With the summer well in full swing people everywhere are taking advantage of the warmer weather and heading out on road trips across the province. Many of theses drivers are avid car enthusiasts who may be taking their Sunday driver classic out for a quick drive to the local car show or those with performance modified cars on their way to the racetrack.
Regardless of where your vehicle falls in the wide spectrum of car culture it is important that you take time to ensure you have the right insurance coverage for your vehicle.
Shopping for Insurance
No one has ever said they enjoy shopping for car insurance. Typically, people either use an Insurance Broker to do the work for them or they call a few companies and go with the cheapest option. However, it is highly important that you take the time and thoroughly consider all your options and needs when purchasing insurance.
You should consider whether you will be using the vehicle for work, whether adding OPCF 44R coverage is needed, and you should always take the time to consider purchasing Optional Accident Benefits for your policy.
There is even more to consider for those insuring classic and modified vehicles.
Classic Car Insurance
For those that have that classic Sunday driver that they only take out in nice weather during the summer it is important to work with an Insurer that deals specifically with classic cars. These insurers will understand the worth, extra repair costs, and tailor insurance to fit your unique situation.
However, it is important to ensure that you are not just thinking about the vehicle with a classic car, and you consider the important need for injury coverage.
Most people insuring a car that is only driven 15 times a year may only take on minimum coverage, to save a few dollars, in the event of suffering or causing injuries in an accident when in fact the opposite approach should be taken.
Classic cars are often more dangerous due to their older and lack of modern safety features, such as, no airbags, poor crash structures, no three-point seat belts, and lack of traction control and ABS braking systems. These lacking safety features may result in greater injury in the event of an accident, especially with the size of modern vehicles you encounter of today’s roads. As such you should always consider adding Optional Accident Benefits coverage to your policy and increasing your policy limit to the $2 million mark to cover for the added risks associated with driving these older vehicles and the higher risks of serious injury associated with them.
Modified Cars
Whether making aesthetic or performance modifications to your car, most of the time these are done without considering the effect, if any, that it may have on your insurance.
When you setup an Insurance Policy the Insurer is agreeing to insure your vehicle based on several factors, with one of them being that the vehicle is still in “stock” or unchanged from the factory.
If you plan on modifying your vehicle in any way, it is important that you contact your insurance first to see if they will cover you and the vehicle with these modifications. Often the Insurer will agree to insure you for an increase in your insurance premiums, however if your vehicle becomes extensively modified you may need to contact an Insurer that specially insures highly modified vehicles.
Should you get into an accident with your modified vehicle without informing your insurance company of the modifications they may not cover the costs of repairing your vehicle at all, let alone the extra costs of the modifications.
More crucially however they may deny coverage completely. This could leave you with no Accident Benefits coverage for your injuries and if you are deemed to be the one that caused the accident and are sued because of injuring someone else the Insurer may take an Off-coverage position leaving you on the hook for covering legal expenses and any amount owed to the Plaintiff for their injuries and losses.
Often this also results in a legal dispute between you and your Insurer to compel the Insurer to re-instate coverage.
These off-coverage positions have been seen to occur in situations of minor undisclosed modifications, such as a custom exhaust system. So, it is important to ensure you are communicating the truthful state of your car with your Insurer.
Race Insurance
If you are someone that has a dedicated racetrack vehicle or occasionally takes their road car on a track day it is crucial to know that most standard road car insurance policies, classic car insurance policies, and modified car insurance policies will not cover you or your car should you crash on track.
There are companies which have tailored policies for track day use of a vehicle. It is important to ensure you have such a policy in place to protect you and others in the case that injuries occur on track in an accident, as your regular insurance for the vehicle will not cover you for on track injuries.
Conclusion
Having that car of your dreams become a reality is the end goal of all car enthusiasts but it is important to ensure that the investment you have made and the work you have put into that vehicle can be enjoyed with the peace of mind that you are protected properly while on the road.
