Engine remap doubes my insurance quotes!!! Any tips?

[hondansx]

I'm generally a law abiding citizen, but in this case, i'd probably forget to tell them...

Would love to hear an instance of an insurance assessor having the right equipment to assess the ECU. Imagine the cost to check EVERY car that has had an incident and the different equipment required for differing marques/models of varying ages!

[Troubleatmill]

Escy said:

Don't tell them

Worst possible advice ever.
If you hit someone and leave them with severe disabilities - they will need the insurance money in order to have some quality of life.
Your non-declaration - gives the insurance company the right not to pay out

There is a special place in hell for those who don't have insurance, or try to defraud the insurance company. ( including non declaration of mods ).
I think it is next to paedophiles and rapists.

[Greg_D]

HJMS123 said:

I have an R26 meg and it's insured with Admiral, but they don't know it's mapped so not much help there lol

Further evidence that Renault R26 owners are cretins - failure to declare mods

To be seen on the front page of a provincial paper near you soon - looking sad, holding their car keys up, moaning how the big nasty insurance company won't pay out after they rolled their car in a ditch due to 'mods that the previous owner made to the car'.......

[Escy]

Troubleatmill said:

Escy said:

Don't tell them

Worst possible advice ever.
If you hit someone and leave them with severe disabilities - they will need the insurance money in order to have some quality of life.
Your non-declaration - gives the insurance company the right not to pay out

There is a special place in hell for those who don't have insurance, or try to defraud the insurance company. ( including non declaration of mods ).
I think it is next to paedophiles and rapists.

I've had 3 claims for cars that had un-declared modifications. Never had a problem. I even had the price of a replacement carbon kevlar bumper included in a body shop estimate on my last claim. No issue, they paid up.

You carry on declaring every time you change the scent on your Magic Tree if you like, that's up to you.

[zebra]

Best piece of advice on this thread is do not modify by remapping.

[Troubleatmill]

Escy said:

Troubleatmill said:

Escy said:

Don't tell them

Worst possible advice ever.
If you hit someone and leave them with severe disabilities - they will need the insurance money in order to have some quality of life.
Your non-declaration - gives the insurance company the right not to pay out

There is a special place in hell for those who don't have insurance, or try to defraud the insurance company. ( including non declaration of mods ).
I think it is next to paedophiles and rapists.

I've had 3 claims for cars that had un-declared modifications. Never had a problem. I even had the price of a replacement carbon kevlar bumper included in a body shop estimate on my last claim. No issue, they paid up.

You carry on declaring every time you change the scent on your Magic Tree if you like, that's up to you.

Think about it the other way.. some bloke leaves you/ your wife/ your son/ your daughter severely disabled in an RTA - and the investigation gives the offending drivers insurance grounds not to fork out.
Not sure anyone could live with that.

[Escy]

Troubleatmill said:

Think about it the other way.. some bloke leaves you/ your wife/ your son/ your daughter severely disabled in an RTA - and the investigation gives the offending drivers insurance grounds not to fork out.
Not sure anyone could live with that.

This has already been covered in the thread. In that instance, the insurance company will cover the 3rd party and look to seek the money from their wrongly insured customer.

[hondansx]

I think if you killed or severely injured someone the last thing you'd care about is whether your car is covered - i'm pretty sure the other party would be taken care of.

Again, i'd like to see evidence that ECUs are interrogated after crashes and incidents.

There is also the option, on a second hand car, to simply say you were unaware. Let's face it, how on earth would the average punter know?

Are the by-the-book types also aware that you should technically inform your insurer of optional extras? Do you check your policies on how far you can deviate from OEM (brake pads, tyres etc.)?

When i had someone hit me up the arse, the assessor told me he didn't care about modifications - it didn't affect his job. He also frankly didn't know in some cases what was standard, a 'sporty' model, or a modification. From the insurers point of view, they insure OEM for OEM. Therefore, if you upgraded your Focus with Mondeo wheels, you'd get replacement Focus wheels if they were damaged.

As an aside, your bodyshop could easily get round that. Mine, without asking, volunteered to claim for a kerbed wheel on my behalf which was nothing to do with the accident. I appreciate we are all on different spectrums of the risk-taker scale, but i think it is bit OTT to really expect the insurance industry to care about remap.

[Troubleatmill]

Escy said:

Troubleatmill said:

Think about it the other way.. some bloke leaves you/ your wife/ your son/ your daughter severely disabled in an RTA - and the investigation gives the offending drivers insurance grounds not to fork out.
Not sure anyone could live with that.

This has already been covered in the thread. In that instance, the insurance company will cover the 3rd party and look to seek the money from their wrongly insured customer.

If the wrongly insured customer can't be arsed to fork out a few hundred quid to be properly insured - it is remarkably unlikely they have £500K upwards in liquid assets to cover the cost of a lifetime of care.
Back to my special place in hell again...


Anyways - it is the weekend. pax.

[Ennoch]

zebra said:

Best piece of advice on this thread is do not modify by remapping.

I thought this was Pistonheads, not Mumsnet? Sorry, I forgot, it's now a place where unless it can be picked up and paid for over 36 monthly instalments and chosen in the latest trendy Arctic/Glacier/Faded/Creamy White direct from the spec sheet in the dealership it doesn't count...

Seriously, modified cars are awesome. Ok, some are, some are equally horrific. However, there are insurers who will insure modified for little more than a bog standard one, they just sometimes take a little digging out.

[Monty Python]

hondansx said:

I think if you killed or severely injured someone the last thing you'd care about is whether your car is covered - i'm pretty sure the other party would be taken care of.

Again, i'd like to see evidence that ECUs are interrogated after crashes and incidents.

