Insurance and Mods
Insurance and Mods
Author
Discussion

John.s

Original Poster:

130 posts

294 months

Monday 10th January 2005
quotequote all
Evening chaps, my first renewal on my 98 4.5 cerb is due and been qouted £747.55 for 5k miles p.a., 9 yrs NCD protected for me and the wife in Benfleet Essex. From previous thread does not seem too shabby but intend to ring round to see if anything better, tesco, direct line the club insurance seem the better options to try from what I can see.

Where to we stand on mods, I presume we need to flag these or run the possibility of invalidating the insurance policy ???

Now for the mechanical retard question what mods do I have ??
The easy ones are 18" alloys and AVO adjustable suspension (know this because it was on original advertisement.
I believe the brakes have been upgraded, I have the AP Racing, is this standard ?
What about sports exhaust I read about people have, are these upgrades if so how do i know if i have one ??

And finally what is the impact to premiums with these ??

cheers, John, (Technical Numpty).S

serby

124 posts

270 months

Monday 10th January 2005
quotequote all
AP Racing brakes are standard chap!!

GCerbera

5,161 posts

280 months

Monday 10th January 2005
quotequote all
If I recall correctly, Mannings (IE the TVRCC linked company) allow most major mods free
unless it effects the power out put.

UKBoB

16,277 posts

294 months

Monday 10th January 2005
quotequote all
Sunninghill offer excellent prices to many TVR owners (not always, but often the best). Ask for Aaron, he spoke to "the" insurance company, and had my mods added without charge to me

Great guy, Ive had nothing but a positive experience with them. Certainly worth a call.

clemstar

110 posts

266 months

Monday 10th January 2005
quotequote all
John.s said:


Where to we stand on mods, I presume we need to flag these or run the possibility of invalidating the insurance policy ???

Now for the mechanical retard question what mods do I have ??
The easy ones are 18" alloys and AVO adjustable suspension (know this because it was on original advertisement.
I believe the brakes have been upgraded, I have the AP Racing, is this standard ?
What about sports exhaust I read about people have, are these upgrades if so how do i know if i have one ??

And finally what is the impact to premiums with these ??

cheers, John, (Technical Numpty).S


Unfortunately all modifications no matter how trivial must be disclosed. Obviously your not going to get the likes of Saga or quoting for these cars!! Most of us will use some form of specialist for a decent rate, The company I work for, wanted £2200 for my Cerbera without modifications, Ive eventually got that down to £875 with Privilege, with Modifications,(Spiders, Exhaust and LW front and Rear lights) and I was impressed on how much the guy on the phone knew about Cerberas, Wheels and exhausts are usually no problems, however a lot of companys dont like suspension modifications, even though we all know it makes the car handle better the Insurance companys think we are going to start thrashing around corners all day long

So its best to be safe than sorry, cause if you have a crash you can be certain that the loss adjuster will be looking for mods on your car, and if they aint disclosed they aint gonna pay out without major hassle !


>> Edited by clemstar on Tuesday 11th January 00:13

pablo81

96 posts

260 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
is it not possible to get away with factory options. for example if you bought the car with 18 inch wheels as an extra from tvr surely you dont have to pay extra on the insurence as this is standard? same with any other things you might also be able to get.....white lies etc

GCerbera

5,161 posts

280 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
pablo81 said:
is it not possible to get away with factory options.

As mentioned above, certainly some of the specialist brokers will not charge you for
any mods other than power enhancing.(boy is SXS in for a whopper insurance quote!)

Naturally you must disclose anything that has been upgraded or changed from how it
rolled off the production line.

andy4200

5,125 posts

302 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
I keep suggesting it but try MSM Insurance.
They beat my best quote by a long way.

gazzab

21,627 posts

311 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
Spider wheels arent an upgrade - you have no choice but to fit them if you ask TVR to replace your old damaged wheels.

John.s

Original Poster:

130 posts

294 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
andy4200 said:
I keep suggesting it but try MSM Insurance.
They beat my best quote by a long way.


cheers andy4200 , would you have contact details

John.s

Original Poster:

130 posts

294 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
The exhaust topic, cant avoid the stupid question am afraid, How do i know whether it is standard or sports exhaust ?!?!?!?!

andy4200

5,125 posts

302 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
details here
They are one of these old fashioned phone and cheque companies, deal mainly with kit cars.

Don't know about the exhaust though, never seen a standard one.

John.s

Original Poster:

130 posts

294 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
andy4200 said:

Don't know about the exhaust though, never seen a standard one.


any tips on how i can identify a sports exhaust ??

Tyre Smoke

23,018 posts

290 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
John, I'm going to state the obvious - A sports exhaust is louder, and pops and crackles a lot on overrun. It generally scares young children and old ladies when you drive through town centres.

Physically, I believe most have a small 'can' on each pipe just before the rear axle and the standard exhaust puts both pipes into one larger box and out again.

John.s

Original Poster:

130 posts

294 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
More obvious the better Tyre Smoke said i was a complete numpty !!!

Just had a quick look and from what i can see the pipes are seperate from around middle of the car then widen into a can of about 10" long each just after rear axel then into the tail pipes.
Does like to pop and bang on overrun, which I think is superb !!

= SPORTS EXHAUST i presume ??

satman

2,455 posts

275 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
John.s said:
More obvious the better Tyre Smoke said i was a complete numpty !!!

Just had a quick look and from what i can see the pipes are seperate from around middle of the car then widen into a can of about 10" long each just after rear axel then into the tail pipes.
Does like to pop and bang on overrun, which I think is superb !!

= SPORTS EXHAUST i presume ??


John, You could always drop round and compare noises with mine...

njw 77

17,065 posts

267 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
Ive posted this before, but when I told Direct Line about the upgrades to my car, no charge for the rear afterburners, no charge for the sports exhaust (no really, it doesnt add to the power, just makes it noisier) but charged me extra £60 or so for the spiders (as they werent original fit in '98 and would "cost alot to replace".

John.s

Original Poster:

130 posts

294 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
satman said:



John, You could always drop round and compare noises with mine...


Im sure mine did not sound like yours when I last saw you fire it up, let alone now its been de-catted. Next time I am out in it I might pop round and see what you think.

Where is your beast at the moment any way ??

jellie

35 posts

262 months

Tuesday 11th January 2005
quotequote all
try classicline Insurance in Hinkley leicestershire. Their no is 01455-639000. i have 9 years ncd and my cover costs £348 fully comp for 3000 miles pa

dannylt

1,906 posts

313 months

Wednesday 12th January 2005
quotequote all
As for power upgrades costing more... send them a before and after dyno chart, and point out it's still not the factory quoted 420bhp. Worked for me!