Any Problems With Insurance?
01-20-2005, 03:11 PM
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 4,985
Originally Posted by phinsup' date='Jan 20 2005, 10:24 AM
Except we're gonna have safety strippers at the winter retreat. Chicks in bikini's that walk around and look supple.
01-20-2005, 05:21 PM
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 3,108
Any participation in any form of motorsport activity by in the province of Ontario is forbidden by the insurance companies here. If they hear that you have competed or are competing in any motorsport even they will cancel your policy and deny coverage. This includes autox, and solo1 or any sort. You are better off dying or getting injured streetracing because then you are not participating in a sanctioned racing event.
01-20-2005, 05:22 PM
#14
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 3,108
Auto hobbyists feel insurance heat; Ont. brake maker tries something new (Modified - Car - Insurance).
Source: The Canadian Press
Jan 16, 2005 13:35
By Jen Horsey
TORONTO (CP) _ When Jim Morrow struck a deer while driving home from an evening with friends, he did what most would do: he called his insurance company and asked for help.
The motorsports enthusiast didn't anticipate that single phone call last year would lead him into battle over risk and custom modifications, and ultimately force him to give up his car.
``I didn't know I was doing something wrong,'' said Morrow from his Lanark, Ont., home.
To hear automotive hobbyists tell it, insurance companies are increasingly labelling them a bad risk and forcing them to permanently put their pastime in park.
Morrow doesn't fit the profile of the stereotypical street hooligan. He's 58, married, with four cats, has a house in the country and a government job. He's also a few decades older and wiser than anyone who's ever felt at home with the Fast and the Furious crowd.
But the red flag went up on Morrow when an adjuster showed up to look at the damaged car. The vehicle was far from stock _ an after-market roll cage, exhaust and decal package were among the many changes he'd made. But Morrow said the ``racer'' label he got was misapplied. The 175-horsepower vehicle had nothing close to the power of a sports car. The average family minivan rolls off the assembly line with plenty more oomph than that.
Like many car enthusiasts in Ontario, Morrow ran afoul of his insurer for what he does on weekends. He has competed in the Targa Newfoundland rally, a legal race sanctioned by the FIA (the international governing body of motorsport), and he isn't ashamed to say he has spent weekends zooming around the race track for fun. Although he said he's careful on the streets and those activities are perfectly legal, insurers don't want to hear it.
``I think they have circumstances that raise a lot of questions, frankly, that insurers have to deal with,'' said Mark Yakabuski, a vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
A perusal of discussions on Internet car-club message boards make it clear that these motorsports enthusiasts are feeling threatened.
Some are paying half the value of their cars each year _ or more _ just to keep up the minimum insurance liability coverage. There are stories of people being contacted by their insurers and dropped because they've posted their full names to online forums. Most
are reluctant to discuss their situations openly.
``They've put people between a rock and a hard place,'' said Morrow, adding that many people are choosing to fly under the radar in the hopes their insurance companies won't find out what they've done to their cars.
That's what Rich, a 28-year-old Richmond Hill, Ont., man who doesn't want his last name published, is doing. He pays about $200 every month to keep his three-year-old Subaru Impreza WRX on the road and he's staying mum about the racing seats, special seatbelts
and upgraded brake pads he's added to it.
``I don't show the insurance company my car, I don't call them. I pay my bills on time. I'm afraid of them,'' he said. But that attitude could lead to big problems if such
owners ever make a claim, said William Dickson of Barrie, Ont., a motorsports enthusiast who is trying to find a solution to the insurance problem.
``If you're driving with a modified car now, you're probably not covered and you're paying money for no reason,'' said Dickson.
Yakabuski agrees. He also said only a particular type of insurance would ever cover somebody who goes to the track _ even for fun. People who dabble in motorsports
with their regularly-insured, everyday vehicles are putting their coverage at risk.
``The motor insurance policy here in Ontario _ and virtually everywhere else in this country _ states very clearly that you are prohibited from using your vehicle for racing or speed-testing purposes,'' he said.
And why should it include these activities, Yakabuski wondered, given the danger and the fact that the estimated 100,000 of these hobbyists represent only a fraction of the 5.9 million insured cars on the roads in Ontario.
