Honestly I would buy a $2000-$2500 car off Craig's list do pads/fluids and decent tires and then sell it afterwards. That or borrow something from someone. Rental cars are not exactly cheap and unless you can absolutely ensure a fraud free way to have it covered in event of a write off I wouldn't take the chance.
You do know you can rent a race car for this sort of thing, jes? One example of such a thing... (and full disclosure... Jon is a friend)
IIRC racing is $900/day, HPDE something less.
http://www.drive-gear.com/
I had a friend that rented a car for a track day a couple of times. He drove them for all they were worth. I think he rotated the tires between each session. No problems with either car.
and then there is this... Hertz ZHZ
I know someone who rented one of the Hertz vettes for a track day at Roebling - they had a blast! I know I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing the same, though...
The money you put into the track day has already been paid. It's a sunk cost. I think if an incident happened on-track with a rental car, you'd have a hard time getting it covered through insurance. I understand wanting to take advantage of the slot you paid for, but clearly assess the risk for a worst case scenario.
At work we were told to deny insurance. Once an Enterprise guy was trying to convince me to take the extra insurance and he told me that if I wadded up the car into a foil ball I could walk away paying nothing. So I challenged that statement and he changed his tune about the "foil ball wadding up".
nocones wrote: Honestly I would buy a $2000-$2500 car off Craig's list do pads/fluids and decent tires and then sell it afterwards. That or borrow something from someone. Rental cars are not exactly cheap and unless you can absolutely ensure a fraud free way to have it covered in event of a write off I wouldn't take the chance.
track day ins. would be a fraud free way to get the car covered
All I know is that I was a corner worker at a motorcycle track day and had a rented Mustnag GT from Hertz. I got to drive a couple pace laps on the track, and a Hertz employee saw the car. A week after I returned the car they decided to come after me for a new transmission, new tires, and some engine work because their emplyee had seen it racing (and as the story went, it had won some "heat races" on Saturday and placed well in the "main event" on Sunday. Such is the way rumours go, as I reminded them that the car was returned to them Sunday morning so couldn't have been in any "main event" then, and the event on Saturday was a motorcycle road race, not an event for cars (and gave them a copy of the flyer for it). They dropped it but it took a bit of effort on my part to convice them.
I wouldn't take a rental actually on track for an event.
Don't forget to put the license plate in the trunk when you get to the track. 
If you are not absolutely positive, it would be best to assume you are not covered.
In summary, prepare to be held liable if something happens. That's a risk you will have to accept.
Tom I am very surprised you would post so emphatically about how to pull one over on buisinesses. This morning your comments in this thread and the AAA thread are not displaying the best business ethics. Rental car companies contracts are based on exposing their property to the risks of regular road use of their vehicles. You are promoting defrauding other companies by encouraging customers to operate out of contract. I highly doubt the fine print on any non race car rental car would allow any use at a race track. If you can find a rental company that Allows use on a racetrack that would be an awesome thing to tell us.
I guess I'm just saying people notice these things and make sure you are representing GRM the way you want GRM to be represented.
/wetblanket mode
While I agree that there is value in thinking through the worst case scenario, keep in mind that it is very unrealistic to try and 'insure' against anything and everything.
Take your personal bodily harm for example. You are already going on track so you are willing to accept that risk. Lots of posts on this board about bad things that could happen.
I would just advise you to think a little bit about minimizing risks, but also be very realistic that there is NEVER any way to make ANYTHING risk free.
if it were me I'd actually read the rental car paperwork and if nothing seemed super crazy i'd rent the car and run the event.
I might take it a bit easier than I would in my own car, but my point is there is inherent risk in everything and you can't drive your decisions by only looking at worst-possible-case.
For example, there is a chance that the canadian bacon I ate this morning out of the oscar mayer package was tained with ebola, and I could die while driving next week and hit something and cause a lot of damage. I have not checked with my insurance to see if that is covered, and even if I knew it was not, I wouldn't likely seek to buy insurance for something like that because I perceive the risk to be quite low.
nocones wrote: Tom I am very surprised you would post so emphatically about how to pull one over on buisinesses. This morning your comments in this thread and the AAA thread are not displaying the best business ethics. Rental car companies contracts are based on exposing their property to the risks of regular road use of their vehicles. You are promoting defrauding other companies by encouraging customers to operate out of contract. I highly doubt the fine print on any non race car rental car would allow any use at a race track. If you can find a rental company that Allows use on a racetrack that would be an awesome thing to tell us. I guess I'm just saying people notice these things and make sure you are representing GRM the way you want GRM to be represented. /wetblanket mode
Ouch. While this is very sound advise, I expect that might sting a little bit. Certainly a good reminder for all of us to keep in mind who we represent.
I've gotten a few of these in my time, and though it stings short-term I am usually find myself quite thankful long-term.
