Add on insurances - tyre cover, wheel cover, Smart cover

[Hugo911]

Being offered these products from OPC.

£250 for 3 years tyre cover - Ageas insurance
£150 for 3 years alloy wheel cover - Ageas insurance
£425 for 3 years smart cover (dents, scratches, chips, etc) - Red Sands insurance

They seem incredibly cheap for what they are offering, especially the wheel and tyre cover given the cost of replacement and how common it is to get punctures/kerbed wheels.

Imagine the devil is in the detail and whether these policies actually pay out.

Welcome your thoughts and experiences.

Edited by Hugo911 on Monday 2nd January 17:20

[andy355]

On the alloy cover read the claims process before buying it. I don't know about Porsche but I had from Land Rover that was for me impossible to use - had to declare alloy damage within 24h of it happening, photo uploads etc and couldn't be handled by dealer during service, only mobile which I couldn't do at work so would have had to take a days holiday.

In contrast I had one on a Maserati that was fine

[Hugo911]

Might be a stupid question but do you know which insurer the policies were underwritten by?

[SAS Tom]

I've got alloy wheel insurance by car care plan which I think is underwritten by ageas but I'm not sure. Scuffed a wheel recently, called them and no problem at all they just said they'd get the company (flying colours) to ring me with an appointment. They rang me a day later and booked me in. Couldn't have been easier, still waiting for the appointment but I've been impressed so far especially because I got it for free!

[Hugo911]

SAS Tom said:

I've got alloy wheel insurance by car care plan which I think is underwritten by ageas but I'm not sure. Scuffed a wheel recently, called them and no problem at all they just said they'd get the company (flying colours) to ring me with an appointment. They rang me a day later and booked me in. Couldn't have been easier, still waiting for the appointment but I've been impressed so far especially because I got it for free!

Yes it's the same product I was offered. Will they do the work on site at your home/work or take it away and leave you stationary for a few days?

Edited by Hugo911 on Monday 2nd January 21:52

[anonymous-user]

Good value if you don't mind your wheels and bodywork being blown over by a man in a tent in the dealer car park.
My experience is the work is poor quality.

[Geneve]

Actually, my understanding is the OPC scheme repairs the wheels to factory spec - so a complete refurb.

Probably a 'Sod's Law' scenario - if you take out the cover, you probably won't have a claim, but if you don't take it out you probably will.

I guess the more miles you do, the greater the likely benefit.

[sidicks]

Hugo911 said:

Being offered these products from OPC.

£250 for 3 years tyre cover - Ageas insurance
£150 for 3 years alloy wheel cover - Ageas insurance
£425 for 3 years smart cover (dents, scratches, chips, etc) - Red Sands insurance

They seem incredibly cheap for what they are offering, especially the wheel and tyre cover given the cost of replacement and how common it is to get punctures/kerbed wheels.

Imagine the devil is in the detail and whether these policies actually pay out.

Welcome your thoughts and experiences.

How often does this happen to you?

[SAS Tom]

Hugo911 said:

SAS Tom said:

I've got alloy wheel insurance by car care plan which I think is underwritten by ageas but I'm not sure. Scuffed a wheel recently, called them and no problem at all they just said they'd get the company (flying colours) to ring me with an appointment. They rang me a day later and booked me in. Couldn't have been easier, still waiting for the appointment but I've been impressed so far especially because I got it for free!

Yes it's the same product I was offered. Will they do the work on site at your home/work or take it away and leave you stationary for a few days?

Edited by Hugo911 on Monday 2nd January 21:52

They come out and do it wherever you want. The company they use is called flying colours but I couldn't find any reviews of them to say if they were good or bad. I'll update the thread when the wheel has been repaired on the 20th.

[Hugo911]

Trouble is, even a good repairer may not do a great job if they are limited in terms of time and money by the insurer. It's the same reason to never use your insurer's authorised body shop and instead choose your own.

[DuraAce]

sidicks said:

Hugo911 said:

Being offered these products from OPC.

£250 for 3 years tyre cover - Ageas insurance
£150 for 3 years alloy wheel cover - Ageas insurance
£425 for 3 years smart cover (dents, scratches, chips, etc) - Red Sands insurance

They seem incredibly cheap for what they are offering, especially the wheel and tyre cover given the cost of replacement and how common it is to get punctures/kerbed wheels.

Imagine the devil is in the detail and whether these policies actually pay out.

Welcome your thoughts and experiences.

