Although many collector cars are of the type that call out for pedal-to-the-metal speeds
—Ferraris, Lamborghini's, Maseratis—insurers are, not surprisingly, touchy about these six-, seven- and even eight-figure vehicles competing on the racetrack.
Some carriers allow collector cars to hit the track in very specific and controlled circumstances—basically for a leisurely spin around the circuit.
“There are driver-education days where a new or vintage car can get on the track, and the owner can learn how to handle the car with an instructor—but that's very different from racing,” says Jim Fiske, vice president and U.S. marketing manager for Chubb Personal Insurance.
But all carriers exclude actual racing—with one big exception. Six months ago, Chartis made available a new, nonadmitted, physical-damage endorsement “as an accommodation to top clients who race,” says Ron Fiamma, vice president and director of private collections for the Private Client Group division of Chartis.
“It's exhilarating to see a guy racing a $20 million Ferrari,” Fiamma says, though he admits to holding his breath while an insured competes. “In races filled with million-dollar cars, nobody is doing anything stupid—and any driver looking for cheap thrills would be blackballed. But still, tires can blow out, and accidents do happen.”
When told of the new racing endorsement, other carriers reacted with a mix of amazement, laughter and scorn—and one carrier that had experimented with a similar offer predicted Chartis would soon regret its decision.
Chubb, for a short time, did offer a similar endorsement but stopped. “We didn't do well on that class of business,” says Fiske. “I'm not sure you can collect enough money to cover the exposures. It's an adverse selection [situation].”
Fiamma notes his firm is “very careful” about to which clients it extends this offer.
While almost everyone in the hobby knows that racing is not covered, this doesn't mean that all insureds have absorbed the message. “We do get several claims a year from insureds who wrecked on a race track,” says Rick Drewry, a senior specialist in motorcycles and collector cars at American Modern Insurance Group.
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