deleting the game data and reinstalling does not delete your savegame, at most the only damage done is the loss of car thumbnails [pics] which can be recovered in-game anyway
Ahh you beat me to it but yes .. i deleted my install (i skipped it the first time but it kept asking and when i finally decided to take the time do do it it got stuck somehow and kept getting stuck at 13 min.. ) so i deleted the game data and started install from scratch.
I did have to make new thumbnails for the cars i allready had but worked like a charm.