Declared mods

[JackD]

I know lots of people don't declare them but I'm interested in those who have declared their mods to their insurance companies! I'm just wondering what prices you paid for what mods etc so a rough comparison can be made and maybe help out people looking at insurance!

I'm with Bell insurance (may be comparable with admiral as same company) and paid £122 extra for declaring change of steering wheel, recaro seats, lowered suspension and exhaust! This is on a year policy with 2 ncb and I'm 21 in a good postcode!

What are your costs?

 

[Skeeter]

I am with Bell too, and from the comparisons I did before buying the car, declaring my non standard exhaust cost an extra £25ish a year, which I think was perfectly acceptable.

 

[Goodj]

that's not too bad, it's certainly better than not declaring them, broadsidsing a lamp post and getting nothing for it.

Elephant charge me £50 for "cosmetic modifications" (the stripes I cant get rid of) but were quite happy to not charge if I had a non-standard exhaust provided it didn't increase performance which, lets be honest, they dont.

Just declare any changes you make

 

[clancy]

i had to pay about £70 to put coilies on and didnt get charged for exhaust

 

[Goodj]

I know lots of people don't declare them

And if they do end up in a prang, many of them wind up with no car anymore

 

[The Boosh!]

My insurace is actually cheaper with modifications; Thats with every insurance company I rang too.

 

[Steven103]

£93 to insure the CUP packs on my 182. Yes, really. In the eyes of Bell 3mm lower is still "manz gt a slammed clio" thus expensive.

And yes, the policy wording does state that you have to declare all optional extras as well as mods. Not very happy about this.

 

[Addicted]

:S never seen anyone having to actually declare the options, or at least not heard anyone doing it! :O

 

[aucky]

Induction kit, exhaust, whiteline ARB, front and rear strut braces = £80 with flux

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

All my mods with flux just got added, no cost I'm pretty sure.

I rang up the other week to ask how much to add a roll cage, terrified that they would come back and say they don't insure them, she said 'yes we can just add that to your policy no problem'. AWESOME!

 

[Clouder]

When Admiral asked about optional extras I said cup packs, woman said ok, and moved onto next question. Didn't add a penny to my price, and quite rightly so.

 

[Olli_Clio]

Im 18, 2nd year of driving my 1.2 Clio Extreme

Added induction kit, suspension changes and alloys and it raised my price by about 150 with admiral

Cant really complain after only 1 year driving and no years NCB so im happy

 

[Tombola]

I with Bell, declared exhaust and brakes. Brakes make no difference apparently and exhaust was £32 for the year extra so not too bad.

 

[Jonny1*2]

I've only declared the obvious (ie. what couldn't have come from renault, so recaros and turinis have been ignored, oh and cams, because how will they know ). So it's just exhaust and throttle bodies with greenlight. Bodies increased premium by £40 this time, but exhaust did nothing. Coilover also didn't increase my policy, but i've removed them from it now.

 

[Adam.]

When I was wtih Admiral last year I declared big brakes, stage 1 map and lowering springs on my MK2 Leon and it put my policy up by £29 iirc. I was 19.

 

[Goodj]

So, in respect to Jonny1*2's reply.

What mods are "invisible" to insurance assesors?

Remaps? Cams? sport Cats? non-stainless stealth back boxes? manifolds? Inlets? OEM-looking springs?

 

[Clouder]

In a multi-million pound personal injury claim against you, I'm reasonably sure no mod will be invisible...

Either insure them all, or none, seems pointless finding a middle ground

 

[skyinsurance]

So, in respect to Jonny1*2's reply.

What mods are "invisible" to insurance assesors?

Remaps? Cams? sport Cats? non-stainless stealth back boxes? manifolds? Inlets? OEM-looking springs?

Why bother non disclosing?

 

[DB.]

Brentacre - Free

 

[Beef-Mc]

Pretty sure when I was on the phone to Admiral, it was a case of any modifications or factory fitted options, so no choice but to declare the climate control.

 

[Goodj]

Why bother non disclosing?

It was just a thought. Doesn't matter to me anyway, everything in mine is above board and declared.

but, to answer your question, some companies dont like mods of any type. Direct line refused outright to quote me on the old MX-5 just because someone had put different wheels on it before.

And even if they quote you, sometimes they just take the p-155!

 

[Cro]

Greenlight dont and havnt added a penny and I have everything done with them, excellent stuff imo

 

[Jonny1*2]

Greenlight dont and havnt added a penny and I have everything done with them, excellent stuff imo

WTF that bodies too?

 

[AdamR]

All my mods with flux just got added, no cost I'm pretty sure.

