Hi, I'm very very very new to the rally world and am just putting together my plan for getting a car, training etc.

What I can't figure out is how insurance works... or doesn't. Firstly, if I turbo charge a car, most insurance will cancel me for adding a speed/performance enhancing mod.

Second, as soon as I race my insurance is invalid as is the rules in Ontario.

So how does it work? Do you just sign away your rights when you enter a race? Or do you not insure your race car?

Any info would be greatly appreciated, or if there's an insurance carrier who specializes in this kind of thing I'd love to know their name.

Thank you very very much!

Talk to your insurance agent.  You will most likely have to insure the car under Facility insurance (the same expensive type that people who have horrendous driving records and / or DUI convictions need to get.  Many companies do not provide this so you may need to call around to a few different agents.

It is important to be clear that this is a rally car and used for competition and has been modified.  In my case, the insurance company wanted an appraisal in order to set the value of the car.  This will run you a couple hundred dollars or so and the insurance may be in the 3 - 5 thousand dollar range depending on the appraisal value.  

Hope this helps

The insurance coverage for rallies under the Canadian Association of Rallysport is provided through ASN Canada. Details of the coverage can be found on the ASN website under insurance. You can see the details at www.asncanada.com

Bottom line is that the rally insurance provides third party liability coverage during an event, but not on transits, as it is assumed that the vehicle owner will have regular road coverage. The rally insurance provides no coverage for the competitor's vehicle.

Rally car insurance is an extremely complicated and muddy issue. Different competitors have very different ways of dealing with it. Many are unwilling to discuss it in an open forum. I would caution you re discussing it with your agent before you have the full picture.

CARS and RSO (and other motorsport governing groups in Canada) have tried unsuccessfully for years to arrange group insurance coverage for rallyists. There is another discussion going on currently with no concrete results so far.

So my best advice is to get in direct contact offline with some owners of rally cars.

DaveM wrote on 08/09/11 at 15:34:36:

I think I know where you're coming from, Dave, but since the term "Facility" often gets thrown around as some vague solution to all sorts of insurance woes, I think it's worth expanding for Doom (or others):

Facility doesn't offer some different, special kind of insurance.  All auto insurance policies in Ontario have the exact same wording; it's mandated by law and can't be changed by the insurance company.

Facility is just the insurer of last resort: because auto insurance is mandatory in Ontario, there has to be a way for every driver to actually get it.  The Facility Association is the government-mandated method of making sure that everyone does have a way to get insurance.

Even if other insurance companies turn you down (which they might, especially if they just don't feel like insuring a modified car), Facility will still cover you.  They may charge you a lot for that coverage, but they won't turn you away.  However, the actual policy from Facility is exactly the same as the policy offered by anyone else.

So... if your problem is that your normal insurer doesn't want to insure your rally car at all, yes, Facility may provide a solution (at a cost).

However, if you're trying to decide between Facility and some other insurer for your rally car and think that Facility's coverage/policy is "better" for rallying in some way, it probably isn't.

Hi Guys,
by way of introduction... hey!! Probably met most of you guys at the rallies but just joined the club!

I dont want to take away from Dooms original question but the whole rally car insurance thing is a huge issue over here. i moved here from Ireland a while ago, I done alot of tarmac rallying back there. I never had my rally car insured - the event you entered had blanket insurance to allow all rally cars who had entered to drive on the road for that day only. It was always mentioned at the start of a rally if you are stopped by police etc the insurance policy document was posted in the rally HQ.

Its a huge issue here. I would go rallying here tomorrow but i just cannot justify the insurance cost to drive on the public road maybe 4 days in the year. With a relatively new G licence and no canadian record trying to insure a car with cage / modified etc.... going to be looking at 4k. Its a crazy expensive for competitors.

I understand work is going on with CARS on this issue? the law from Europe / Ireland to here around blanket insurance couldnt be that different to prevent such a type of insurance? Even if it was $100 added to entry fees for each competitor i'd gladly pay that - maybe some insurance company out there would want the contract.

I really hope something can be done on this - as its putting me and probably others off rallying here. Massive start up costs not helped by a 4k insurance bill. Has anyone a contact in CARS i could follow up with? I have plenty of contacts in Ireland who run rallyies and know how it works if that information would help?

Last question - is there a way around it? if you had a very dedicated servcie crew who met you at the end of each stage and trailered the car to the next stage - is this legal? i guess not always possible.

talk to you guys soon
D

Hey Jeff,

Of course doh!! Stupid question on my behalf! recently was wracking my mind of ways to get around the 4k insurance bill which i just cant afford or stomach.

there is another scheme in Ireland, IRDS (Irish rally drivers scheme) this is another insurance (only $30) you pay at the start of every year and its a fund/insurance to help with medical expenses in case of injury etc, but this is a different topic - but perhaps the two could be incorporated?

I could get some details of what the policies look like - i was on the organisation comittee of a few rallys at home - but Im sure CARS have already looked into this.

Really hope this can change - theres no reason why it can happen in Europe and cant here. Ireland law also states every car must be insured if on the public road - but this blanket/event insurance satisfies that requirment somehow.

I have talked to every insurance company I can think of and no one will cover me for a rally car...  I cant believe that every person that rallies in Ontario does it illegally  (Unless everyone is using Facility insurance).  However I assume that must not be the case if none of the active rally drivers on this board have chimed in to say who insures them and how.  I found a few topics on specialstage and no one there seemed to have a clear answer on how they insure there cars...  Im going nuts trying to figure it out!

Lots of good advice here and I can only echo it - there are different alternatives in use by different people who might not want to discuss them on a public board, that you should talk to brokers who are not yours first lest this question come back to bite you, that you will probably need to find a broker that provides Facility coverage, and that you will probably need an appraisal. Oh, and that if you aren't up front about what modifications have been made then you may be declined coverage - not such a big deal if it's you in a tree and you aren't going to claim it - I have NO idea what actually making a claim would do or what a hell that would become, although maybe someone else does? - but it may be if someone hits you on a transit. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

In our case I spoke to a number of shops and race associations as well as competators to get ideas/names, made a lot of phone calls to a lot of brokers (and if you think explaining what a rally car is and what it does is difficult, try also explaining what a Lada is), and eventually I found one who'd heard of rally. I already had a appraiser, and now I just accept whatever rate hikes they choose to apply each year and I'm happy to have the insurance. The cost is roughly twice what my street car costs to insure, if that helps you ballpark it.

As the Lada is Production Sport I did try to make the case that it had not been modified for performance, only for safety, but all that got me was a "nice try".