Insurance cancelled due to painted wheels !

[Gavia]

fastbikes76 said:

And that's the arguments we been having all day. I can kind of see the painted wheels being an issue,,,but not taking them back to standard.

That is pretty stupid from the insurer to say the least

[bitchstewie]

fastbikes76 said:

And that's the arguments we been having all day. I can kind of see the painted wheels being an issue,,,but not taking them back to standard.

I'm sure you've done this but I'd keep asking to escalate.

Or if it's possible just cancel and go elsewhere. I'd want to tell them to stick it on general principle.

[steviegunn]

Err, isn't fitting a black box a modification? Therefore under the rules the insurance company themselves espouse would automatically invalidate said insurance.

Bonkers.

[GTI16V]

This is quite staggering.
But even more staggering is that the thread hasn't been trolled by people from the industry saying we're all talking bks.

[bennettse2025]

Lord Marylebone said:

This and more.

It is disgraceful to the point of being beyond human comprehension, and more to the point sounds like they would get a massive bking if the OP went to the Ombudsman.

We refurbish numerous sets of wheels every week at my business, and changed probably over 100 sets of Land Rover wheels to black from silver as that has been the fashion for the last couple of years.

I do not believe for one second that any of our customers have invalidated their insurance.

Utter bullst.

It sounds like the insurance company are simply trying to get out of insuring someone for whatever reason.

Why don't they just be honest and say "We don't want to insure anyone under 25. End of discussion", because that's what they actually mean these days.

It's bonkers. I refurbed and colour changed a set of OEM wheels on an old car of mine a few years ago. Never occurred to me to declare it. And I'm the sort who does all sorts to his cars and gets paranoid about insurance and declares absolutely everything! They clearly just wanted a reason to back out of the cover and not have to refund anything.

As many have said, name and shame on social media and see if one of the trashy tabloids or local papers will pick it up. Call em out on their bullst

[andym1603]

So returning wheels to factory colour is classed as a modification, but fitting a non standard electronic device is not. Should've asked them about that.

[BUG4LIFE]

gottans said:

I would start posting this on twitter and facebook and cause maximum embarassment as this is tipotally unacceptable behaviour.

^^ Do this, I would. Car insurance is such a pain in the arse.

[waremark]

Why might changing the colour of wheels make a car higher risk? Is it that it might be more desirable to thieves, or that the sort of person who mods a car is a more risky sort of person.

Most people buying older cars dont know if they bave been modded. This only came to light because of the box fitter.

Zurich obviously like young drivers or they wouldn't offer a box scheme. Why did they want to give this girl her money back?

I am sure that boxes cannot tell whether a car is being driven safely. If box users have a better claims risk, it must be because having the box makes them drive more carefully.

Were Diamond competitive?

[LandRoverManiac]

It just goes to show how much leeway different companies seem to take when classing modifications. Some companies seem to regard options that were fitted at the factory as a modification - others aren't bothered. Some don't even regard bumper stickers as worth noting down - others go the whole hog and regard them in the same camp as sticking a halfords spoiler on the boot.

Repairing or refurbishing factory-fitted parts is just part and parcel of car ownership - if anything it would be the sign of an owner who is at least looking after the insured asset in question - so any company that tries to paint that as a modification is just moronic. Where do they draw the line - replacing corroded brake lines for the MOT considered a performance mod?

OP: I'd make life as difficult as possible for the company in question and in future take my business elsewhere. Wouldn't hurt to put off family and friends from using said company in future as well.

[mr_fibuli]

If its a crap rattle can job, have you tried a scouring pad on them? Then just phone back and tell them you have fitted an original set of wheels.

[Pica-Pica]

So returning wheels to original colour is modification - Insurance invalidated
Leaving wheels to rust/corrode is lack of maintenance - Insurance invalidated

[vikingaero]

LandRoverManiac said:

It just goes to show how much leeway different companies seem to take when classing modifications. Some companies seem to regard options that were fitted at the factory as a modification - others aren't bothered. Some don't even regard bumper stickers as worth noting down - others go the whole hog and regard them in the same camp as sticking a halfords spoiler on the boot.

Repairing or refurbishing factory-fitted parts is just part and parcel of car ownership - if anything it would be the sign of an owner who is at least looking after the insured asset in question - so any company that tries to paint that as a modification is just moronic. Where do they draw the line - replacing corroded brake lines for the MOT considered a performance mod?

OP: I'd make life as difficult as possible for the company in question and in future take my business elsewhere. Wouldn't hurt to put off family and friends from using said company in future as well.

I doubt a multi billion euro company like Zurich is going to care about a dozen lost policies. I'm thinking: fight fire with frozen sausages. Did the installer contact you/her and give his mobile number - time for a new Sharpie and lots of scribbling on toilet stalls.

[wc98]

vikingaero said:

Two proper jobsworths. I would put in a complaint, escalate to the FOS just to cost them money.

this. i can imagine these types are very glad most insurance is sold online or over the phone these days,that response in person would see me grabbing someone by the throat. utter cretins that need a good hard kick in the balls.

[RedAlfa]

I sympathise with the OP and the girl's situation. The fitter of the Black Box is a ....

Motor Insurance: The only service where we pay to be treated like a criminal!

[Wacky Racer]

Ridiculous......I can understand if she was swapping the wheels for new alloys, because it would make the car more attractive to a thief.


Actually I brush painted (made a nice job with Dulux paint) the alloy wheels on my red two year old Zafira tourer, they looked really smart, but just to be on the safe side I contacted Aviva to get them to log it and they were fine with it....no extra premium.

When I took the car into my local VX main dealer to p/x it recently, the salesman said "They look really smart with black wheels these, they did them as a limited edition"

[emicen]

I wonder if blackboxboy gets a kick back for tattling on “modifications” and getting policies cancelled.

[pomodori]

Wacky Racer said:

Ridiculous......I can understand if she was swapping the wheels for new alloys, because it would make the car more attractive to a thief.


Actually I brush painted (made a nice job with Dulux paint) the alloy wheels on my red two year old Zafira tourer, they looked really smart, but just to be on the safe side I contacted Aviva to get them to log it and they were fine with it....no extra premium.

When I took the car into my local VX main dealer to p/x it recently, the salesman said "They look really smart with black wheels these, they did them as a limited edition"

Limited emulsion.

[itz_baseline]

Isn’t fitting a black box to a car also considered a modification? Kind of ironic.

[Sad Ken]

fastbikes76 said:

a pair of standard wheels that had been badly painted black.

I might have missed this by skim reading, but why were only two wheels painted? Did they run out of paint halfway through lol

[Gavia]

itz_baseline said:

Isn’t fitting a black box to a car also considered a modification? Kind of ironic.

That’s been said before, but to clarify.

All you have to do is declare a modification ie Male the insurer aware. As it’s their modification they’re well aware of it amd don’t see it as making the driver a higher risk, in factbthey see it as a lower risk, so reduce the premium. Some modifications actually make the price go down, like a tracker, or an alarm