How often does this happen to you?

Exactly. Ain't cheap either IMHO. Put that £825 into the bank for three years and only use to fix covered repairs. I bet you've got money left at the end.
I wouldn't ever bother with them. It's just an easy money maker for the dealer.

[Hugo911]

Trouble is, even a good repairer may not do a great job if they are limited in terms of time and money by the insurer. It's the same reason to never use your insurer's authorised body shop and instead choose your own.

[Maxym]

The insurers make a profit on these policies - and maybe price them on the basis of useless drivers that will claim. Buy if you think you'll claim a lot or will just be 'lucky' (though personally I'd rather not have that kind of luck).

[Koln-RS]

All insurance is actuarially calculated to cover the potential risk and allow the insurer to make a profit. In other words they expect more people not to claim than do claim.

How many punctures, alloy scuffs or minor paintwork damage does the average owner expect to experience over three years?

If I was buying it through an OPC, I'd want to get any such work done by them or sub-contracted through them, so they can be responsible for the quality of the job.

[andy355]

Hugo911 said:

Might be a stupid question but do you know which insurer the policies were underwritten by?

Maser was by Mapfre, don't know the LR one sorry. Maser was limited to £150 per wheel claim which I don't think would get you a diamond cut Porsche wheel done - pretty sure my 911t was circa 200 for a refurb on those

[SAS Tom]

To update this, the wheel repairer (wheel wizard) had a cancellation so can and sorted the wheel today. It was a bit of kerb damage on a black wheel. He's managed to repair it to a reasonable standard. It's not perfect but I'm happy especially as it was free. If you're expecting the repairs to be perfect then I wouldn't bother with the insurance as they do the minimum required. In my case that was with the wheel still on the car compared to taking the wheel off and completely refurbishing it.

[Fokker]

Its cheap and i took it recently but only tyre and alloy cover which combined was £499 for 3 years, seemed a no brainer to me.
On my last porsche, I had 2 nails in tyres in 12 months so its worth it just for that on a 21" 295 section tyre, they're pretty expensive as I had to replace 4 to avoid having odd trad depth on each axel - cost over a grand.

As for the alloy cover, mine are part coloured black with a silver rim around the edge to tricky to repair compared to a one colour wheel, they come to your house and do it out of the back of a van in most cases so dont expect a fantastic job.
What it will do is 'repair' the alloy not completely refurb it but in most cases thats better than having a scuffed alloy.

I was also told recently that they will now replace the opposite axel tyre FOC if the tread depths are odd.
I was told that if the wheel is very badly damaged, Porsche will refurb it and the insurance will pay £150 towards any costs incurred.

Thats about it and pretty precise from what i can gather.

Edited by Fokker on Tuesday 10th January 16:59

[red997]

I dont normally take this type of insurance....but
I've had in on two cars now (Panamera & GT3)

The fact I took it out he second time speaks volumes.

The panamera had the 'chocolate' diamond cut turbo wheels - kerb attractors as I call them
Two refurbs back to factory standard.

Also ran over a chunk of road furniture on a dark unlit B road; both nearside tyres damaged
Replaced under the scheme.

Couple of weeks later - puncture in the new rear (Nail in a supermarket carpark, 200 miles form home) Porsche roadside transported car to dealer, new tyre fitted, delivered back to me.

GT3; reflex dodge of cat running across road in front of me resulted in a light rash on NSF wheel.
(note to self - run over cats in future)

Due to centre locks, repair was only viable at dealership (Cambridge - very helpful all round)
Dropped car in at 9am, sat in waiting area working, drinking coffee / watching TV etc all done by 11AM. Bright sunlight so very easy to check over - I could not see any difference in the refurbed to original wheel - totally perfect job ( and still is over 6 months later) - perfect finish & colour match - these are satin finished wheels. This was done by flying colours.

Would I take it out again - abso-bloody-lutely

If your car is a garage queen, high days & holidays etc, maybe not.
But for daily drivers - its a no brainer for me.

[Maxym]

If I were insuring against kerbed alloys I'd be expecting a 100% perfect job, most likely a full re-furb and not a touch-up that 'will do'.

[3wheels3]

I hoped /thought wheel damage could be managed but fairly tricky to spot a screw or nail so took the tyre cover. Been unlucky enough to get two rear punctures. I say unlucky as one was 160 miles away but at least the £450 covered on both occasions, super quick which was pleasant surprise.