Breakdown and INS warning for the Nurburgring

[appletree]

As some of you know ive just got back from the ring and one of our group had a bit of a problem which may effect some of you in the future

Basicly the lad was driving a Uk brand new impreza when after a few laps the rear discs and pads went, must be a problem with them or something as the fronts were fin and the cars done 6k from new.

Any way rang green flag who he was covered with and gave them his details, and the hotel he was staying at to which the asked if he had been doing and motorsport, he replied NO! and after the usual questions and him trying to get them to send some one out with some discs and pads they asked a further twice if he had been doing motorsort, once again he repied NO.

Green flag said hey had a photo of his car going through the gates of the ring at 10:45 and they would be faxing a copy to his hotel. they were now not obligated to cover him.

This may not be a problem on the ring but if your on your way home and the top hose blows would they check if you performance car had been to the ring and therefore not cover you??? Not good if you were reliying on AA/Greenflag to trailer your car back should the worst happen!!

The only way round this i can see is to put fake plates on your car while your there as you car has to be "road worthy" and thererfore have plates on it to go on the track.

A freind also has his car insurance canceled three months ago by directline after he had been to the ring, he got home and got a phone call to say they were cancelling his insurance as he was a high risk person now they knew he did track days/ motorsport.

And both tried the "its a toll road not a track" to no avail.

just a freindly warning

[DHFiS]

Hmmmm. Interesting. If you can PM me the term & conditions of the policy I can have my solicitor give an opinion on this.

[E30BeemerLad]

Hmmmm. Interesting. If you can PM me the term & conditions of the policy I can have my solicitor give an opinion on this.

Waste of time dude, if you read the T&C of most policies they often explicitly state the "Nurburgring" and certain "toll roads" as far as your cover is concerned. Be it your motor cover or breakdown cover. Tooling around the ring is no different to doing a trackday. Most policies will exclude this.

The insurers ain't daft and as has been seen here, many have people on the lookout at the ring or will be looking to use ANPR cameras.

The hire companies do it too as it was common place for folk to fly over, hire a car at the airport and spank it round the ring. Hire co's now have folk on the lookout for their cars and pay a bounty to informants etc. I think if you get caught they either fine you or put you on the blacklist never to hire to again.

I think the only possible brerakdown people who will entertain ring victims are ADAC.

[appletree]

Any idea as to how you would fair if you were on your way home and you broke down??

[E30BeemerLad]

If you are near the ring with welded brakes then they ain't gonna play ball.

If you are hundreds of miles away then fair enough they should come and sort you, but if they have evidence you have been tooling around the ring then they will be within their rights to refuse to indemnify under the policy as you would have used the car in a situation which is not covered under the policy and they will argue your little stint around the ring has buggered the components which have now immobalised your car.

[appletree]

Ya thats what i thought, think i'll be changing or taping over my plates.

[gareth]

b4stards!!!!
that's one up on my "the diff just went pop in the car park at santa pod mate, course i didn't take it up the strip, it's an estate car " incident! at least i was 'only' 160 miles away when that happened

[DHFiS]

Yes if the Nurburgring is specifically excluded from the policy then clearly they are within their rights to refuse to help, has anyone looked at the detail in the T&Cs ?

[cliffybabe]

thats just wrong, they take all the fun out of the Ring the gits

[fuzzy]

a warning indeed. i dont know about the ring but i do know that even at track days here if you have an incident on track the track operators log it and report it to prevent you trailering it away to claim it happened elsewhere.
i was told that if your e30 breaks down abroad anywhere the insurance company will consider writing it off if the cost of recovering it back to the uk is is proportionate to the value of the car.
i had my insurance company cancel my policy when i mentioned i was working in holland. they said because of that i was no longer classed as a uk resident even though i still had my uk house and was working for a uk company and paying uk tax. there is no reasoning and discussion as far as insurance companys are concerned. they make it up as they go along and wont budge on a decision.
if i was going to the ring though id be making sure everything was above board and covered as its a lond depressing journey home if youve totaled your car with no insurance.

[cecotto479]

Come on gents, let's be sensible here.

European breakdown cover is one thing, but should you really expect them to recover your 20 year old track day car if they've told you that using it on the Nurburgring is specifically excluded?

You pay £80 or whatever, their potential costs will reach close to four figures, of course they have to look at ways of excluding fraudulent claims.

That's what it is if your policy excludes the Nurburgring and you massage the details to claim for a breakdown there. Fraud.

[oguz327]

I seriously thought about trying to do a dodge and claim on my insurance when i binned my tech1 at the ring last year but with the cameras and all the people taking photos and posting them on the net i thought better of it.

Its also worth remembering as was pointing out to me by a friend if you get caught making a fraudulent claim you premiums are gonna be sky high in the future.


3 ways around these problems as far as i can see,

Specialist trackday cover for the ring, last i heard it was about £140+ per day but its still a huge grey area as to what you are covered for.

Trailer your car or one person in you group take a trailer or A frame.

Take a worthless shitter, and if you bin it or break it badly, no big deal.


Luckily for me, with help from the zoners on that trip they manged to get my tech1 roadworthy enough to make the drive home back to the UK. Thanks again guys, you know who you are!

[bss325i]

A freind also has his car insurance canceled three months ago by directline after he had been to the ring, he got home and got a phone call to say they were cancelling his insurance as he was a high risk person now they knew he did track days/ motorsport.

And both tried the "its a toll road not a track" to no avail.

just a freindly warning

How did the insurance company find out that he had been to the ring If he didn't claim?

Also did the breakdown company fax through the pic of the imrezza at the gates and did he see it or were they just trying it on?