Kart Insurance

[speedy king]

Does anyone here have insurance and what are their views?

I took it out for £90 in my first season whcih covered up to £2,500 goods if stolen from the garage or trailer and any chassis write off during a race, but not engine damage. With premiums of £250.

I didn't go insured last season however am considering signing up with Fairmont for about £125 i think it is, mainly as they insure you against any law suits as well as the above and a considerable amount of money for physical damages, about £90,000 i think (these are from pure memory from a card i got through last year)

I'm just thinking that for the sake of £125 even though money is tight at the moment it's probably worth taking some insurance out for a year.

Any opinions?

There was also an interview with someone from Fairmont in Karting Magazine a few issues back

[Alex Hodgkinson]

IMHO - for karting, insurance? Sod it..

[#15 tkm 4/]

ive got insurance with fairmont. If you think about it you can either 'lose' £125 at the start of the year on insurance or half way through the year some pikey could come along and steal all your equip and you can lose £2,500+ equip in middle of the year!?

It's a tough call (sarcastic)

[speedy king]

And certainly it'll whipe some of the tears away if you end up some way through the season with a bannana shaped chassis.

I think i will probably take some out, it's worrying how many 'stolen karts' you see on UK Karting to be looked for

[hmmmm]

the only problem i have is that i think the highest value you can insure your stuff for is £5000 and me personally who races in max to replace everything new that would hardly touch it. 1 chassis £1900 2 engines £2600 6 sets of wheels and tyres £1000 thats blown the lot before you start thinking about trailers tools spares extra chassis. All though it would help yes i agree but not a big help really. I no of some one who wrote there chassis off while racing and was insured and it took 9 or 10 months to get the money back.

[speedy king]

I personally would still rather wait 10 months for the money to come through and not race in that time than not race in that time and have to save up for a new chassis.

OK, so it's not too good if like yourself you have lots of equipment but if the whole lot did go it would still cover a large percentage

[BillyT]

James, take it out thats a small price to pay. If your stuff gets nicked your screwed basically.

[DSM]

Have you guys checked your home insurance? your tools and equipment should certainly be covered, wherever they might be stolen from, and you can add the kart for no more than a few pounds against theft. When our van was broken into at 3 Sisters we had no problem getting paid out for compressor, generator, tools etc.
OK, you won't have cover for damage on track but how often do you 'write off' a chassis?

[Alex Hodgkinson]

^^ that's just about my argument exactly

[speedy king]

I've never written one off but with the budget i have i can not afford the risks, but can just about afford the insurance. One driver last year that i raced with in 2003 wrote two chassis' off in 2004, admittedly he was a loose cannon.

[BAR-Honda]

It is a great investment! In the year 2000 i had all my stuff stolen in broad daylight and being as we were not insured, we lost £10,000 worth of stuff. The only thing that was recovered was my race suit, but as the man wouldn't admit where the other stuff had gone to, they prosecuted him for all of it.

[Nigel Wilson]

Check the small print, I am sure they will not pay out if the gear isn't locked up in a van or trailer. ie I doubt they will pay if the kart etc were taken from an awning (and most of us leave them in overnight). Also if the chassis was written off I would imagine they would only replace the frame less excess.
This is of course speculation as I havn't a policy to check and I might be totally wrong, but check these points and then make up your own mind.