Billabong owners...

[Ben_billabong]

Im guessing most of you had the free insurance. I dont know if i can wait until November to colour code and tint my car so i was wondering if any of you had tried asking Renault insurance about doing mods? If yes what were the penalties and what did you get done? If no, did you do it anyway?

Cheers

 

[connor]

well i can tell u for a fact (from bad personal experience) that bodycolouring and lexus lights are fine!

but ring them up as well anyways!

 

[Ben_billabong]

Cheers mate, what happened then?? How much did you pay for colourcoding?? I aint up to date on all the prices, i was expecting about £100 but ive been told its a lot more than that by a mate.

 

[h3lter]

if u dont know by next monday pm me! im havin a quote on saturday for delocking and colour coding! i will specificly ask on price for just colourcoding !

 

[Seymour]

any performance enhancing mods like suspension or engine are out of the question. the wheels have to be supplied and fitted by renault to be ok with the free insurance. i had the problems with them with fitting my lowering springs then having to take them off because of the free insurance. bodycolouring is usually bout the 250 mark

 

[Ben_billabong]

Cheers h3lter. Much appreciated, if its that much i will have to wait a while anyway.

 

[Rich_M]

D.I.Y

 

[kwingy1]

likewise....i have lexus lights they are fine with insurance, as well as my K-tec grill. Any light interior mods are fine too such as gear knob.

 

[h3lter]

no worries just remember to pm me on monday

 

[bigmaddaz]

ok on this subject just got a new full K-tec exhaust system fitted yesterday will this void my free insurance? I have 17s , tints, lights, grille etc... and these were all fine and renault also confirmed a back box was fine but I wonder if a full exhaust system is ok ?

Daz

 

[april]

I dunno bout the free insurance, but I still have Renault Insurance and they were fine with all my mods, although I think they are charging me bout £100 per year more for 17"s, tints, lowered, lexus lights.

 

[edde]

Quote: Originally posted by bigmaddaz on 09 March 2004


ok on this subject just got a new full K-tec exhaust system fitted yesterday will this void my free insurance? I have 17s , tints, lights, grille etc... and these were all fine and renault also confirmed a back box was fine but I wonder if a full exhaust system is ok ?

Whatever you modify will invalidate the warently on on conected pieces. But under EU law they have to prove the modification was to blame for the failure to refuse to pay out.

If you stick 200hp nitrous onto the engine and it blows up them they wont pay out but an exhaust isnt going to do much.

Renault insurance seem to be ok with mods but only certain people there used to be willing to write lowering mods down as external modifications. Im not sure how they will be with a performance exhaust a back box ok but more noise but no HP gains but if you modify the engine output then insurance is invalid they wont cover mods like that. A full exhaust may be defined as giving you more power and so they wont insure you until you take it of again.

EDD

 

[connor]

Quote: Whatever you modify will invalidate the warently on on conected pieces. But under EU law they have to prove the modification was to blame for the failure to refuse to pay out.

U sure this is true? and r u talking about the warrenty or the insurance?

coz the reason I know bodycolouring is ok with renault free insurance is coz I had a nasty crash in my car 2 months back and after looking over my car (it had 17s, lowered 60mm, harnesses, lexus lights & bodycolouring)they decided to void my policy (on a brand new clio =/) due to the wheels & harnesses not being supplied and fitted by Renault! (they didnt notice the lowering springs)

Im still arguing with them atm about it and the damaged car is sitting on my drive undriveable!

So if u have free insurance then yes, an exhaust, lowering, alloys will void ur policy! They didnt mind my lexus lights and bodycolouring, just the fact it had alloys and harnesses!

They didnt say anything in their letters about them being the cause of the accident or whatever, they are voiding it coz the renault policy states that any modifications on the motor must be supplied and fitted by the manufacturer!

So if that was true Edde then i would like to know coz i need new ideas to win this as i am now resorting to the moral high ground

anyways hope that lets u know about the mods dude!!

