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Chaucer Trackday Insurance Statement

REIS Trackday Insurance Statement regarding third party liability

The following is a verbatim copy of a press release issued by REIS Insurance regarding the recent track day case has caused all sorts of issues for motorsport claims. Insurance companies are getting together to see what can be done.

A conclusion is that all disclaimers will be tightened to prevent competitor to competitor claims for property damage. However, this will not apply to personal injury claims as you cannot contract out of that.

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The press release from Chaucer is for full circulation, so please feel free to send to colleagues.

REIS are a leading track day* (see definition below) insurance broker who arranges motorsport and track day insurance policies through Chaucer Insurance.

Chaucer Insurance has been underwriting specialist motorsport insurance for 15 years.REIS offer an accidental damage policy to cover participants for damage to their own vehicles. The track day fraternity generally accepts that all participants pay for damage sustained to their own vehicles, regardless of the circumstances and every participant signs a disclaimer intended to put this principle into effect. However, we have had our concerns regarding the validity of these disclaimers and their ability to protect individual track day participants from suing each other in the event of damage to their vehicles.

In agreement with our policyholder following significant damage to his vehicle through no fault of his own, we pursued a recovery from a driver who had collided with our insured’s stationary vehicle on the grass verge just off the track. At the court hearing last week it was held by the judge that the disclaimer did not protect the track day participant who caused damage to a vehicle that Chaucer Insurance covered under a policy arranged through REIS. The participant was ordered to pay for the damage he had caused to the other vehicle, as a result of his negligence which was established by the court through CCTV evidence.

In this instance, Chaucer Insurance will not be pursuing the award issued to them by the county court. Last weeks court case does not set a precedent for any future actions as the claim was held in a court of 1st Instance. Now that it has been established that current disclaimers are not protecting track day participants sufficiently, we have taken legal advice which recommends that the following clause to be inserted into track day disclaimers:

‘It is a condition of your participation of the activity, or activities, in which you intend to take part that in the event of accident, loss or damage occurring during such activity or activities you will not pursue any claim for damages against any other participant (save in respect of injury or death)’

Under the provisions of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 it is not possible to exclude potential liability for injury or death. If this clause is inserted into all disclaimers and every participant signs the document prior to commencing the activity then it is the view of our legal opinion that a court would enforce the clause.

Please be assured that REIS and Chaucer remain committed to a vibrant and exciting track day market. Implementation of the above clause should ensure that it remains so.

*A track day is a non-competitive event that allows an individual to drive their vehicle outside of the Road Traffic Act requirements. There is no racing; lap timing; time, speed or distance targets; or winners and losers.

_____________

By way of "post script".....

This is what MORIS.co.uk say under their FAQ's

Am I covered for third party damage?
No. You have no coverage for any liability to third parties, whether personal injury/death or property. Damage is your problem following a test ruling at Wolverhampton County Court. His Honour Judge Mitchell concluded that if someone crashes into you on a trackday, even if it is clearly their fault - then tough! The judgement followed a case where a driver under tuition collided with a track day participant who then sued for damages. In essence the judge's ruling is that anyone participating on a trackday is aware of the potential risks involved and has a choice of not driving on to the circuit

Further Reading on Trackday Third Party Liability:

Track Day Third Part Insurance

Nurburgring Insurance - Public days

Trackday Insurance online by MORIS.co.uk | Trackday Insurance FAQ's

Association of Performance Driving Instructors

Justin Everitt

Justin Everitt on Google+

Motor Clubs Insurance

MORIS.co.uk are proud to announce their involvement with the Federation of British Police Motor Clubs (FBPMC). The club was originally formed in 1961 and is formally recognised by both the Motor Sports Association and the Autocycle Union.

