Winter tyres and insurance

[neil-c]

Anyone had any issues with insurance company when swapping to winters. After a while looking I finally got an official BMW wheel/tyre package through another forum. I called my insurance company beforehand and they assured me no charge to change, just inform us when you do. So I put them on, call again, this time though there's a £20 charge as I'm swapping alloys. I explained all this in the previous call. They are now reviewing the previous call to see if I mentioned alloys as well as tyres (which I did). In the end though I'll have to pay this again next year and quite possibly spring as well when I go back to summers to cover "admin".

Any insurance companies happy to swap back and forth with no charge? Losing the will to live phoning them explaining myself over and over.

[neil-c]

Excellent info thanks for that. The problem i'm probably going to have is that the ABI doc only mentions tyres, not wheels. Then there is the issue that the while the wheel/tyres I have bought are the official winter package for the car they are 17" opposed to the 18" standard fitment.

I can see another half hour on the phone to my insurer next winter

[neil-c]

I'm pretty sure the info from my second call was correct and if I was changing tyres only it would be no charge. However they seem pretty certain any change of alloys invoked a charge. Even when I told them they were BMW official winter pack for the car and smaller diameter. My M135 looks more discreet now I would suggest and they want me to pay more for it.

As an aside, my insurance company (elephant) were supposed to call me today after they reviewed the recording of my first call to see if I had mentioned wheels. Needless to say no call as I stated clearly more than once exactly what I was putting on the car.

Still disappointed in their take on things though. Will probably move company after this.