Race Insurance Small Print
Race Insurance Small Print

I’ve posted earlier about Race Insurance and after the Aintree incident I am considering the possibility of re-appraising my ‘self insure’ risk for the races, especially with our first race at Brands only 96 hours away. Even post Aintree I have not insured on any track day, test day or indeed neither of the Curborough or Snetterton Sprints as I perceive the Aintree off was not an accident but my own shall we say, lack of judgement.

Having asked for two quotations this week, company A came in at £525.00 plus 6% Insurance premium tax and company B £312.00 dead. I only asked for cover on the Sunday 12th race, though company A includes testing for the Friday too plus I assume Saturday qualification and race on Sunday as the quote for ‘meetings’ over three dates. Company B also covers for qualification to which I did not ask though is included, but perhaps a good idea. Here’s the headlines:

Company A:
– Premium: £525.00 plus 6% tax
– Sum insured: £15,000
– Excess: £1,500
– Maximum Payout: £13,500

Company B:
Premium: £312.00
– Sum insured: £12,500
– Excess: £1,500
– Maximum Payout: £11,000

But here’s the rub and the small print:

Company A:
– “Excludes all VAT costs”: So if an invoice from Caterham was for £10,000 plus £2,000 VAT, I will have to pay the £2,000 VAT. This was what the representative confirmed to me.
– “Excluding labour in respect of dismantling / reassembly, but including specialist repairs”: So if £3,000 of this £10,000 was labour, I would have to pay that element, unless that is, it was to ‘paint’ the chassis by example.
–  Exclusive of any credit card charges”

So if there was an incident that was to total say, £15,000 including VAT and £3,000 labour, I would need to pay £1,500 excess, £3,000 labour plus £2,500 VAT. This is my understanding as qualified and confirmed with a representative and seems bleeding expensive.

Company B:
Doesn’t seem to have such stringent caveats in their terms, though went on to explain that excluding VAT is standard within the industry but should only apply to race teams where the race team is VAT registered. However, there is a caveat that stated “In the event of a claim your premium would be doubled” and upon questioning, it was advised that for the next three races I insure any premium would be doubled, namely £624.00 which now opens up another deliberation. If the excess is £1,500 and premiums would increase by £936.00 (3 * £312.00), that dictates I should not claim for any damage up to £2,436.00.

In summary and conclusion I am still perplexed and cannot make up my mind but one thing is for sure, you need to read the race insurance small print.