So, Dickson has recently found himself in the insurance business. He plans to introduce a special policy that is targeted directly at these hobbyists.
He's being hailed as a hero on the car club scene, but Dickson admits to having a selfish motive: his livelihood depends on the success of this initiative. The performance brake products he sells through his company, Williams Racing, go to a type of customer he
fears the insurance industry could squeeze out of existence.
``It's a performance company that only makes performance brakes. If we don't do something to help out the performance community, our business won't survive,'' he said.
He's working with underwriters and lawyers to come up with a plan to keep his customers on the road. He's hoping that by the middle of February, he'll have worked out the details on a group policy that will help this special class of driver stay legally insured
for an average about $1,500 a year.
``I figure there's about 100,000 people out there who need this kind of insurance that isn't there,'' said Dickson. ``It's for anybody with a modified, street-legal vehicle.''
Right now, he's aiming for somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 people to sign up for a trial run. And while that target may seem ambitious, he doesn't think it will be a problem to reach. Since he undertook the task about six months ago, his e-mail address has been
deluged by people who are desperate for help.
``Their policies are cancelled right now. Their cars are parked. We get 200 to 250 e-mails a week (from) people who've had cancellations. It's really bad,'' he said.
Rather than continue being overwhelmed by such inquiries, he's now directing people to information he has compiled on the auto-slalom website he maintains (www.solocanada.ca).
Although he's targeting customers like Morrow, rather than the shine-and-show crowd with flashy body upgrades and loud exhaust systems, he's been hearing
from them, too.
Under the proposed insurance policy, he said members of that scene, who are often associated with the small percentage of drivers who take part in illegal street races, will face higher deductibles and more restrictions on their insurance.
After months of wrangling last year, Morrow's insurance company finally determined the problem was not so much the modifications he'd made, but the fact he hadn't told them about it. Morrow doesn't buy that line, but he left feeling grateful they gave him enough time to fix and sell the car before dropping him altogether. His insurance record remains intact.
And now he's watching the situation carefully in the hopes he can return to openly pursuing his motorsports hobby.
``We were quite thrilled to find out somebody is doing something,'' said Morrow. ``It will give reasonable people who enjoy their vehicles and enjoy driving the opportunity to do things legally _ things they've been forced to do illegally until now.''
INDEX: SOCIAL AUTOMOTIVE TRANSPORT BUSINESS
Source: The Canadian Press
Jan 16, 2005 13:35
By Jen Horsey
TORONTO (CP) _ When Jim Morrow struck a deer while driving home from an evening with friends, he did what most would do: he called his insurance company and asked for help.
The motorsports enthusiast didn't anticipate that single phone call last year would lead him into battle over risk and custom modifications, and ultimately force him to give up his car.
``I didn't know I was doing something wrong,'' said Morrow from his Lanark, Ont., home.
To hear automotive hobbyists tell it, insurance companies are increasingly labelling them a bad risk and forcing them to permanently put their pastime in park.
Morrow doesn't fit the profile of the stereotypical street hooligan. He's 58, married, with four cats, has a house in the country and a government job. He's also a few decades older and wiser than anyone who's ever felt at home with the Fast and the Furious crowd.
But the red flag went up on Morrow when an adjuster showed up to look at the damaged car. The vehicle was far from stock _ an after-market roll cage, exhaust and decal package were among the many changes he'd made. But Morrow said the ``racer'' label he got was misapplied. The 175-horsepower vehicle had nothing close to the power of a sports car. The average family minivan rolls off the assembly line with plenty more oomph than that.
Like many car enthusiasts in Ontario, Morrow ran afoul of his insurer for what he does on weekends. He has competed in the Targa Newfoundland rally, a legal race sanctioned by the FIA (the international governing body of motorsport), and he isn't ashamed to say he has spent weekends zooming around the race track for fun. Although he said he's careful on the streets and those activities are perfectly legal, insurers don't want to hear it.
``I think they have circumstances that raise a lot of questions, frankly, that insurers have to deal with,'' said Mark Yakabuski, a vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
A perusal of discussions on Internet car-club message boards make it clear that these motorsports enthusiasts are feeling threatened.
