5 Unusual Car Insurance Situations: Race Cars, Driving Convictions, and More
Most of us are pretty familiar with liability, collision, and comprehensive insurance, but these options aren’t always available to some drivers. Depending on your car model and make, you’ll need to purchase extra or specific insurance intended for your situation and/or driving record.
Understanding your available insurance options isn’t always easy, especially when you can’t settle for typical solutions.
Here are 5 unusual insurance situations you may need to navigate.
1. Getting SR-22 Insurance After a Driving Conviction
In 42 states, drivers require an SR-22 to reinstate their driving privileges after an uninsured car accident or other driving-related conviction. While it’s often called SR-22 “insurance,” it’s actually an add-on that proves your policy meets the minimum coverage required in your state.
An SR-22 form comes with a flat fee, but the liability coverage you’ll need to prove drivability can get expensive because of your driving record. Be sure to shop for companies that accept SR-22 policies and select the best policy using comparison websites, like Cheap Insurance.
2. Getting Food Truck Insurance to Sell Mobile Food
If your business has a mobile food, lunch, catering, concession, vending, or ice cream truck, then you’ll need to pick up food truck insurance. Basic food truck coverage includes commercial auto, which is essential to cover physical damage to the vehicle and any permanent appliances.
Multiple risk factors will affect your rate, such as the type of food you sell. If your truck prepares fried or grilled food, it’ll cost more to insure than trucks that sell prepackaged goods because of the equipment needed to cook. The price of equipment also determines your insurance rate.
3. Getting Motorsport Insurance for Legal Race Cars
Insurers typically have a tiered system for determining race car insurance rates. If you’re fond of motorcycle racing, prepare to pay top dollar for insurance. Since your chance of getting injured is higher, motorcyclists are subjected to high fees, even if they never drive on a race track.
Non-street legal and street-legal motorcycles and race cars are issued off the race track insurance if they aren’t used on a race track. On the track motorsports insurance is used for single-event track, annual non-competition, and annual competition race track vehicles.
4. Getting Classic Car Insurance for Older Vehicles
If you’re interested in restoring classic cars, you won’t necessarily need insurance. However, if you’re transporting your classic car to and from an exhibition without a shipment service, you’ll have to be insured. Antique, classic, or rare cars need classic car insurance to stay covered.
With that said, it’s difficult to get insurance if the car isn’t intended for general use on roads. As a positive, you can get low-mileage discounts on exhibition vehicles or an agree-on value policy for road-worthy classics. Low-value classics can make do with liability or collision insurance.
5. Getting Regular Insurance for High-Value Vehicles
An exotic, high-performance, or incredibly expensive vehicle is difficult to insure. A Rolls-Royce or Bugatti will set you back millions of dollars, and insurance companies aren’t willing to pay for that car if it crashes. Even a Mercedes and an Audi are too expensive for some companies.
Many insurers have a ceiling for the maximum value they’re willing to insure, which hovers around $150,000. Most luxury vehicles will eclipse that amount easily, so you’ll need to find an insurer willing to take on the risk. On the other hand, you could increase your deductible.
As a note, Teslas and other electric cars don’t hit the “high-value” threshold anymore, as they’re becoming more accepted. Some insurers issue special electric vehicle insurance for these cars.