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

[PMed]

Hi,

So I'm looking to buy a 'Renault Megane r26 F1 Team'

Confused.com & gocompare, quotes are jumping from £300/yr to over £600/yr if I get it remapped!!!

Any tips on where to go to get a decent insurance quote?

Really want to get it remapped, as apparently it turns into a 'weapon'!

Edited by PMed on Friday 25th April 00:24

[mp3manager]

Don't get it remapped and what is this weapon business??

Are you Scott Alexander?

[Pebbles167]

Greenlight have been very good to me, especially with mods.

[PMed]

Thanks for the Greenlight tip. I'll check it out.

No, I'm not Scott Alexander... Why would I be? Just read a reviewer's description of it as being transformed into a 'weapon' when remapped. Thought it sounded pretty amusing... actually it was probably the R26.R they were reviewing, but never mind.

Edited by PMed on Friday 25th April 00:27

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Adrian Flux are quite good at giving sensible quotes for modified vehicles - they are specialists in this field.

I have a Jeep Wrangler with a ridiculous amount of off-road modifications, the kind of which have most mainstream insurers reaching for the Valium...but Flux calmly discussed all the modifications with me, in a manner which sounded like they knew and understood exactly what has been done and why - the chap I spoke to on the phone sounded like a very clued-up petrolhead in fact.

And then they gave me a quote of a couple of hundred pounds, for fully comp...

Give them a go.

[nxh66]

Sounds familiar to me. Currently paying £170 on an Octavia 4x4 TDI 105 with Chaucer.
Few insurers will cover me with more than a 20% increase from a remap, I'm looking at 135-140
which is normal for the 105 engine.

typical quotes from "specialists" are coming in around £400-500. I can insure a 4x4 2.0 with 140 as standard for 184 with chaucer. I only pay £236 for a 230Hp BMW with no roof.

[16v_paddy]

Best advice anyone can give on the subject of modified cars and insurance is to completely avoid all the comparison site as they're beyond useless & talk to a proper broker that deals with modified stuff.

[Raize]

Basically, because you want to modify your car into a "weapon" insurance companies rightly perceive you as some sort of immature lunatic who is likely to try and "fight" with said "weapon" and crash horribly.

Don't modify your car.

[TheRealFingers99]

16v_paddy said:

Best advice anyone can give on the subject of modified cars and insurance is to completely avoid all the comparison site as they're beyond useless & talk to a proper broker that deals with modified stuff.

Yeah that.

[E30Addict]

TheRealFingers99 said:

16v_paddy said:

Best advice anyone can give on the subject of modified cars and insurance is to completely avoid all the comparison site as they're beyond useless & talk to a proper broker that deals with modified stuff.

Yeah that.

+1 Have you tried Sky Insurance?

[Rubin215]

So if you buy a pre-owned car that has already been remapped and the seller does not tell you, you aren't going to be declaring it when you get quotes anyway are you...?

Simples really...

[V8covin]

How would your insurer find out if you remapped your car if you didn't tell them ?
They wouldn't so don't tell them

[HaloGen8]

V8covin said:

How would your insurer find out if you remapped your car if you didn't tell them ?
They wouldn't so don't tell them

This ^^^

[VladD]

HaloGen8 said:

V8covin said:

How would your insurer find out if you remapped your car if you didn't tell them ?
They wouldn't so don't tell them

This ^^^

Unless of course you crash said car and kill someone, the insurance company take possession of car and go over it with a fine toothed comb, then refuse to pay out because you didn't declare the mod, and then you have to pay millions in compensation out of your own pocket, which you can't obviously, so you go bankrupt and possibly to prison. Not likely, but worth bearing in mind.

[FazerBoy]

HaloGen8 said:

This ^^^

Really?

Obviously they won't find out if you don't have an accident but if you wipe out a bus queue they might be prepared to spend some money and investigate more thoroughly and then you might not be so glad of the few quid you saved up front...

[arfur]

Admiral didnt care as long as it was not >20%

[k-ink]

The insurance companies will no doubt have a database which indicates modified cars are more likely to be crashed than unmodified cars. In the same way a 17 year old is more likely to crash than someone in their 30s.

[rscott]

The attitudes of many insurers to remapping seems to have changed recently. I've had my Saab 9-3 2.8 (with Saab endorsed Hirsch remap giving 10% extra) for 4 years now and, until this year, I've never had issues getting quotes through the comparison sites.
However I've now had about 3/4 of the companies refuse to quote, or double/treble the price if I add the remap.

Ended up paying about £170 through Adrian Flux. Next best was Admiral group at just under £200 (but I'd never touch them with a bargepole after the problems I had a few years getting a settlement when I was taken out by a drunk driver) then Chris Knott at £400+ .

[Troubleatmill]

PMed said:

Really want to get it remapped, as apparently it turns into a 'weapon'!

I bet it doesn't.

If you want a faster car - why not just buy one?


Ask to see the dyno charts on a before/ after basis.

Don't spend too much time on looking at the numbers - dyno's vary.
Look at the area under the curve.
How big is the improvement?
Is the improvement - all throughout the rev band?

This will give you a good indication of what to expect and whether it is worth it.

Personally - I'd spend the money on fuel, driver training, track days etc.

Edited by Troubleatmill on Friday 25th April 09:49

[Engineer1]

The Crack Fox said:

V8covin said:

How would your insurer find out if you remapped your car if you didn't tell them ?
They wouldn't so don't tell them

Good luck with that.

They can check the details find the date stamp as being during your ownership.