insurance for modded cars

[keelaw]

True that man!  In my experience of dealing with Admiral, they will charge something like 15 quid a time for changes to policy as an admin fee, even reissuing a letter where no changes cost me 15 quid!

Back on topic though, I never realised that non performance enhancing extras such alloys or the Mimi's Chilli pack needed to be declared on insurance. Modded to me always meant performance mods. I suppose luxury extras would increase a car's desirability, hence greater risk of theft. I suppose I better start complying from here on in!

[ub7rm]

Surely the ACC and different (factory) alloys etc aren't classed as mods?!  They will be reflected in the value of the vehicle?

They are factory fitted and 99.9% of people would not be declaring these as mods.  I certainly wouldn't be.  I think they want to know about aftermarket mods not VW options.

[keelaw]

That's what I thought until I had a look at the list of mods on admirals website. They include the MINI chilli and pepper packs which I kinow to be factory fit packs as I used to own a MINI.

[gc76]

Surely the ACC and different (factory) alloys etc aren't classed as mods?!  They will be reflected in the value of the vehicle?

They are factory fitted and 99.9% of people would not be declaring these as mods.  I certainly wouldn't be.  I think they want to know about aftermarket mods not VW options.

I think this is correct. By getting the optional 18's, leather or ACC surely isnt modding your car.  Your car came from the factory with these on.

I think the mini with chilli or pepper pack is classed as model change

[AlanD]

admiral or elephant.co.uk should do decent quoted with mod's. Have you tried them?

Are you insane? They are AWFUL for mods.

Have you tried Greenlight?

[mds69]

Surely the ACC and different (factory) alloys etc aren't classed as mods?!  They will be reflected in the value of the vehicle?

I've always assumed that was exactly what they meant by mods...

In the link below, the relevant bit is probably 'Please note - if you make a claim for loss or damage to your car, we will only pay the cost of replacing the parts needed for the car to meet the manufacturer's standard specification. The modifications themselves are not insured.'

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/forums/t/factory-fitted-extras-7593.aspx

How this fits with GAP insurance is beyond me (brain hurts)!

[neilgcal]

Thats an internesting point, would the GAP top you up to invoice if you insured your car without mentioning the alloys, xennons, upgraded sterio etc etc etc???

[Rolfe]

Surely the ACC and different (factory) alloys etc aren't classed as mods?!  They will be reflected in the value of the vehicle?

They are factory fitted and 99.9% of people would not be declaring these as mods.  I certainly wouldn't be.  I think they want to know about aftermarket mods not VW options.

That's what I thought.  And it will be interesting to see what questions I get asked when I sort out the insurance.

I'm planning on kicking off by calling my existing insurance, which is the RAC.  They came to my rescue 16 years ago when I got the XR2 (upgrade from a Fiesta 1.1L) and my then insurers started getting silly.  I don't remember much hassle when I changed the XR2 for the Peugeot, and I don't remember getting cross-questioned about the exact specifications for the car.

As far as I'm concerned, "modifications" means stuff you do to the car after it's delivered to you.  And that will be how I will interpret any such question.  If they want to know which factory-fit options the car is coming with, then they'll have to ask me that, and if they ask, I will tell them.

I can easily see why a modification to improve the performance of a car would increase its insurance.  It might well put it in a different insurance group.  However, comfort-oriented factory-fit options should surely only affect the insurance insofar as they are reflected in the value of the car.

Rolfe.

[jv]

Online generic brokers are not the way to get a good price on modded car insurance! They can't possibly allow for all the things you could come up with and pass that on to some computer system to give you a quote. You need to talk on the phone to someone who knows the mods you are talking about, their value and impact. Plus if you are meaning more than just the simplest of mods, you need an agreed value in place. Otherwise when your mk6 with, 19" LM's, 500 quid ecu upgrade and a sprinkling of carbon parts goes missing, all you will likely get back is book value on a standard car!

[neilgcal]

 If you all want a laugh, i put under seat storage drawers on my last golf (an £55 factory option) and the insurer i had at the time said they wouldn't insure it because it was modified, i said its a drawer under the seats to put CD's in, they point blank refused to insure it meaning i had to cancel the policy, lose the years no claims bonus and then move to Adrian Flux which was more then twice the price that Direct Line were had i not got a flipping storage drawer!

Yet again on the new Golf which should be here in 2 weeks, it looks like i will have to cancel the policy and insure with another company losing yet another years no claims bonus. And to top it off they recommended i keep the car insured under that policy (to keep the years no claims till the end of the policy) and take a new one out on the new car with a competitor even though i will no longer own the old car that Direct Line insure. I said, do you realise one of the basic points of insurance is that you can not insure something which isn't yours to insure.

That is the type of idiots at insurance companies you have to deal with these days!!!

Fuc#ing insurance companies … don’t start me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!