Just about all police forces in the UK which has it's own Motor Club is affiliated to the FBPMC who cover a very wide range of motoring and motor-sports activities - on both two and four wheels. The object of the Federation is to promote "a cordial relationship between the Police Forces and between individual members of those forces. To encourage a greater measure of co-operation between members of the public and Police and to foster good relationship between them. To encourage and promote schemes for road safety whenever possible. To organise sporting, touring, caravan and social events with a view to fulfilling the above aims".

Justin Everitt Comments: "We were originally asked to become a supportive of the Federation earlier this year and given we are the longest standing on-line insurance provider of both two and four wheel motorsports, we felt getting closer to such and established and varied group of clubs was sensible especially pending some of the additional on-line services we will be providing for next year."

Track Day Insurance | Motorsport Insurance Video | Justin Everitt

Insuring Racing Drivers

Having made a living out of what was once described to me as one of the “more esteemed professions” I suppose that puts me in the category of either having to practice what I preach – or at least be seen to be practicing everything I tell clients to do, myself.

A couple of years back I decided in a moment of belated midlife crisis to don a helmet and take up the challenge of racing again in Sports 2000. I was lucky to be involved with a unique project and be a “works” driver of a modern Duratec March race car designed by a brilliant young mind, Kieron Salter who started life at the Reynard school of race car design. Part of the “uniqueness” was that I have completed a long standing project for a “world's first” motorsport website and we designed a colour scheme which emblazoned the words “I'm insured – are you?” across the front. I was very nearly caught out when some bright spark had the audacity to ask “...but are you?” and it set my mind the the consequences if I had NOT been insured and it is often these “consequences” that become overlooked or more pertinently, realised only too well after the accident. (LOW COST accident insurance for motorsport video)

I have previously made reference to Contingency Insurance and this particular area addresses may of the “consequences” of there being an actual loss. In ordinary terms a factory may well insure for the material loss of the buildings, stock and loss of materials for the fire that ravages everything, but the business also looses income if it cannot function. The insurance of this interruption to the business is a “contingent” insurance and is something that should be advocated to any professional team or manager. What are the effects and consequences of X? Is always the question to have answered.

One such area where I encourage team managers and sponsors of professional drivers to consider is apart from the responsibility of making sure the driver has insurance, I advocate that teams and sponsors have a suitable policy that allows them to recover some or all of their lost “investment”- which might have even been accrued over the years. Some time ago I was looking after the interests of a sponsor who had varying degrees of interest in a handful of drivers and an F1 team. On the sponsor's books was also an individual who was well known, not for F1 skills (although he had a not unimpressive racing CV) but he was also into other “dangerous” sports. We ended up placing a significant programme for this sponsor, but we also knew that if anything was to happen to one or two of the key individuals (ie there should have a serious accident), then the sponsor would probably lessen their future commitments to the drivers. One business that could also be effected in this particular case was my own. At the same time I was also trying to encourage the client and sponsor to consider something to also protect their long terms interests further. It made sense, but something was lost in translation and my words seemed to fall on deaf ears....

Three months later, one of the drivers did have an accident while mountain bike training and at first it was considered to be very serious. It was at this point the sponsor seemed to peep into the world of hindsight and belatedly acknowledged the message we had been trying to percolate through the ranks. I took the unusual step of divulging the fact my own business had taken out the exact same insurance that the sponsor was being encouraged to address. Mercifully the injured driver went on to make a full recovery and was peddling again within nine weeks. The sponsor graciously accepted the point we had been trying to make. Although there were no more “accidents” for the time this sponsor remained within F1, because of the “safety net” that could now be put in play, the sponsor was able to enhance their commitment for the next two seasons – which benefited one of today’s young drivers in particular.

And should you be wondering, if anything awful should happen to this hotshot, or indeed should there be a concern concern for some motorsport insurance broker masquerading as a race driver, yes the consequences are well covered.....in both cases.