You live and you learn!
You can rent a MB SLS from Hertz, just sayin......
I was in a similar situation to the OP once so I flew into Atlanta and rented a Cobalt. I ran the car at Road Atlanta for a 2 day HPDE and for fun taped it up with #'s, racing stripes, etc. Being a low powered car it was fun to see how much of the track I could run without lifting and I could still barely hit 99 MPH(computer limited?)on the downhill before 10A. I returned the car with the outline from the taped on #'s etc. visible and got no questions or hassle.
I fully expected to have to buy the car if I balled it up and figured the financial loss would be similar to wadding up my own car. BUT, that MY car would still be in one piece. Sure I'd have to fix & sell or part the Cobalt but at least my car wouldn't suffer downtime.
I checked the car over well before the event and added a bit of air to the front tires after a couple sessions IIRC. I was in HPDE 1 at the time and my instructor thought it was fun to have me chase down buddys of his who were instructing other newbs with less experience that were in fully prepped track cars. He got a kick out of waving to his buds while we passed after a point by. Said race cars then had to slowly follow us the length of that straight till we pulled away through the next set of turns. I think you can learn a lot about staying on the line in an under powered autotragic momentum car. Because of the low power I only used the brakes at 4 or 5 points on track and the pads lasted fine for 2 days.
nocones wrote: Tom I am very surprised you would post so emphatically about how to pull one over on buisinesses. This morning your comments in this thread and the AAA thread are not displaying the best business ethics. Rental car companies contracts are based on exposing their property to the risks of regular road use of their vehicles. You are promoting defrauding other companies by encouraging customers to operate out of contract. I highly doubt the fine print on any non race car rental car would allow any use at a race track. If you can find a rental company that Allows use on a racetrack that would be an awesome thing to tell us. I guess I'm just saying people notice these things and make sure you are representing GRM the way you want GRM to be represented. /wetblanket mode
lighten up francis … your post is a great example of how overly sensitive and lawsuit happy this country has become ….
Tom's post was nothing more than a laughing, joking, y'all have fun now ya hear … kind of post
'course this is just my opinion
Nocones, I'm sorry I offended you. If you noticed my other post (a picture of credit cards that would inevitably be required if he actually goes through with this), you know I'm not taking this topic entirely seriously. Besides–everyone knows you aren't allowed to have loose items (like a license plate) in your car while you're on track.
That's the real issue here: I'm promoting preparing the car in a way that would cause it to fail tech inspection if it ever went on track.
Im not sure why you woud think I am offended. I don't really care how you represent yourself/GRM. I was commenting on how I have interpreted your dialogue you can do what you want. The OP can sign a rental agreement and violate it if he chooses.
I'm assuming WBjones was joking about lawsuits and sensitivity. I'm not offended nor am I complaining. My opinion of GRM is shapped by what I read in the magazine and what the employees say on this website. Over time it will be influenced by how they behave. I am encouraging the OP to take personal responsibility for his choices and realize that if he wrecks a rental car to be SURE it would somehow be covered because otherwise HE will pay for it. That's pretty much the ultimate advocacy of personal responsibility.
Sarcasm does not translate well on the internet and Emoticons do nothing to help.
Would track day insurance cover rentals?
Mr_Clutch42 wrote: Would track day insurance cover rentals?
I highly, highly doubt it.
Don't post E36 M3 on the intarwebz
Pull the plate.
Make nice with the tow truck driver who pulls you to the place where you swerved to miss the deer.
In reply to dean1484:
I wonder how the op's deal would apply to a Autocross? Renting a Mustang perhaps?
Our main autox venue is across the street from the airport. Rumor has it that several years ago, a competitor showed up, had a mechanical issue with his car, went across the street to rent a replacement, took his runs, and was greeted by rental co staff upon his return to the paddock. Now this sounds fishy since the first groups is usually done around 8:30 or 9 pm and I'm not sure how late Hertz stays open. I wouldn't do it, but I know of people who have, and not had any issues doing an HPDE.
The trick with rentals cars is that they hit you with lost rental days while the car is being repaired, regardless of which insurance carrier picks up the tab. Just FYI. I've seen retals out there. I'm not sure my tinfoil hat will fit over my helmet, so I'm not convinced I would go that route.
I for one am a perfect angel to the rental cars I am given. Never once have I rented a cobalt and driven through the Smoky mountains with an open airbox, no hood, and advance auto spring rubbers jammed up in the suspension springs. I've also never taken it on the dragon and cherohala skyway with blue painters tape penises adorned all over it, in manual mode, and rev limiter bounced about 105000 times throughout the day, trying desperately to keep up with much faster and nicer cars. The spare tire void also was never used as a makeshift portable cooler either, I can assure you.
I honestly don't know how you guys have consciouses, beating on rental cars like that...
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