Austin wheels - white worm

[king monkey]

Bit late to this thread but was interested in the insurance aspect. A few family members run BMWs with summer and winter wheels. They’ve been told that if the diameter of the wheel doesn’t increase their insurance companies aren’t interested. That surprised me.

[SRGTD]

Bit late to this thread but was interested in the insurance aspect. A few family members run BMWs with summer and winter wheels. They’ve been told that if the diameter of the wheel doesn’t increase their insurance companies aren’t interested. That surprised me.

There’s no standard approach by all insurers to modifications - each will have its own approach to what they consider does or doesn’t constitute an increase in the insurance risk.

[Ceefeesh]

I appreciate there is no common approach across insurance companies. I learned from a discussion with mine when notifying them of a change, that if the diameter and width of the change corresponds to an option offered by the the manufacturer they are ok with that and no charge is likely. However, they still want to be notified to maintain cover.

[fredgroves]

There are three potential risk aspects with changing the wheels to your car:

1) a wrong choice in size could make the vehicle less roadworthy and likely to have an accident.

2) those £6000 quid BBS wheels could mean your wheels get stolen

3) Someone who is likely to fit sporty wheels to their car by themselves is going to be someone who drives fast.

That is how insurance companies think about it... and increased risk mean increased premiums.

However whether the risk is material in their actuarial calculation depends 100% on the actuarial calculation on which the policy is built. Some will care, some won't.

Good idea to find out from your own insurer before you invalidate your insurance though, that is seriously bad trouble.

Once you make ANY modification to your car though you start narrowing your choice of potential insurers though and thats worth thinking about.

[king monkey]

Bit late to this thread but was interested in the insurance aspect. A few family members run BMWs with summer and winter wheels. They’ve been told that if the diameter of the wheel doesn’t increase their insurance companies aren’t interested. That surprised me.

There’s no standard approach by all insurers to modifications - each will have its own approach to what they consider does or doesn’t constitute an increase in the insurance risk.

Yeah. Didn’t mean this was a standard approach. Just meant that from their insurance point of view they didn’t need to worry. That’s what surprised me.

[SRGTD]

Bit late to this thread but was interested in the insurance aspect. A few family members run BMWs with summer and winter wheels. They’ve been told that if the diameter of the wheel doesn’t increase their insurance companies aren’t interested. That surprised me.

There’s no standard approach by all insurers to modifications - each will have its own approach to what they consider does or doesn’t constitute an increase in the insurance risk.

Yeah. Didn’t mean this was a standard approach. Just meant that from their insurance point of view they didn’t need to worry. That’s what surprised me.

I’ve had experience of inconsistencies of approach by different underwriters within the same insurance company when declaring a change of wheels.

I was with the same insurer when I changed my wheels on two of the cars I’ve owned (on each occasion, the wheels were the same as the car’s original factory spec wheels - same width, diameter, centre bore size and offset). On the first occasion, I was asked the value of the wheels, and to confirm I had locking wheel bolts fitted and there was no change in premium. On the second occasion, I was also asked the value but wasn’t asked about locking wheel bolts and I was charged an extra £15 - £20 premium per year (can’t remember the exact amount).

It seemed to me that it was down to the discretion of the individual underwriter as to whether the premium would increase or not, rather than a standard approach being applied.

[fredgroves]

It's more variable than you think. All sorts of factors come into play.

Remember an insurance scheme is actually an investment scheme. Investors are effectively betting on the policy owners. As such the premiums are steered to deliver the financial results for the investors.

Seems strange when you think about it like that, but that's how they work.

[Vw80]

Is this start of dreaded white worm?

[SRGTD]

Is this start of dreaded white worm?

Unfortunately, yes it is.

There’s a picture of a more advanced stage of white worm corrosion on a diamond cut alloy in reply #5 of the discussion thread at the link below;

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=86968.0

[RM]

Two of mine are being refurbished next week. It’s a ‘17 plate car so about right I guess. Sadly I couldn’t quite make man-maths work in such a way that new alloys were a better choice.