have to come out-of-pocket some.
I have had one issue with their website (which you do all your purchasing on — it is very easy) where it looked like they had no records of my policy purchases nor had I had coverage for the event on Shenny just one week earlier. This turned out to be a glitch which was fixed the next day, but it gave me a heck of a lot of anxiety during the VIR South event with HOD last fall. Lockton emails you proof of insurance immediately upon purchasing your policy so I had proof of coverage regardless.”
In John and Erin’s case, it was beneficial to have the insurance and Lockton stepped in and did exactly what they paid them to do. They did so professionally and timely, which is important when dealing with a sensitive matter such as car repair. It’s ultimately up to you to decide if you think track insurance is worth it. But when considering driving on track, remember that this is a dangerous sport and anything can happen. We make sure that our bodies are covered in case of emergency, but it’s important to consider the impact this may have on your machinery as well.
For more information on Lockton and their insurance programs, please visit their website at https://locktonmotorsports.com/product/hpde-insurance .
