Insurance cancelled?

It's a BMW. It's a luxury car. People don't street race those

Yeah, BMWs make terrible race cars. They're slow and cushy and upholstered in the finest hides from the finest cows from Europe and parts of southern Canada. Nobody would throw away finely upholstered leather seats to make a race car, right?

neon4891 wrote:

DrBoost wrote: If you need a high WAP (wife approval factor) then a WJ, ZJ or XJ would really do much better than you expect as snowdoggie can attest to. BTW snowdoggie, I'm looking for an XJ right now.

I'm pretty sure that good tires on the WJ I'm thinking about would allow me to tackle any I can throw at it, seeing as I have already driven most of it in my neons. The thing that killed me tho was the mud pit... And kayak and bike transport duties would be better suited to the WJ than a soft top wrangler would be.

I've wheeled in a WJ. Did VERY well. I took it to a Jeep Jamboree and it was awsome!

"wenched out of tight spots" that sounds interesting.

In regards to the winch. I'm not defending the insurance company, but an idiot with a winch will surely lose his/her hand or try side pull and snap cable etc. There a lot of winch accidents from improper use. I'm sure the insurance folks are just looking at the odds of that. I think learning proper recovery techniques is vital to being safe off road. I'm not implying you are unsafe....but the insurance folks probably look at a winch in the same eyes that see a trampoline or pit bull on your homeowners policy. They then freak out accordingly.

sachilles wrote: In regards to the winch. I'm not defending the insurance company, but an idiot with a winch will surely lose his/her hand or try side pull and snap cable etc. There a lot of winch accidents from improper use. I'm sure the insurance folks are just looking at the odds of that. I think learning proper recovery techniques is vital to being safe off road. I'm not implying you are unsafe....but the insurance folks probably look at a winch in the same eyes that see a trampoline or pit bull on your homeowners policy. They then freak out accordingly.

Anybody who puts his pit bull on a trampoline deserves to lose his homeowner's insurance, and probably his health insurance too.

ddavidv wrote: Insurance underwriters are idiots. The company I work for has a policy that we are to report all "performance" modifications to underwriting for review because it means the owner is likely street racing. That means a cold air intake and some nice wheels. They've been known to have people at drag races snapping pictures of competitor's license plates to see if they are insured by us. Cancellation usually follows. Needless to say, I have a bad habit of overlooking modifications... It's a good company other than that, for the most part. I'm waiting for one of the bigwhigs to ask me some day if I'd recommend them to my friends, or why I haven't had anyone call in with my code for quotes. I have that answer all ready for them. Because, essentially, they wouldn't insure me. My tagged Spec E30 would give underwriting a brain seizure.

Hagerty wouldn't insure my Shelby Dakota because the underwriter said it was just a pickup with stickers. American Collectors insured it no problem.

DMV departments are not much better. PA DMV initially denied collector plates for my Shelby Dak because it had a bumper hitch and a winshield decal which reads Shelby. Once I proved both were original on the truck they issued the plates.

Tommy, what I've seen from insurance companies is that they're slow to react to real-world changes in gearhead culture. They're not car people, so they don't know about "what's going on" in our lil' world until it starts costing them money.

Long story short, hopefully they won't recognize that your E30 is a performance car unless a lot of other guys your age put one into the side of a bus or something. You're "flying under the radar" by having the 3-series instead of an S13 or Diamond-Star product.

ddavidv wrote: Insurance underwriters are idiots. The company I work for has a policy that we are to report all "performance" modifications to underwriting for review because it means the owner is likely street racing. That means a cold air intake and some nice wheels. They've been known to have people at drag races snapping pictures of competitor's license plates to see if they are insured by us. Cancellation usually follows. Needless to say, I have a bad habit of overlooking modifications... It's a good company other than that, for the most part. I'm waiting for one of the bigwhigs to ask me some day if I'd recommend them to my friends, or why I haven't had anyone call in with my code for quotes. I have that answer all ready for them. Because, essentially, they wouldn't insure me. My tagged Spec E30 would give underwriting a brain seizure.

ddavid, I just wanted to say I'm happy that at least one office has someone who really understands us working for them.