I rang up the other week to ask how much to add a roll cage, terrified that they would come back and say they don't insure them, she said 'yes we can just add that to your policy no problem'. AWESOME!

Exactly the same here (added a cage and RARB free of charge) - seems that stuff that doesn't increase BHP is all free with them. No admin charges for adding the stuff on either, win! Not sure which underwriter it is, but I'm with Flux too.

 

[Addicted]

adrian flux were the lowest quote i've got so far when going for renewal in may £94/m fully comp with a yozza & filter declared, so not so bad!

 

[Cro]

WTF that bodies too?

Absolutely everything mate!! Even the cams that have not been fitted yet (going in this weekend) Honestly the guys are great, very helpful and dont mind me taking a few pages of mods :rasp:

 

[Harpham]

^ Do they insure the mods though?

iirc Admiral (who im with) dont actually replace mods if you claim, just standard parts.

 

[Jekyll]

just read this thread so phoned up sky insurance to add remap, recaros and decat to my mods that are already declared (exhaust, painted wheels, filter, lowered, carbon parts, splitter, etc) and it went up by £102, total is £715. of course it all depends on age, area, ncb, etc but im pretty happy.

 

[Steven103]

:S never seen anyone having to actually declare the options, or at least not heard anyone doing it! :O

Bell Standard Policy Document

Page 7, section 3, about halfway down:

What is not covered:

• Any modifications unless they form part of the manufacturers standard specification or are optional extras that we have AGREED to cover.

Page 25, section 11:

• Your policy does not cover any non standard parts (modifications). Manufacturers optional extras are only covered if they have been declared and we have agreed to cover them.

For a FF 182 then, they are saying that your wheels, spoiler, splitter, springs, shocks and uprights are not covered if you do not declare them.

I was rather shocked to hear this and did end up asking customer services whilst I was complaining about another matter and they verified that optional extras DO get put on your policy as a "modification" exactly the same as say lowering springs and bigger wheels would, but it gets a marker next to it explaining that it's a factory fitted optional extra.



Still made my premium go up though PURELY because the cup suspension pack lowers the car, and they're statistics tell us that the drivers of lowered cars are higher risk. So the cost of my car insurance can directly be attributed to the idiots who congregate outside halfords late at night and insist on wheelspinning into their parking space.

 

[Tombola]

From experience I can tell you the one time you think to yourself, 'ill just do one more run' or 'ill just leave it this one time' is the time it all goes wrong. So I would declare it all personally. If you were in a incident that was not even your fault and they turned around and said yeah we will pay for the whole car apart from.....You'd be pretty cheesed off no?

 

[jack_kemp]

^ Do they insure the mods though?

iirc Admiral (who im with) dont actually replace mods if you claim, just standard parts.

You're right about admiral... When I declared my wheels, they said they would be replaced with standard turinis if they were damaged. What a load of b****cks.

 

[DB.]

Bell gave me a new modified headlight, new front sports grills and they were made aware of them but hadn't agreed to replace with modified parts. (On my 206)

Suppose its who deals with the repairs rather than the insurance company (The garage)

 

[Adam.]

What they say and what they do are two different things

 

[daddycool]

if you pay a premium for declared mods, will the insurance company only replace with standard items?
if yes to standard items, what happens if you write the car off, do you only get the value of a factory spec car?

 

[JackJack]

if you pay a premium for declared mods, will the insurance company only replace with standard items?
if yes to standard items, what happens if you write the car off, do you only get the value of a factory spec car?

Depends on the company some do like for like some will only do standard.

 

[jack_kemp]

if you pay a premium for declared mods, will the insurance company only replace with standard items?
if yes to standard items, what happens if you write the car off, do you only get the value of a factory spec car?

I paid an extra £35 for my wheels, but they said they'll be replaced with standard.

 

[daddycool]

what's the justification for that?!? i can understand if you increased the bhp, you'd be charged extra for the increased risk of a faster car. but i can't see the increased risk with fitting different wheels...?

 

[Revels]

You've made the care more attractive to thieves in theory.

 

[Mr Pants]

Brentacre - Free

This. Anything comsmetic no problem, and power wise anything up to 200bhp allowed before additional charges. Phoned em up yesterday to check on aftermarket steering wheel, zero problems.

Really like Brentacre and hopefully will get a competitive renewal quote with em!

 

[jack_kemp]

You've made the care more attractive to thieves in theory.

I asked them on the phone and this is pretty much what they said.... And 'people in modified cars are more likely to make a claim'

BUT, If they're going to charge me for them, they bloody well should be replacing them. Especially as the value is more or less the same as a new set of turini's.

TBH, Admiral are s**t for anything but a standard car, they charge for EVERYTHING. I'll be changing to Brentacre, sky, AF etc when I renew.