Insurance and vehicle change
Insurance and vehicle change
Author
Discussion

Dr Jekyll

Original Poster:

23,820 posts

291 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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If I changed my car for an identical model, same year colour etc, and also kept the same cherished reg number. Would I need to tell the insurance company?

Tony1963

5,808 posts

192 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
quotequote all
No, they don't need to know anything. Keep the change to yourself and keep your fingers crossed that you don't get pulled or make a claim.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

156 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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Seems to be as simple as these questions ever are...

If you tell 'em, but they didn't need to know... then what'd you lose?
Ten minutes of your life, maybe a £25 policy amendment fee?

If you don't tell 'em, and it comes out that they DID need to know... then what could the worst-case loss be?
Policy cancelled, claim refused, third-party claim handed to you to repay, IN10, ongoing declaration that you've had a policy cancelled...

Seems a reasonably obvious bet to me. Might as well not bother...

Dr Jekyll

Original Poster:

23,820 posts

291 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
quotequote all
OK I'll rephrase the question.

Would my unamended insurance no longer apply after the vehicle change?

steve2

1,865 posts

248 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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Do you not think that they have the Vin number, engine number and chassis number on file so if you had an accident or also got stopped by the police they would not check this ?

anonymous-user

84 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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Dr Jekyll said:
OK I'll rephrase the question.

Would my unamended insurance no longer apply after the vehicle change?
It's an interesting question.

It's definitely a change of vehicle so you would have to tell them contractually. I think the only way you would get caught is in the event of a claim if they picked up on the date of ownership from the v5.

Some insurers may store the v5 if they can get it from an car information service but the vast majority wouldn't.

Butter Face

34,895 posts

190 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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They’ll have the VIN etc from HPI.

You crash, your car has a different VIN, you get no payout.

Why would this thought even cross your mind?

anonymous-user

84 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
quotequote all
Butter Face said:
They’ll have the VIN etc from HPI.

You crash, your car has a different VIN, you get no payout.

Why would this thought even cross your mind?
I meant vin rather than v5 sorry.

I thought it was a hypothetical question, but if the op is serious he's barking.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

156 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
quotequote all
Butter Face said:
They’ll have the VIN etc from HPI.
I've never been asked the VIN by an insurer.

I HAVE been asked when I bought it, how much I paid for it...

anonymous-user

84 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
quotequote all
TooMany2cvs said:
I've never been asked the VIN by an insurer.

I HAVE been asked when I bought it, how much I paid for it...
Insurers can subscribe to a service that provides a lot of vehicle information from the reg number - including vin.

In theory i can provide a quote from a licence and reg number. I can get all the information required.

The comparison sites don't seem so keen on that.

Gavia

7,627 posts

121 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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Dr Jekyll said:
If I changed my car for an identical model, same year colour etc, and also kept the same cherished reg number. Would I need to tell the insurance company?
I can speak from experience here.

I have just replaced my stolen car with a more or less identical replacement. The only real difference is the registration number. It cost me a whopping £6.32 for the remaining 6 months of the policy. I have to say that I wish I’d kept it quiet as that £6.32 makes all the difference and I’d happily have gambled the 1000 fold value the car cost to save that mega additional cost.

voyds9

8,490 posts

313 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
quotequote all
Gavia said:
I can speak from experience here.

I have just replaced my stolen car with a more or less identical replacement. The only real difference is the registration number. It cost me a whopping £6.32 for the remaining 6 months of the policy. I have to say that I wish I’d kept it quiet as that £6.32 makes all the difference and I’d happily have gambled the 1000 fold value the car cost to save that mega additional cost.
Also changed my car for same model, same year same spec, just a different colour. Extra £79, £25 admin, rest for the change of car for 5 month remaining on policy.

Their argument 'it's a different car you're more likely to have an accident.'
So apparently changing a car from black to dark blue makes me 30% more likely to have an accident.


Dr Jekyll

Original Poster:

23,820 posts

291 months

Friday 26th January 2018
quotequote all
Butter Face said:
They’ll have the VIN etc from HPI.

You crash, your car has a different VIN, you get no payout.

Why would this thought even cross your mind?
Because I've never been asked for a VIN by an insurance company. In the scenario I gave, all the details I did give the insurance company, model, year, reg no, even colour, have stayed the same.

Butter Face

34,895 posts

190 months

Friday 26th January 2018
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TooMany2cvs said:
I've never been asked the VIN by an insurer.
Dr Jekyll said:
Because I've never been asked for a VIN by an insurance company.
Why would they ask you the VIN? It takes about 0.02 seconds for HPI to check a registration number, load the VIN/colour/engine Number/spec/etc etc onto a computer.

When you insure a car the insurance company instantly have all that information. They don’t ask you for it because they don’t need to.

Edited by Butter Face on Friday 26th January 06:40

anonymous-user

84 months

Friday 26th January 2018
quotequote all
voyds9 said:
Also changed my car for same model, same year same spec, just a different colour. Extra £79, £25 admin, rest for the change of car for 5 month remaining on policy.

Their argument 'it's a different car you're more likely to have an accident.'
So apparently changing a car from black to dark blue makes me 30% more likely to have an accident.
A more accurate explanation is probably that because of the vehicle change the quote algorithm was re-run and the risk factors for the car/employment/area/whatever have changed which bumped the insurance up.

Insurance algorithms are getting insanely complex as they look for competitive advantage and more accurate risk profiling so it’s possible a cluster of claims in cars of your colour have changed the risk factors too. Seems daft at first sight, but it’s all about the data.

I’d have checked the cost of a new policy via one of the comparison sites, if it was still cheaper to stick with the existing one..... meh.

Butter Face

34,895 posts

190 months

Friday 26th January 2018
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To add, one just changed the car on our insurance, same model, same engine same spec (albeit now with leather) different colour and there was absolutely no change in cost and no fees.