I've been lucky. I lie about having no modifications, and just haven't had a claim denied because I haven't hit anyone..and haven't had anyone come to check my cars because I'm 47yrs old.

And, oh yeah...I wish I had my SJ back. I always wanted to do something like this to it:

friedgreencorrado wrote: ddavid, I just wanted to say I'm happy that at least *one* office has someone who really understands us working for them.

As Kermit said, it's not easy being green. I do take into account the extent of the mods and the age/maturity level of the individual. A father/son team came in once with a 1st gen M3 that they obviously tracked. We had a great time chatting and I easily ignored the harnesses in the car. OTOH, the Fast-n-Furious types will receive a call from underwriting if they have a NAAAAWS bottle in their trunk and it's their daily driver. It only takes a few minutes of conversation to find out if they are one type or the other.

I am truly the exception to the rule. Most times if the stuff doesn't get reported it's because the adjuster in the field is just too, er...lazy to report it.

so do you guys normally look at every car you insure to make sure they don't have aftermarket parts installed?

my State Farm agent (good friend) told me he didn't care what mods I had done to the car... (01 Integra LS) ('course my being in my 50's when I bought it may have had something to do with that attitude) told me to keep all the receipts , and if I wreck it while on track... they might even pay for it... but I would never ever have insurance with them again..

wbjones wrote: but I would never ever have insurance with them again..

Care to elaborate why? I have had state farm for a few years and haven't had a problem with them (yet), but have never needed to make a claim.

In reply to WilD:

if you wad up a car on track, technically they're not supposed to cover it. he was saying that they might, but then they'd cancel his policy.

Alot of the problems come from the particular agent vs the actual company. When i got married my wife was with State Farm. She went down to he agent to add me to her policy. The agent said they would not renew her because I had a CDL which made me wreckless and accident prone.

Wally wrote: Alot of the problems come from the particular agent vs the actual company. When i got married my wife was with State Farm. She went down to he agent to add me to her policy. The agent said they would not renew her because I had a CDL which made me wreckless and accident prone.

Well Duh!

I have had state farm for a few years and haven't had a problem with them (yet), but have never needed to make a claim.

Of course you've had no problems with them, you've just been giving them your money and never asking for any of it back. Tell you what, you start sending me a check every month. I PROMISE we'll never have any issues as long as your checks clear and you never ask for it back.
But yeah, track events are not covered. Neither is off-roading unless it's on an ORV trail AND you have a valid ORV.

What's a "valid ORV"? Can you be denied because the trail was too hard for your rig? Obviously it was, otherwise you wouldn't need your insurance

I get my insurance through a broker. That way, if something goes wrong, I have someone on my side.

Keith wrote: What's a "valid ORV"? Can you be denied because the trail was too hard for your rig? Obviously it was, otherwise you wouldn't need your insurance I get my insurance through a broker. That way, if something goes wrong, I have someone on my side.

I meant "valid ORV permit". I've been wheeling a long time, I drop the word "permit" out of lazyness.

so do you think they'd buy it if you took the truck back after removing the winch? then you could just put it back on and reinstall for your regular insurance inspection. kinda like reinstalling cats so you can pass emissions once a year.

I thought about that. But I was so pissed that they would even have the balls to deny coverage for a long-term customer that has had everything insured through them that it became a matter of principal. Funny thing is, both times I rolled that Jeep there was basically no damage done so I never did file a claim on anything.

WilD wrote:

wbjones wrote: but I would never ever have insurance with them again..

Care to elaborate why? I have had state farm for a few years and haven't had a problem with them (yet), but have never needed to make a claim.

What he was saying / implying was they would look the other way about my track events but / and if I were ever to wreck it at a track / auto-x event they would probably pay off but since it was racing they would in all likelihood drop me dead....

so before I make a claim that was the result of a track incident I ought to think really hard

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