PLEASE READ: WARNING TO AUTOCROSSERS

[LU-Hetrick]

This is a warning to everyone.

I just got off the phone with my insurance company (Geico) and they informed me that as of the end of the month my insurance policy is being cancelled. Why might you ask I haven't had an accident. No moving violations in several years.

The answer:

"We have found out that you have participated in time trial events."

I tried to reason with the lady, and explain to her that I haven't even autocrossed with my Subaru (the car I have insured with them) and that the SCCA has their own liability insurance for their events. She told me it didn't matter there was nothing she could do and that it was final as of 12:01 AM Jan. 28 2008 I would no longer be covered.

I guess they searched results on the internet and found my name. I have heard of this being a problem with warranties in the past but after 4 years of autocrossing with my other company (Liberty Mutual) I had never had a problem.

So I am writing here to warn all of you that if you have Geico, cancel your policy now. They do not respect us for what we do, and therefore I believe do not deserve a single dime from anyone.

I can see why they might hesitate with this issue as some people can't leave it on the track, but the vast majority of autocrossers are responsible enough to not do this. If anything we are lowering the accident rate through improving our driving skills.

[LU-Hetrick]

This is a warning to everyone.

I just got off the phone with my insurance company (Geico) and they informed me that as of the end of the month my insurance policy is being cancelled. Why might you ask I haven't had an accident. No moving violations in several years.

The answer:

"We have found out that you have participated in time trial events."

I tried to reason with the lady, and explain to her that I haven't even autocrossed with my Subaru (the car I have insured with them) and that the SCCA has their own liability insurance for their events. She told me it didn't matter there was nothing she could do and that it was final as of 12:01 AM Jan. 28 2008 I would no longer be covered.

I guess they searched results on the internet and found my name. I have heard of this being a problem with warranties in the past but after 4 years of autocrossing with my other company (Liberty Mutual) I had never had a problem.

So I am writing here to warn all of you that if you have Geico, cancel your policy now. They do not respect us for what we do, and therefore I believe do not deserve a single dime from anyone.

I can see why they might hesitate with this issue as some people can't leave it on the track, but the vast majority of autocrossers are responsible enough to not do this. If anything we are lowering the accident rate through improving our driving skills.

[VFR750R]

Wow, smells like lawsuit to me. You can't be the only one if they've made it policy. They are discriminating against racers where there are a surprising number if you count drag racing ect. They should have to prove you used the car they insure, if not, Jeff Gordon couldn't get car insurance.
I suspect they are only discriminating autocrossers and that is even worse as they have singled out a specific group of racing.

That's like not being able to get home-owners insurance because you take your dog to dog obedience.

[LU-Hetrick]

I'm not actually too concerned about Geico dropping my coverage, I'll just find a new company.

I just wanted to let everyone know what happened in hopes it will help them. Also maybe with the influence of the 100,000 or so people that autocross/track their cars we can make insurance companies realize we aren't the bad guys.

[BenB]

One more example of how f*^#ed insurance companies are: One of my co-workers designed a prototype fuel pump for his shifter kart. He had it in his wife's car when it got broken into. The pump was stolen along with everything else valuable in the car (as if the thief even knew what this was).

The insurance company, COUNTRY, refused to pay because it was an item "used in competition auto racing" and they have a policy that they do not pay for anything that fits into that category. You would think its illegal to be or to have ever been involved in auto racing.

[vreihen]

I'm getting a chuckle out of this, since a Geico employee runs at all of our local autocross events. Back in September, we even had a long discussion about Geico's former notorious record for dropping customers who owned radar detectors. He claims that Geico isn't like that any more, and said that people still had bad mental images of the company from those actions that ended a long time ago.

With that said, I'm skeptical of this reported insurance termination without knowing the specific details/history/circumstances and seeing the actual letter. You can bet that I'm going to be asking him about it next time I see him, though.....