There is also the option, on a second hand car, to simply say you were unaware. Let's face it, how on earth would the average punter know?

Are the by-the-book types also aware that you should technically inform your insurer of optional extras? Do you check your policies on how far you can deviate from OEM (brake pads, tyres etc.)?

When i had someone hit me up the arse, the assessor told me he didn't care about modifications - it didn't affect his job. He also frankly didn't know in some cases what was standard, a 'sporty' model, or a modification. From the insurers point of view, they insure OEM for OEM. Therefore, if you upgraded your Focus with Mondeo wheels, you'd get replacement Focus wheels if they were damaged.

As an aside, your bodyshop could easily get round that. Mine, without asking, volunteered to claim for a kerbed wheel on my behalf which was nothing to do with the accident. I appreciate we are all on different spectrums of the risk-taker scale, but i think it is bit OTT to really expect the insurance industry to care about remap.

I suspect it will depend on the cost of the claim - if you run into a Ferrari and cause twenty grand's worth of damage, they may pay a bit more attention to your car.

[essIII]

Greenlight
Chris Knott
Admiral (was pleasantly surprised)

These have all covered me on reasonably heavily modified cars, with very small\no premium increases.

[zebra]

Ennoch said:

zebra said:

Best piece of advice on this thread is do not modify by remapping.

I thought this was Pistonheads, not Mumsnet? Sorry, I forgot, it's now a place where unless it can be picked up and paid for over 36 monthly instalments and chosen in the latest trendy Arctic/Glacier/Faded/Creamy White direct from the spec sheet in the dealership it doesn't count...

Seriously, modified cars are awesome. Ok, some are, some are equally horrific. However, there are insurers who will insure modified for little more than a bog standard one, they just sometimes take a little digging out.

FFS, you little girl. Better advice would be save up and get a better car. He pays for the remap, doubles insurance and does not really get that much of an advance in pleasure unless you are solely into traffic light GP's and far better ways to modify than remapping; better brakes, driver training, etc.

There are far better options out there.

Think before you post bks.

ETA _ I also speak from experience and have a heavily modified car myself.

[Patrick Bateman]

Troubleatmill said:

Worst possible advice ever.
If you hit someone and leave them with severe disabilities - they will need the insurance money in order to have some quality of life.
Your non-declaration - gives the insurance company the right not to pay out

There is a special place in hell for those who don't have insurance, or try to defraud the insurance company. ( including non declaration of mods ).
I think it is next to paedophiles and rapists.

[Troubleatmill]

Patrick Bateman said:

Troubleatmill said:

Worst possible advice ever.
If you hit someone and leave them with severe disabilities - they will need the insurance money in order to have some quality of life.
Your non-declaration - gives the insurance company the right not to pay out

There is a special place in hell for those who don't have insurance, or try to defraud the insurance company. ( including non declaration of mods ).
I think it is next to paedophiles and rapists.

Well. I do. So there.

[MGZRod]

zebra said:

FFS, you little girl. Better advice would be save up and get a better car. He pays for the remap, doubles insurance and does not really get that much of an advance in pleasure unless you are solely into traffic light GP's and far better ways to modify than remapping; better brakes, driver training, etc.

There are far better options out there.

Think before you post bks.

ETA _ I also speak from experience and have a heavily modified car myself.

Fair assumption, iirc the Meganes have fairly beefy Brembo brakes as standard. What's not to say that he hasn't had further driver training or if he hasn't had, he may be a good driver?

For those saying that re-maps shouldn't be done...
A Nissan 200sx can be mapped from 197bhp to about 300 with a catback, intercooler, boost controller and a map. Which if you shop right can be done for under £500. Why wouldn't you do that?

[HaloGen8]

HaloGen8 said:

But being honest...genuinely how many PHers which are posting on here have EVERY modification declared to their insurance be it alloy swap or air filter or window tint?

It's easy to point the finger but is everyone being truthful with their insurer??

Fess up time!

No takers then to fess up to their undeclared modifications or is everyone claiming to be Mr Perfect?

[goldblum]

I had to claim for a modified Subaru a few years ago. Undeclared exhaust, filters and remap. Not a word said and I received all the money I was entitled to. I bought another Subaru, yep - modded it and didn't tell the insurance company. On the other hand I bought an RS6 which I wasn't informed was modded (just a remap) and drove it for 9 months before I knew previous work had been done.

[Troubleatmill]

MGZRod said:

zebra said:

FFS, you little girl. Better advice would be save up and get a better car. He pays for the remap, doubles insurance and does not really get that much of an advance in pleasure unless you are solely into traffic light GP's and far better ways to modify than remapping; better brakes, driver training, etc.

There are far better options out there.

Think before you post bks.

ETA _ I also speak from experience and have a heavily modified car myself.

Fair assumption, iirc the Meganes have fairly beefy Brembo brakes as standard. What's not to say that he hasn't had further driver training or if he hasn't had, he may be a good driver?

For those saying that re-maps shouldn't be done...
A Nissan 200sx can be mapped from 197bhp to about 300 with a catback, intercooler, boost controller and a map. Which if you shop right can be done for under £500. Why wouldn't you do that?

I'll bite. Engine life would be affected. You don't get something for nothing.

[MGZRod]

Troubleatmill said:

I'll bite. Engine life would be affected. You don't get something for nothing.

Oh of course, but touchwood, they are quite solid! Quite a few sitting happily at 140k with a fair amount of mods. Mines at 122k and has been fine. I was upgrading the manifold on mine last year and it's the first time the turbo has had to be removed in its life. Luck of the draw to an extent, tough.

A bit off topic though.