 

[edde]

Quote: Originally posted by connor on 10 March 2004

U sure this is true? and r u talking about the warrenty or the insurance?

coz the reason I know bodycolouring is ok with renault free insurance is coz I had a nasty crash in my car 2 months back and after looking over my car (it had 17s, lowered 60mm, harnesses, lexus lights & bodycolouring)they decided to void my policy (on a brand new clio =/) due to the wheels & harnesses not being supplied and fitted by Renault! (they didnt notice the lowering springs)

Im still arguing with them atm about it and the damaged car is sitting on my drive undriveable!

So if u have free insurance then yes, an exhaust, lowering, alloys will void ur policy! They didnt mind my lexus lights and bodycolouring, just the fact it had alloys and harnesses!

They didnt say anything in their letters about them being the cause of the accident or whatever, they are voiding it coz the renault policy states that any modifications on the motor must be supplied and fitted by the manufacturer!

So if that was true Edde then i would like to know coz i need new ideas to win this as i am now resorting to the moral high ground

anyways hope that lets u know about the mods dude!!

I was talking about the warently on the part being invalid on modified parts but they have to prove that the modification caused a failure etc to refuse to pay for the repair

Insurance is a competly different you need to take to a few different advisers but they can just invalidate your claim due to your modifying the car without asking them.

They may ot have noticed the springs or just have been kind and forgot about it. However my cars stock and its quite low It looks like a 30~40 drop on it looking at other people pictures on the site so maybe your car only looks as low as some normal ones do.

Cannot offer much advice on the insuracne front you could try and ask kindly for a % donation. To be totally fair they can just say there not paying and inform the police that you werent nsured. How bad is the damage? You may be better of paying ou of your own pocket and keeping the NCB bonus for cheaper insurance next yr.

 

[MattT]

Seems a bit strange to me.
My free insurance ran out in September 03 but Id fitted 17s myself in June.
I rang them up, and it was no problem - only had to pay £40 or so to update the policy.

There doesnt seem to be a clear cut answer as to what is covered under free insurance and warranty. It depends on which renault dealer you go to and whoever answers the phone at Renault insurance.

 

[connor]

Quote: They may ot have noticed the springs or just have been kind and forgot about it.

Nah, they definetly didnt notice, coz they picked up on the alloys and the harnesses! but that might be coz my car wasnt actually low when sitting on the 17s.

Anyways aparently they can refuse to pay even if they didnt cause a failure coz it says in the policy that no modifications must be done to the car unless they were supplied n fitted by the manufacturer, which covers their back! im still arguring it with them atm over letters/faxes/phone calls etc. Atm, ive resorted to a formal complaint and taking the moral highground saying their decisions is on unfair terms.

& yes they could inform the police, but they havent and made no mention of doing so, plus the police were at the scene and i handed in my motor insurance certificate for my producer two months after I crashed (which is when i got the producer) and no problems arose with the vehical check etc!

& the damage... well I rolled it - lol. But I know its repairable, but at a 4k price tag. AND possibly the worst thing is that im still paying the car on finance and only paid off 600 notes off of 11k lol.

and what NCB bonus mate, didnt have any in the first place lol

OK MattT, that is what ive been wanting to hear... someone that has had the mod i had with free insurance and for them to be completely alright with it, where did u get ur alloys from and who fitted them? would u be willing to testify that or back me up with that if need be?

Coz I really dont mind paying the extra excess or premium that mods increased it by to get the claim honoured but they wont!

 

[connor]

bump

 

[MattT]

Connor - Your car is mint...love the colour coding.
(Had to say it, sorry.)

 

[spirez]

Quote: Originally posted by MattT on 10 March 2004


Seems a bit strange to me.
My free insurance ran out in September 03 but Id fitted 17s myself in June.
I rang them up, and it was no problem - only had to pay £40 or so to update the policy.

There doesnt seem to be a clear cut answer as to what is covered under free insurance and warranty. It depends on which renault dealer you go to and whoever answers the phone at Renault insurance.

Same as that, they charged about £40 when i put cup rims on and ive got the documents to prove they accepted it. And i fitted them myself.