F1 Race Driver Insurance | On line Insurance for Motorsport | Race Driver Insurance Video

Corpse Party: Book of Shadows chapter 19

Formula One Driver Insurance

Formula One Driver Insurance - they just don’t smoke enough these days

Looks like the lousy English weather will give us a ray of sunshine for the race weekend at least and there is always one topic that comes into conversation and puts a smile on my face. It is almost a question of how long can I get through the weekend without hearing someone mention what is probably the most talked about lap of all times. It is not that I find the conversation at all boring, but it just amazes me how quickly it always comes up at Silverstone.

I had to do a quick reminder on google for this but Alonso is the current record holder at Silverstone with a lap time of an average speed of around 145mph set last year during the race. The particular lap I am of course alluding to was some 15mph faster as an AVERAGE. It topped 160mph on the “old” Silverstone, set by the original “flying Finn” (Rosberg Snr), in a Williams in qualifying. That is not the “bit” that really stands out though, because, remembering the UK weather, Keke did this on a damp track !! He then got out of the car and lit a fag – he probably needed it!!

Putting that incredible lap aside, the memory also makes me think just how much safer F1 has of course become over the years. Silverstone had become blinding quick – too quick. The cars were just as fast in a straight line and the aero packages on cars were just not as advanced as today so before there was a nasty accident the governing body took steps to slow the average speeds of cars down. It was probably needed at that time. Silverstone did have some reasonably generous run off area – complete with Catch Fencing which was in vogue for a while – but I also recall some parts of the old circuit were lined with railway sleepers – or something similar – what ever if a driver was going to have a heavy impact it was going to hurt.

This all comes back to how safe F1 has – as a relative term - become. The cars, the circuits, the facilities, the fitness of the drivers. It is still going to hurt, but the drivers are just all better protected. As I have mentioned before there have (thankfully) just never been enough deaths is F1 to make any true meaning to what the odds are of a driver being killed. I did however look back through some interesting records going back to 1963 and this made reference to the accidents “per race” and in the period '63-'67 there was almost one accident per race.

From '68 – '72 this increased to 1.5 accidents per race so the governing body at that time started to bring in new safety measures. The results were that from '73 to '77 the accident rate had more than doubled to 3.25 per race. Further improvements were brought in for the next period so by the time we got to 1982 the accident rate increased further to 3.72 per race.

Further improvements followed and temporarily the trend was reversed temporarily and figures dipped back down to 2.75 before jumping back up again to 3.81 by the end of 1992 season. By 1997 we were back into a growth spurt of 4.64 accidents per race. By this time the governing body had stepped up the safety campaign and started to identify “high risk corners” where 15 were risk-reduced – either by making slower or extending the run off areas. Gravel traps which were once thought to work best with furrows smoothed over instead so cars were no longer “launched” and all raised kerbs now started to be standardised in their design.

Car design implemented extra head rest height, standard road fuels, and alterations to front and rear wing design, and a reduction in wheel width. Cockpit survivability was also increased. An on-board accident data recorder also became mandatory and had to be located within the survival cell. Crash testing imposed more stringent standards for suspension, wheels, front and rear impact absorption, and the cockpit sides were raised. Whether this is the main contributor to a reduction in accident rates it is difficult to say but with further expansion of these improvements our accident rate had fallen down to 3.63 accidents per race. Since that time there have been peaks and troughs which probably illustrates the more aggressive fearless nature of the young chargers of today. They are all fitness fanatics – and don’t smoke!

Lewis Hamilton at his home GP will be more focused that normal on pole at home. He remarked recently that F1 drivers needed the danger element – that is part of the appeal. He is absolutely right. As a driver or spectator I too enjoy the danger too, but I also remember James Hunt explaining that being an F1 drivers was more a case of “by the grace of god”. James did smoke – almost anything I believe at times.

I shall look forward to Silverstone of course and will salute all the F1 drivers of today – but “speed”, “danger”, “F1” and "fags" apparently don’t all go together these days.... they could be worth at least a couple of tenths I reckon.....

This article originally appeared in the paddock magazine July 2013
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