Track Day Insurance

[kolosy]

Stay away from Ontrack Insurance / Great American underwriter

Update on my G82 insurance saga. Tl;dr they *did* pay, but not without a tremendous amount of foot dragging and stress.

Maybe I'm being unrealistic in my timeline and involvement expectations, I've luckily never totaled a car before, but here's what happened:

- 8/16 is the date of the incident. I tow the car to my shop, which is owned by the BMW dealer I've worked with for the past 15 years. They aren't cheap, but I've had several insurance repairs through them and the insurance cos never complained
- About a week later I get an estimate from the shop. It's $60K of damage without even tearing the car down much (both headlights at $4k a piece, oil pan, front suspension, etc, etc.)
- Another week goes by before GA sends their own adjuster out. She comes back with $20K. When I ask about the difference I get a testy "we can only appraise what we see, we need it torn down more". Nevermind the fact that she only listed one of the two headlights, or that she didn't list *any* suspension repair cost despite the front wheels being crosseyed and the passenger front wheel pushed back into the wheel liner. Insurance co says "the adjuster will work with the shop"
- Another week goes by. Crickets. I call the shop, they say they haven't heard anything. I call the insurance co, they say they'll reach out to the adjuster. Next day I get a "ok, we agree with the shop assessment." Progress, I guess
- Nothing happens for another 3 weeks. I poke them once a week, get a "it's in process"
- On week 6 or so, I get a panicked call from the broker (not the insurance co), that the shop I'm using is being unreasonable, playing games, and charging an exorbitant storage fee and the insurance co will just take those fees out of my reimbursement if I can't talk the shop down. Because of the extra tear down the insurance co demanded, and the fact that they've dragged their feet for 6 weeks, the total fees sit at $13K (storage was $225 / day).
- I call the shop, they have no idea what the insurance co is talking about. No one's reached out to them or attempted to negotiate. They tell me their fees are completely standard for the part of Chicago they're in (I've confirmed this), but they're happy to work with the insurance co.
- I end up having to send an email to the claims rep *and* the shop because there's some kind of disconnect going on. Shop says "make us an offer, we aren't going to negotiate against ourselves" which seems reasonable to me.
- Insurance co writes a borderline unprofessional email, saying they don't care what reasonable fees are, they'll pay half. I pucker, expecting this to blow up, but shop says "fine, just get this thing out of here in 3 days, or we resume our fees at full tilt"
- 4 days go by, car is still sitting there.
- 7 days go by, I get an email from the insurance company saying that their buyer showed up, but the car was blocked in and no one would help them unblock it. I forward this to the shop. She responds with security camera footage, and text chain pictures, showing that the buyer showed up with a tow dolly and no winch, couldn't move the car because of course the e-brake is in full freakout mode, and who the f*** dollies an AWD car. They then asked the shop if they could get it on Saturday, to which the person I was working with said yes despite being closed, showed up there on saturday morning just to be told at that point that "nevermind, we can't make it".
- All the while, the insurance company is saying "we won't pay for the car until it's picked up" and "we don't have control over the buyer so you're SOL"

ANYWAY. You get what you pay for. They did pay, and maybe 2 months start to finish isn't out the ordinary, but having to play arbitrator between the insurnace co and the shop was incredibly frustrating esp since the car kept racking up storage fees. I've moved on to Opentrack, for now. I've heard of people having a good experience with them. Sounds like RLI is the best for claims but it doesn't cover private events that I do a fair bit.

[BoilerUP]

Did you talk to Jacob Katz himself as part of the claims process?

I use OnTrack so your unfortunate experience is helpful to me.

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by BoilerUP

Did you talk to Jacob Katz himself as part of the claims process?

I use OnTrack so your unfortunate experience is helpful to me.

I did, he was the guy that called me from the broker. He wasn’t helpful, and Carol, the original person I would buy from flat out stopped responding to my emails.

[jmeenach]

OP - Sorry to hear about your experience. I use RLI, though I haven't had to file claim. What type of "private events" are you referring to that RLI doesn't cover? I haven't had any issues with their coverage for anything I've gone to, and that includes a handful of buddies paying for a private day at Willow Springs. Would love to know I'm actually covered LOL

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by jmeenach

OP - Sorry to hear about your experience. I use RLI, though I haven't had to file claim. What type of "private events" are you referring to that RLI doesn't cover? I haven't had any issues with their coverage for anything I've gone to, and that includes a handful of buddies paying for a private day at Willow Springs. Would love to know I'm actually covered LOL

I may be confusing Hagerty and RLI. Private events are just that -- handful of buddies renting out Blackhawk Farms here. Hagerty and Lockton require it be put on by a group they recognize. Opentrack just requires the track be one of the ones they cover.