Who Insures Your Modified Car?
Discussion
I need to renew the insurance on my Supra next month; and I’m looking to find a specialist insurer to cover the modifications fitted and more I plan to do throughout the year, as well as an agreed value for the car should the worse happen.
My current insurer has been good, but they’re a little on the expensive side when declaring modifications – and as far as I know won’t accept an agreed value for the car.
I have had quotes from Herts Insurance (HIC) and Sky thus far. HIC quoted an extortionate price despite already having another car insured through them. Sky were better but still on the expensive side, and again wouldn’t accept an agreed value for the car, but assured me the market value would be relevant to my actual car.
I have also tried the comparison websites which yielded the best price so far with Admiral, although I wonder with them being a mainstream insurer, will they get funny when I start modifying and changing more parts throughout the year?
For reference I’m 22YO with 5 years driving experience, 4 years NCB, and one non-fault accident I need to declare.
Who are you insured with and would you recommend them?
My current insurer has been good, but they’re a little on the expensive side when declaring modifications – and as far as I know won’t accept an agreed value for the car.
I have had quotes from Herts Insurance (HIC) and Sky thus far. HIC quoted an extortionate price despite already having another car insured through them. Sky were better but still on the expensive side, and again wouldn’t accept an agreed value for the car, but assured me the market value would be relevant to my actual car.
I have also tried the comparison websites which yielded the best price so far with Admiral, although I wonder with them being a mainstream insurer, will they get funny when I start modifying and changing more parts throughout the year?
For reference I’m 22YO with 5 years driving experience, 4 years NCB, and one non-fault accident I need to declare.
Who are you insured with and would you recommend them?
Assuming you're not already with them I'd give Greenlight a go, deal with them on my MX5 that's had almost everything changed on it and they're still at a competitive price. They have links to quite a few of the owners clubs & forums, so worth checking if this could bring you some more discount.
Thanks for all the recommendations thus far.
HIC quoted me over £2K which is mad – especially when I already have another car insured through them. Sky was £1060 or £1160 with everything declared, which is closer to what I was expecting to pay, but ideally I want to get the price under £1K.
Admiral were less than £600 for a standard car and around £670 with some modifications declared – they wouldn’t quote for certain parts, annoyingly. This makes me worry how they will react to more modifications throughout the year – I want to fit a big single turbo this winter, and I can’t see them reacting well to that!
lufbramatt said:
At the end of the day though you're a young driver driving a modified, high power RWD car, insurance is never going to be cheap.
I am not expecting the insurance to be cheap, as you’ve pointed out I’m a big risk for an insurer. But I want a competitive price, and an insurer that is sensible when declaring more modifications throughout the year – not using it as a chance to sting you with a ridiculous price increase.HIC quoted me over £2K which is mad – especially when I already have another car insured through them. Sky was £1060 or £1160 with everything declared, which is closer to what I was expecting to pay, but ideally I want to get the price under £1K.
Admiral were less than £600 for a standard car and around £670 with some modifications declared – they wouldn’t quote for certain parts, annoyingly. This makes me worry how they will react to more modifications throughout the year – I want to fit a big single turbo this winter, and I can’t see them reacting well to that!
I had a ring round when I was considering purchasing a Megane RS that had been fettled with. Brentacre were the cheapest and the most straightforward to deal with, asked about previous cars and experience. They're all petrolheads in the office, I was told - would be quite cool to see what they have in the staff car park.
Give them a shout
Give them a shout
Bradley1500 said:
Thanks for all the recommendations thus far.
HIC quoted me over £2K which is mad – especially when I already have another car insured through them. Sky was £1060 or £1160 with everything declared, which is closer to what I was expecting to pay, but ideally I want to get the price under £1K.
Admiral were less than £600 for a standard car and around £670 with some modifications declared – they wouldn’t quote for certain parts, annoyingly. This makes me worry how they will react to more modifications throughout the year – I want to fit a big single turbo this winter, and I can’t see them reacting well to that!
Yea I understand, I had a modified car for 10 years. Brentacre didn't care what bits you had fitted as long as you told them. Performance mods were done on a BHP band basis, so the more power you add the more you pay, but they didn't care how you got there. Very knowledgable guys.lufbramatt said:
At the end of the day though you're a young driver driving a modified, high power RWD car, insurance is never going to be cheap.
I am not expecting the insurance to be cheap, as you’ve pointed out I’m a big risk for an insurer. But I want a competitive price, and an insurer that is sensible when declaring more modifications throughout the year – not using it as a chance to sting you with a ridiculous price increase.HIC quoted me over £2K which is mad – especially when I already have another car insured through them. Sky was £1060 or £1160 with everything declared, which is closer to what I was expecting to pay, but ideally I want to get the price under £1K.
Admiral were less than £600 for a standard car and around £670 with some modifications declared – they wouldn’t quote for certain parts, annoyingly. This makes me worry how they will react to more modifications throughout the year – I want to fit a big single turbo this winter, and I can’t see them reacting well to that!
GloriaGTI said:
My existing policy is with Admiral and when I asked them what it would cost me to change the car on the policy, they wouldn't insure it because it had been modified.
Interesting. Wonder if that's a new policy with them to not insure modified cars? I've been with them for 7 years. They were happy to insure modifications with me. Although at an extra cost which they won't pay out for if the car is written off! Keith Michaels.
Very well known in Subaru land, sure they cover other Jap stuff too!
Worth mentioning, I think its better to pay more for better coverage then buy the cheapest you can find. That extra £100 could make the world of difference if you actually cash in and generally get better service.
Very well known in Subaru land, sure they cover other Jap stuff too!
Worth mentioning, I think its better to pay more for better coverage then buy the cheapest you can find. That extra £100 could make the world of difference if you actually cash in and generally get better service.
Gilhooligan said:
Interesting. Wonder if that's a new policy with them to not insure modified cars? I've been with them for 7 years. They were happy to insure modifications with me. Although at an extra cost which they won't pay out for if the car is written off!
Yeah, hope I don't have to re-insure mine elsewhere so soon just when I've found I can make a massive saving.Mine are on Multicar, C-Class from July last year, MX5 came on cover a month ago so it's only with them a few months this period. MX5 used to be £700 with FMJ... Comparison was only £50 less with same extras, so I stayed with them and never challenged the renewal, so my own fault.
It's only lightly modified, wheels/suspension/exhaust but no issues at all getting cover. If renewal doesn't increase expecting it to be ~£540 C250 & ~£350 MX5. Thinking about the BBR 200 kits and retrofitting OEM LSD from a manual, so will check if they'll still insure it next time around.
Edited by mizx on Thursday 13th April 10:40
Lazadude said:
Worth mentioning, I think its better to pay more for better coverage then buy the cheapest you can find. That extra £100 could make the world of difference if you actually cash in and generally get better service.
This is the main reason I haven’t taken up Admiral on their very cheap offer. They’re not overly accommodating for certain modifications, and I can see that being a pain in the future – it is a shame because they’re by far the cheapest quote I have received thus far.I’ve got a list of insurers to ring this weekend, including all the ones mentioned on this thread. Fingers crossed one comes up trumps.
Thanks to everyone for the replies and recommendations.
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