After a bunch of digging here is the what I've dug up:
Apparently someone in Maine made a claim on their Progressive insurance
policy, and our club somehow came up during the claim. Since we have not had
any accidents at events I'm not sure how and why that happened but this
information is from one of the Progressive agents. It is important to note
that this "investigation" was limited to Maine. (At this time...)
Based on that information they went up on the web and cross checked all of
our results vs. names of policy owners. Since many of our participants come
from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, those individuals would not have come
up in a matching process. NOTE: Somehow our club was identified during this
accident "investigation". Progressive DID NOT do an arbitrary, random
search,
looking for results to remove or cancel insured drivers.
It isn't clear if they augmented this investigative process with driving
record searches but it would be very reasonable to assume so. Both of the
affected individuals are young and have "less than stellar driving records"
several tickets and at least one suspension are on record. We have about 100
members and almost as many non-members participate in one or more our our
events each year. I'll try to find out if we have other Progressive policy
holders that were not refused renewal.
Progressive DID NOT, as I was originally informed, cancel their insurance.
Both individuals were informed that their insurance would not be renewed on
the policy anniversary dates. One of these is in June, the other in
September.
As former President of CMC (as of Saturday :-) ) I'm pretty familiar with
event insurance (we use K&K) and its wording as well as my individual auto
insurance policy. Most automotive policies will have a "racing or timed
event" exemption from coverage. We should expect the insurance companies to
limit their exposure as best as they can. We all understand that our
participation actually reduces our risk on the street but remember we are
talking about insurance agents, actuary tables etc... Have you ever tried to
use logic and reason with most bankers? You do have to admit that many of us
like to drive faster than the posted limits :-) Our event coverage also
exempts automobile damage and focuses on liability issues, that's what it is
for to protect the club, not a driver's vehicle.
Although we are not an SCCA affiliated club we use the SCCA's classing
structure, rule book and safety guidelines. Each participant and their
vehicle are exposed to some higher level of risk due to speed and
manuevering on course but a lower level due to having a single car on a
course. We limit exposure by course design and our individual club has been
in existance for over 40 years without a single claim vs. our event
insurance. That does not mean however that individuals vehicles have not
been rolled, crashed or otherwise damaged during our events. My automobile
insurance clearly states that there is no coverage during a timed or racing
event so any damage is and should be my responsibility. My company also
knows that one of my veicles (1986 V6 Fiero) is (was) autocrossed regularly
and I know that it is not covered during an event. I can however envision
some individuals unethically manipulating the circumstances to make an
insurance claim.
The insurance company is also well within its rights to determine who they
choose to underwrite. They have identified in these circumstances that these
individuals have histories that make them a higher perceived risk and chose
to not extend future coverage to them. It is safe to say that they could
have just as easily chosen to underwrite them at a higher premium to offset
the increased perceived risk. My policy also states that I can be cancelled
or not offered renewal for driving infractions/cancellations. I'm sure that
all of our policies include that verbiage. Mine states that only a 20 day
notice need be given before cancellation. Renewal can be witheld with no
cause identified according to my policy. It is totally up to the company's
discretion. Each of our policies clearly state exemptions and terms. Perhaps
more of us need to take the time to read them completely. Questioning your
agent hypothetically, BEFORE a claim situation occurs will be very helpful
to understand the actual coverage provided. The legalize used makes that
difficult at best and sometimes virtually impossible.
Our club will investigate ways to further shield identities in future
results postings in an effort to reduce the likelihood of a similar
occurance. I think that we can all embrace this lesson for our future
success. It is important to note that results are also desseminated by
publication in physical media such as North American Pylon and our club
newsletters, another source that could possably be used to corroborate other
information in an insurance investigation.
I'd like to hear any ideas for how we can better protect the results
information. Please withold any password protection schemes, having so many
people know a password makes one useless.
Dan Morency
www.CumberlandMotorClub.com
1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 CS Club Champion
Now racing T-87 Red Devil in FM class
PS
My 10 year old son's new Coyote kart is just getting running. What a hoot, 5
HP Briggs Raptor, club slicks etc... Setup with large seat and small seat
inside it so we can BOTH drive it. Very high G forces when cornering. I
wonder how long before he's faster than I am.... :-) It's very physically
demanding!
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