 

[edde]

Ok so the free insuracne isnt exaclty clear cut on things.
You can modify the exterier of the car but you have to inform them of what you have done and pay a premium/ increased excess etc. However mods to power output are banned.

Now to the complicated bit some of the Renault insuracne people would write some mods up under exterier mods ie lowering.

For some reason the mods had to be done by Renault themselves no idea why maybe to ensure correctly fitment of a bodyjkit so it wont fall of and cause a claim to be made so they cna get you for they cannot see them bothering with some stuff ie wheel being fitted my ourselves but lowering and body kits I can see are seem to be more important to be fitted properly. They made this in the smll print I think so your almost wasting your time trying unless you try the but its not totally clear angle.

As for warently you can do what you want but whatever you modify isnt covered by the warently. However if you think about it you only need the warently on a part if it fails ie it wouldnt matter if my engine was under warently or not if it never failed or was a problem would it. So the validity of the warently on whatever part only is a problem if it fails if you put a remap on your car and the engine blows up then Renault have to prove the remap caused the failure to refuse payout.

Owch paying 4k out of pocket is a bit steep sounds like trying to fix it yourself is the best option and make it road worthy. Either that or park your car on the road and get a hire car and drive that into your car so the hire car insurance has to pay expensive as excess are sometimes £1K but better than £4k. They other insuracne company may even write your car of it you hit it hard enough so you can get the full 11k asking price back and buy a new car.

EDD

 

[connor]

Quote: You can modify the exterier of the car but you have to inform them of what you have done and pay a premium/ increased excess etc. However mods to power output are banned.

If ur talking about the free insurance then this aint true.... Was speaking to them today, they say there is no exceptions, if its free insurance then no mods are allowed full stop unless they are supplied and fitted by manufacturer, he said to fit alloys that aint renault supplied or fitted it is a breach of contract hence voiding the insurance.

When i mentioned that I knew someone that had free insurance and has declared 17" alloys that are NOT renault and were NOT fitted by renault, he said thats impossible, coz the insurance company wouldnt have allowed it! So im hoping that there is pplz out there that have the same policy as me and have declared them coz that might mean i have an argument.

Quote: Same as that, they charged about £40 when i put cup rims on and ive got the documents to prove they accepted it. And i fitted them myself.

Ok mate, were you on free insurance yeah? And u definetly said they were not renault alloys and were not fitted by renault right? Could I please use you for argument sake? i.e. a name and a policy number would be good!!! if your unsure then its ok mate, i just need any bit of material that might help this. Coz if they let you declare them and have them then why shouldnt they let me!

And also mattT would u also by any chance? assuming u still have the documentation? coz the more the better!

 

[MattT]

Connor - Sorry, Ive only just read this thread properly, didnt realise you were asking me to help.

Ive had a look to see if I can find the updated policy with the 17 alloys declared - but I cant find it. On reading the T&C of the free insurance it does say that only modifications supplied and fitted by Renault are allowed.

I knew this before I fitted them, so I rang a good few times to make sure it was ok...and each time I was told there would be a £45(ish) policy update fee. What effect this had on the excess ~ I cant remember. But the T&C say that up to £1000 of external modifications are covered. (IIRC £500 ICE).

I realise this isnt much help Connor, but Ill pm you if I find anything on that policy ~ Ill have another look.

 

[Seymour]

ive only got a week left with my free insurance. i have just purchased some 172 alloys from a mate and rang renault up to see if i could fit them them.

they said that the alloys have to be supplied and fitted by renault for them to accept it. im not paying rediculous prices for some mechanic to fit some alloys that i can do for free on my driveway. to be honest i dont think that any mods at all are allowed on the free insurance. luckily ive only got a week left so i can start modding.

 

[connor]

Cheers Matt T,

Let me know! after their next reply, i will have to write another letter if they still havent honoured my claim, and having names with policy numbers of pplz that have had free insurance with declared mods might be just what i need to sway it over in my favour! coz they cant allow one person the mods and not another!