Sports Exhaust - Insurance Impact
Discussion
I am looking at putting a sports exhaust on my Tamora. I have 9 months to run on my insurance policy and have just been advised that its going to cost me between £90 and £115 (depending on whether the exhaust is performance enhancing or not) extra on this years premium, plus an uplift in my excess. Just wondered what others experiences were on this?
Worry with not declaring is if I have to make a claim, they will not pay out because I have not declared the non-standard exhaust.
Worry with not declaring is if I have to make a claim, they will not pay out because I have not declared the non-standard exhaust.
I went through this. Declare anything you do to your car that improves it. Insurance companies will try anything to get out of paying up.
I was insured with first choice, and informed them that I had put a JP Sports Exhaust on the Tam. They refused to insure me. I then went to Bell who insured me having to pay an extra £50 on the policy for the exhaust upgrade.
When I got the engine upgrade, Bell refused to insure me. They said that they did'nt insure upgrades. I ended up with Adrain Flux who have insured all my mods to the car.
My advice - declare everything for piece of mind because if it happens and you have to make a claim, then you don't want the insurance company to refuse payment of your claim because you modified the car without informing them.
I was insured with first choice, and informed them that I had put a JP Sports Exhaust on the Tam. They refused to insure me. I then went to Bell who insured me having to pay an extra £50 on the policy for the exhaust upgrade.
When I got the engine upgrade, Bell refused to insure me. They said that they did'nt insure upgrades. I ended up with Adrain Flux who have insured all my mods to the car.
My advice - declare everything for piece of mind because if it happens and you have to make a claim, then you don't want the insurance company to refuse payment of your claim because you modified the car without informing them.
When I first got my Cerb I arranged insurance via Direct Line. Phoned them up to tell them of the mods. Funnily enough they didnt charge anything extra for the sports exhaust but did for the 18" Spiders (as they werent original fitment on my Cerb ![]()http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c252/peppersgate/Emoticons/dontknow.gif)
Changed to Mannings 16 months ago, declared the exhaust and wheels...no extra charges
Changed to Mannings 16 months ago, declared the exhaust and wheels...no extra charges
Edited by FUBAR on Tuesday 21st August 16:15
I dont think it is fair to accuse ins companies of trying to not pay up. If people do not declare mods then they are in breach of the agreement / policy and so they should be prepared to accept the consequences. The majority of ins companies are run by people who want to provide a good service.
Make sure they know in writing as well as over the phone.
I had a bitter experience when an insurence company tried to turn a claim down over something they did not know about. I know for a fact that I discussed it with the broker when I took out the policy, but it apears the brokers never passed this on to the underwriter. They did pay up in the end, but it was a load of hassle I could have done without.
On a another note, on an older TVR, how does anyone really know what was on it when it left the factory? My Griff is 15 years old. They were all ( slightly ) different when new. For the last 15 years, people have been modifying them. I believe mine is standard, but if an early owner had done any discreet upgrades, I would be none the wiser. I know my car very well, but since I have never worked on any other Griff, I would not know if anything on mine was different?
I had a bitter experience when an insurence company tried to turn a claim down over something they did not know about. I know for a fact that I discussed it with the broker when I took out the policy, but it apears the brokers never passed this on to the underwriter. They did pay up in the end, but it was a load of hassle I could have done without.
On a another note, on an older TVR, how does anyone really know what was on it when it left the factory? My Griff is 15 years old. They were all ( slightly ) different when new. For the last 15 years, people have been modifying them. I believe mine is standard, but if an early owner had done any discreet upgrades, I would be none the wiser. I know my car very well, but since I have never worked on any other Griff, I would not know if anything on mine was different?
Its even worse with a wedge.
I've never seen 2 the same.
My log book even has it down as a 3.5ltr when its a 400ltr, they did to so they did not have to type aprove another car model. they registered the car, then did the mods to make it a 400SE. re-bore and tune etc.
Do I have to find out all the mods the factory done and tell the insurance company, also should I get the log book changed.
It's insured with hagerty under a clasic policy. plus they insure about 30-50 wedges so must know the score to some extent.
I've never seen 2 the same.
My log book even has it down as a 3.5ltr when its a 400ltr, they did to so they did not have to type aprove another car model. they registered the car, then did the mods to make it a 400SE. re-bore and tune etc.
Do I have to find out all the mods the factory done and tell the insurance company, also should I get the log book changed.
It's insured with hagerty under a clasic policy. plus they insure about 30-50 wedges so must know the score to some extent.
As far as performance enhancing upgrades are concerned, how do you stand with the insurance companies if all your modest upgrades still leave the power output of the engine lower than the optimistic claims of the manufacturer themselves.
For example; how many 5 litre v8's produce the claimed 320 to 340 bhp, even with these modest improvements. Surely if it is not a cosmetic improvement you could argue you have only brought the motor closer to the standard specified power output, so therefore the premium should not be loaded, or your claim rejected.
For example; how many 5 litre v8's produce the claimed 320 to 340 bhp, even with these modest improvements. Surely if it is not a cosmetic improvement you could argue you have only brought the motor closer to the standard specified power output, so therefore the premium should not be loaded, or your claim rejected.
Thanks for comments. Might just explore it a bit more with my insurance company. If the exhaust is not power enhancing, just pondering on why I am being charged more. The standard exhaust is stainless steel, so what difference does it actually make? Suppose may have to take this year on the chin, and when policy expires walk elsewhere.
LaserTam said:
Thanks for comments. Might just explore it a bit more with my insurance company. If the exhaust is not power enhancing, just pondering on why I am being charged more.
I had a discussion with my ins company over things like this. They were using the argument that they need to know about any non-standard parts in case I demanded a like-for-like replacement in the event of a claim. In the end the supervisor agreed that "replacement parts that are higher quality" don't count as a mod, but my new "adjustable shocks" were.JonathanT said:
LaserTam said:
Thanks for comments. Might just explore it a bit more with my insurance company. If the exhaust is not power enhancing, just pondering on why I am being charged more.
I had a discussion with my ins company over things like this. They were using the argument that they need to know about any non-standard parts in case I demanded a like-for-like replacement in the event of a claim. In the end the supervisor agreed that "replacement parts that are higher quality" don't count as a mod, but my new "adjustable shocks" were.NailedOn said:
Sunninghill confirmed that my TVR Power sports exhaust on the T350 does not increase the premium.
It increases the decibels though!
Interesting, as Sunninghill confirmed over a year ago that my TVR Power sports exhaust on the Tamora increased the premium by 10%! It increases the decibels though!
The reason apparently was not that it increases the power, it makes the car more 'nickable'!Julian
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