Some are paying half the value of their cars each year _ or more _ just to keep up the minimum insurance liability coverage. There are stories of people being contacted by their insurers and dropped because they've posted their full names to online forums. Most
are reluctant to discuss their situations openly.
``They've put people between a rock and a hard place,'' said Morrow, adding that many people are choosing to fly under the radar in the hopes their insurance companies won't find out what they've done to their cars.
That's what Rich, a 28-year-old Richmond Hill, Ont., man who doesn't want his last name published, is doing. He pays about $200 every month to keep his three-year-old Subaru Impreza WRX on the road and he's staying mum about the racing seats, special seatbelts
and upgraded brake pads he's added to it.
``I don't show the insurance company my car, I don't call them. I pay my bills on time. I'm afraid of them,'' he said. But that attitude could lead to big problems if such
owners ever make a claim, said William Dickson of Barrie, Ont., a motorsports enthusiast who is trying to find a solution to the insurance problem.
``If you're driving with a modified car now, you're probably not covered and you're paying money for no reason,'' said Dickson.
Yakabuski agrees. He also said only a particular type of insurance would ever cover somebody who goes to the track _ even for fun. People who dabble in motorsports
with their regularly-insured, everyday vehicles are putting their coverage at risk.
``The motor insurance policy here in Ontario _ and virtually everywhere else in this country _ states very clearly that you are prohibited from using your vehicle for racing or speed-testing purposes,'' he said.
And why should it include these activities, Yakabuski wondered, given the danger and the fact that the estimated 100,000 of these hobbyists represent only a fraction of the 5.9 million insured cars on the roads in Ontario.
So, Dickson has recently found himself in the insurance business. He plans to introduce a special policy that is targeted directly at these hobbyists.
He's being hailed as a hero on the car club scene, but Dickson admits to having a selfish motive: his livelihood depends on the success of this initiative. The performance brake products he sells through his company, Williams Racing, go to a type of customer he
fears the insurance industry could squeeze out of existence.
``It's a performance company that only makes performance brakes. If we don't do something to help out the performance community, our business won't survive,'' he said.
He's working with underwriters and lawyers to come up with a plan to keep his customers on the road. He's hoping that by the middle of February, he'll have worked out the details on a group policy that will help this special class of driver stay legally insured
for an average about $1,500 a year.
``I figure there's about 100,000 people out there who need this kind of insurance that isn't there,'' said Dickson. ``It's for anybody with a modified, street-legal vehicle.''
Right now, he's aiming for somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 people to sign up for a trial run. And while that target may seem ambitious, he doesn't think it will be a problem to reach. Since he undertook the task about six months ago, his e-mail address has been
deluged by people who are desperate for help.
``Their policies are cancelled right now. Their cars are parked. We get 200 to 250 e-mails a week (from) people who've had cancellations. It's really bad,'' he said.
Rather than continue being overwhelmed by such inquiries, he's now directing people to information he has compiled on the auto-slalom website he maintains (www.solocanada.ca).
Although he's targeting customers like Morrow, rather than the shine-and-show crowd with flashy body upgrades and loud exhaust systems, he's been hearing
from them, too.
Under the proposed insurance policy, he said members of that scene, who are often associated with the small percentage of drivers who take part in illegal street races, will face higher deductibles and more restrictions on their insurance.
After months of wrangling last year, Morrow's insurance company finally determined the problem was not so much the modifications he'd made, but the fact he hadn't told them about it. Morrow doesn't buy that line, but he left feeling grateful they gave him enough time to fix and sell the car before dropping him altogether. His insurance record remains intact.
And now he's watching the situation carefully in the hopes he can return to openly pursuing his motorsports hobby.
``We were quite thrilled to find out somebody is doing something,'' said Morrow. ``It will give reasonable people who enjoy their vehicles and enjoy driving the opportunity to do things legally _ things they've been forced to do illegally until now.''
INDEX: SOCIAL AUTOMOTIVE TRANSPORT BUSINESS
01-20-2005, 05:26 PM
#15
Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: ST.LOUIS MO
Posts: 90
Originally Posted by phinsup' date='Jan 20 2005, 09:24 AM
Except we're gonna have safety strippers at the winter retreat. Chicks in bikini's that walk around and look supple.
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